Opportunities in abundance at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale
A total of 13 Australian-bred mares set to be represented during the 12 sessions of trade
The 2023 yearling sales in the northern hemisphere are in the process of ramping up, presenting unique opportunities for buyers from the southern hemisphere to get their hands on stock with bloodlines which have proved to be successful in Australasia time and time again.
The focus now falls on 12 frenetic sessions at Keeneland’s iconic September Yearling Sale, which gets underway on Monday [September 11], and Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch, who also serves as Keeneland’s Australian representative, told ANZ Bloodstock News the auction can open the way to securing some of the best bloodlines from abroad.
“There’s no market like it anywhere else in the world in my opinion,” said Bowditch. “It is a huge melting pot of many of the best bloodlines the northern hemisphere has to offer, with many of them very familiar in Australia and ones that have worked here in the past.”
Over the past few years in Australasia, it has paid to invest in American bloodlines and, while purchasing mares off the track at Keeneland’s Breeding Stock Sale in November has, in the past, proved the more popular way of introducing the US blood into the market, Bowditch believes buying fillies as yearlings presents an abundance of reasons to invest.
“I think there is a huge opportunity to buy fillies in particular, possibly to race them in America or Europe and bring them down once they are ready to go to stud or trade them up there in the northern hemisphere – there are a lot of options,” Bowditch explained.
American-bred broodmares have become an increasingly important part of the Australasian breeding landscape in recent years. In 2022/23 alone, American-bred broodmares produced three individual Group 1 winners.
Last season’s Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Affaire A Suivre (Astern), is out of Laurelling (Highest Honor); while Little Brose (Per Incanto), winner of the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), is a son of US-bred Listed winner Mohegan Sky (Straight Man); and Ciaron Maher and David Eustace’s JJ Atkins Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner King Colorado (Kingman) is out of More Aspen, a Listed-winning daughter of prolific Australian shuttler More Than Ready (Southern Halo).
During the 2021/22 season five Australian Group 1 winners featured an American-bred dam: Apache Chase (Better Than Ready), Forbidden Love (All Too Hard), Wild Ruler (Snitzel); while Irish-bred pair State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner) and Knights Order (So You Think), winners of the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) and Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) respectively, also have American-bred dams.
While admitting there is still a certain amount of risk attached to making a foray into a foreign yearling market, Bowditch said it can prove more economical than waiting until overseas breeding stock sales.
“The American bloodlines work in Australia, year in year out and buying into the yearling market in America rather than waiting for broodmares, there is obviously a lot of risk involved given the fact they are not already performed on the racetrack. However, on the other side of the coin, you have the opportunity to do it yourself, in your colours and probably spending a lot less than when you go to market to buy a stakes-winning or Group-winning mare at a breeding stock sale,” he explained.
“You only have to look at the mares that come down, whether they are bought as yearlings, privately or as broodmares, they are a very small part of our gene pool, but they have a lot of influence as producers.
“Their progeny are going to the yearling sales and are being well-supported and they are going on and winning the right races. I think the bloodlines, when they do work, and of course not everything works all the time, but American bloodlines are potent and really do present themselves well here in Australia.
“Given the fact they race on speed and they put much emphasis on precocity and that is something Australians are geared towards, it is a recipe that has been tried for three decades and it will continue to work in the decades to come.”
A colossal 4,194 yearlings have been catalogued for this year’s edition of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and it features a smattering of Australian flavour throughout, with a colt by Coolmore Stud shuttler Justify (Scat Daddy), out of Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Irish Lights (Fastnet Rock), set to go under the hammer during session 3 on September 13.
The daughter of Fastnet Rock’s (Danehill) progeny have proved popular over the past few years at the sale, with her colt by Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) having made US$230,000 in 2020, while last year a colt by Justify, now named Real Steel, was bought by BC Stables for US$500,000.
