While getting ready for the massive September yearling sale that starts Sept. 10 in Lexington, Keeneland officials also were working hard to put the finishing touches on the November breeding stock auction catalog. And it will be a big one.
Tom Thornbury, Keeneland's associate director of sales, said Sept. 8 that the November sale will have more horses than ever before and, like the September auction, will run for 15 days. The current November record, established in 2000, was 5,111 lots. However, this year's total won't top the mark for any Keeneland sale of 5,553 set by this year's September auction, but "it will be pretty close to that," according to Thornbury.
"There are a higher percentage of weanlings in this sale," said Thornbury of the upcoming November auction. "(Breeders) may be saying, 'I need to get some cash out of this machine,' but I'm not really sure what moves people in the market. It might be they think they'll get pretty much what they'll get for weanlings as yearlings. I think ithe numbers overall are just indicative that it's a high production time; everybody is really geared up."
