Average Takes Dip in Keeneland 11th Session

With only three days remaining in its 14-day run, the 2005 Keeneland September yearling sale is showing no signs of slowing down despite taking a slight hit in average price during today's session. Overall, the numbers remain up across the board.

"The sale is continuing to roll along," said Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland director of sales. "The median is up, which is a very positive indicator, meaning more money is being spread around. Overall, everything has been very positive."

The key statistics for Friday's 11th session were:

--279 horses sold for a gross of $5,810,200, up .5% over the same session last year when 273 grossed $5,783,200.
--The average price of $20,825 represented a 1.7% decrease over the average of $21,184 in 2004.
--The median increased 15.4% to $15,000 from $13,000.
--The session saw 60 (17.7%) fail to meet their reserve, down 5.8% from last year's session total of 18.8%.

The session was led by a dark bay or brown son of Tactical Cat who was purchased for $130,000 by Bongo Pinhooking. The colt was the only offering to top six figures on the afternoon.

Windfields Farm consigned the colt as agent for Cedarow Farms.

Bred in Ontario by Nick Andrews, the colt was produced from the winning Le Fabuleux mare Touch Your Toes, who is the dam of stakes winners Hot Pepper Hill (by Regal Intention) and Touch of Power (by War Deputy).

The cumulative figures through seven sessions are:
--2,919 horses sold, up 3.5% from last year when 2,819 head sold.
--The gross of $377,097,400 is up 18.5% over the $318,245,700 at the same point one year ago.
--The average price of $129,187 represents a gain of 14.4% over the $112,893 average in 2004.
--The median price of $52,000 is up 4% from $50,000 last year.
--The cumulative RNA rate is 21.6%, with 803 horses failing to find new homes down 6.5% from last year's rate of 23.1% when 848 hips failed to sell.

The sale continues at 10 a.m. daily through Monday, Sept. 26. Hip-by-hip results from Keeneland