Also featured during the third session, is a colt out of Australian Group 3 winner Thyme For Roses (Redoute’s Choice) and by the Grade 1-producing stallion Constitution (Tapit). The daughter of Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) was bought by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings for $800,000 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2017.
In total 13 yearlings out of mares with the AUS suffix will go under the hammer during the sale, including during the opening day when Gainesway, acting as agent for Stonestreet Bred and Raised, will offer a colt by leading American sire Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) out of Houtzen (I Am Invincible), winner of a brace of Group 3s in Australia.
Purchased by Stonestreet for US$1.5 million at the Keeneland November Breeding Sale in 2020, Houtzen’s first foal, a colt by Curlin (Smart Strike), fetched US$115,000 at last year’s September yearling sale.
American-bred mares have made a significant impact in Australia in the past, and their male counterparts – the US-bred stallions – have also proved hugely influential. Street Cry (Machiavellian) is not only the sire of multiple Group 1-winning mare Winx, but also Blue Diamond Stakes winner turned stallion Pride Of Dubai, to name but a few of his storied offspring. He also sired Darley shuttler Street Boss, father of the recently retired, multiple Group 1-winning champion Anamoe.
Legendary shuttler More Than Ready, who died at WinStar Farm in August last year, has had a profound impact on the Australasian breeding industry, having produced 82 stakes winners in the country, headed by 12 elite-level winners.
The industry will be feeling his influence as a broodmare sire for many years to come, with runners out of mares by the late stallion, having produced 63 stakes winners and they are headed by 12 top-flight winners, including this year’s Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Shinzo (Snitzel), as well as Coolangatta (Written Tycoon), and Bivouac (Exceed And Excel), who landed three elite races, earning himself a spot on Darley’s Kelvinside roster.
More Than Ready’s 19 consecutive seasons of shuttling to Vinery Stud came to close in 2019 and yearlings by the stallion are no longer available in Australia, and, with 25 fillies by the legendary sire up for grabs at Keeneland this year, Bowditch said it presents the perfect chance for Australians to re-invest in proven US-bred stallion that works in Australia, both as runners and broodmares.
“You only have to look at the catalogue and there are a huge amount of fillies by More Than Ready and we won’t see any yearlings by him in Australia. This is one of the final opportunities you’ll have to buy a filly by More Than Ready at a yearling sale and there is probably no better place to do that than at Keeneland, given the pedigrees that are on offer,” said Bowditch.
“The graduates that come out of this sale, globally surpass any sale of its kind – it’s extraordinary what they do, they go on and race in the very best races at some of the biggest and most prestigious race meetings in the world. You are giving yourself the best opportunity of getting a horse that can take you to the highest level in any jurisdiction anywhere in the world.
“I have had genuine interest in the sale from Australians, obviously Henry [Field] does his own stuff with his colt fund in America and I expect Will Bourne to be over there again, given he was there last year and enjoyed the experience buying a filly. Craig Rounsefell will be there as well, doing what he does for his American clients and possibly the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
“There will be familiar Aussie faces there on the ground, looking to participate at the sale, which is pleasing. We are hopeful we can get ourselves on the buyers’ sheet.”
With American-based sires such as Three Chimneys’ Gun Runner (Candy Ride) made available for covering on southern hemisphere time, the Keeneland sale also means buyers from Australasia can familiarise themselves with the stock of these stallions before they start seeping into the marketplace in the southern hemisphere in the coming years.
“Taking away the purchasing, I don’t think there is any better educational aspect than attending a sale of this kind, given the fact you can get there, you can look at the yearlings by a lot of sires that we haven’t laid eyes on yet, like Gun Runner,” explained Bowditch.
“I think getting across there, getting around the horses and a looking at the stock, gaining an understanding of what they look like is incredibly important in the years to come when we get the opportunity to participate on horses by these sires in the marketplace in Australia.
“I also think just being there and meeting people, it’s brilliant. Just being there and experiencing a sale like Keeneland September, you can’t underestimate just being there, conducting business and learning what is going on.”