November Sale Exceeded Sellers’ Expectations
Led by the $5.5 million sale of champion broodmare Midnight Bisou, the 2022 edition of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale again showed why it is a premier venue to sell mares and weanlings with the results often exceeding sellers’ expectations.
The world’s largest mixed sale, the November Sale – which followed the successful Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland – attracted the leading buyers from throughout the world. They fueled a vibrant marketplace.
Kudos to the staff at Keeneland. You look at the number of people from all over the world that are here. It’s an incredibly deep market.
Sellers Take Advantage of Opportunity
Indicative of the quality offered at the 2022 November Sale, champion Midnight Bisou was purchased by Katsumi Yoshida of Japan for $5.5 million. Among the standout supplements to Keeneland November, the mare, who earned $7.47 million and was in foal to leading sire Tapit, was consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa on behalf of an exuberant ownership group consisting of Jeff Bloom and Chuck and Lori Allen.
Any opportunity you get to talk about Midnight Bisou and showcase her on a world stage like it’s going to be at Keeneland, it’s beyond exciting and an incredible opportunity.
The market was just really strong and we felt like we should just give her (Midnight Bisou) the opportunity for someone else to enjoy her.
Dream Fulfilled
The November Sale’s leading buyer, Katsumi Yoshida also purchased the second-highest priced mare when he went to $2.7 million to acquire French Group 1 winner Dreamloper (IRE). The mare’s lofty price tag rewarded owner-breeder Olivia Hoare and Ed Walker, the British-based trainer and consignor of the multiple Group 1-winning mare, for their confidence in selling her at Keeneland.
I'm a racehorse trainer in Lambourn, England, and to be selling her as a potential mare for millions of dollars at Keeneland is something I really never thought I'd do. It's been a novel experience and, luckily, a successful one.
Beyond All Expectations for Four Graces
Mandy Pope continued to add to her star-studded broodmare band when the Whisper Hill Farm owner purchased multiple graded stakes winner Four Graces for $2.3 million. The price went well beyond owners the Whitham family and consignor Denali Stud thought she would fetch at the Keeneland sale.
We certainly never expected her to bring more than $2 million. It went well beyond our expectations. She was an unbelievable physical. People really respected this was a special offering from a family that rarely comes on the market.
Expectations Surpassed
Another Japanese buyer, KI Farm, delivered a pleasant surprise to the connections of champion Shamrock Rose by purchasing the mare in foal to Curlin for $3 million from the Lane’s End consignment. The mare won the Lexus Raven Run (G2) at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) en route to being voted the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter in 2018.
A Special Weanling
Top-end fillies and mares weren’t the only horses that lit up the November Sale bid board thanks to spirited competition for weanlings with the physical qualities of future successful competitors. For the ninth time in the past 10 years, the Keeneland November Sale produced the top-priced weanling sold in North America when Coolmore Stud’s M.V. Magnier took home a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro for $1.5 million. Consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa, the half-sister to champion Honor Code was the priciest weanling at the November Sale since 2015 and most expensive filly sold at the auction since 2001.
The beauty of buying at the Keeneland November Sale is the depth of the market… it’s the primary place to buy foals.
Pushing Boundaries in November
Before the official start of the November Sale, there was an electric atmosphere in the Sales Pavilion with the auction of a 2.5% fractional interest in Flightline, whose smashing victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Keeneland two days earlier concluded his undefeated career and would earn him Horse of the Year honors. An innovative collaboration between Keeneland and Lane’s End, the offering of the fractional interest represented an industry-first metaverse viewing experience that enabled fans and prospective buyers to take in Keeneland sales in an all-new way. Freddy Seitz of Brookdale Farm went to $4.6 million to secure the unique offering on behalf of client Travis Boersma.
The pavilion was lined wall-to-wall with industry participants squeezing in anywhere they could to witness the one-of-a-kind event.
