The action remained brisk and bidding was competitive as the Keeneland September Yearling Sale entered its Book 3 section Saturday in Lexington. A colt by Pioneerof the Nile topped the auction’s fifth session when selling for $525,000 to bloodstock agent Steve Young. The yearling was consigned by Gainesway.
In all, 253 horses sold for $31,392,500. The average was $124,081 and the median was $100,000. The buy-back rate was 30.3%.
The session topper was one of seven yearlings to better the $400,000 mark and one of 17 at $300,000 or over.
While the reformatted 2017 sale makes year-to-year comparisons inexact, last year’s Book 3 opener, held on the sixth day of the sale, saw 269 yearlings gross $23,243,000 for an average of $86,405 and a median of $70,000. The 2016 session topper was $700,000 and there were three yearlings over $400,000 and seven over $300,000.
“I think the session was very hot today,” said Keeneland’s Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell. “It started off very quickly and successfully and it went all the way through. The prices were very fair and it was quite spirited at times in the bidding. People are still hungry to buy.”
