Bedouin Bloodstock knocked the Jan. 9 opening session of the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale out of the park with their well-connected duo claiming top honors. The mare Evocative sold to agent Kerri Radcliffe for $550,000, and her Quality Road yearling filly sold to West Bloodstock, agent for Robert and Lawana Low, at $450,000.
During Monday's session, the final two hips in the original catalog, both offerings from George Soros' SF Bloodstock program, gathered buyers in the back ring like sharks circling prey. Bidding on behalf of Coolmore, Radcliffe signaled a final bid for the mare, Evocative, who sold as Hip 399, in foal to Quality Road on an April cover.
WATCH: $550K Evocative Tops Keeneland January Sale Day 1
"She's beautiful; just look at the pedigree, look at the individual," Radcliffe explained. "The yearling filly just sold for $450,000 (and) she's beautiful. When you see how nice the progeny is, it 100% gives you the confidence to purchase the mare."
Radcliffe added: "Coolmore has such an array of good stallions that it won't be hard to mate her."
The mare by Pioneerof the Nile is a half sibling to grade 2 stakes winners Chace City, by Carson City and Justwhistledixie, by Dixie Union, who is responsible for grade 1 winning sire New Year's Day, grade 2 winning sire Mohaymen, and grade 3 winners Enforceable and Kingly.
Radcliffe was the Day 1 leading buyer by gross with her single purchase. The late Pioneerof the Nile closed out the first session with three progeny offerings selling for gross receipts of $760,000 to be the session's leading sire.
The following hip in the ring, Evocative's first foal, a Quality Road yearling filly (Hip 400), continued in the same vein after commanding a final bid from Jacob West, acting on behalf of Robert and Lawana Low to be the Day 1 top-priced yearling at $450,000.
West mentioned the filly would go into the capable hands of Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.
"I thought she was outstanding. Physically, she is unbelievable; she is a quality filly," West commented. "I was blown away by the (dam); whoever bought the mare is going to breed her to a top stallion, so there is stuff coming down the pipeline (for residual value)."
"The plan was always to sell both at this sale," consignor Neal Clarke of Bedouin Bloodstock said. "We really liked the mare and foal coming in here, and we thought a lot of them. When we came into the pavilion, they went down well.
"We weren't expecting that much for them, but we're tickled with those prices. We always felt that the foal was special. For her first foal to be so special, we knew the market would recognize that, and it would clearly help the mare. The mare was gorgeous, but the filly pushed her up in everyone's esteem."
Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock, who is attending the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale in Australia, was delighted with the results saying, "It is a fantastic result for an SF homebred mare. Having her first foal sell alongside her gave buyers every confidence in this mare's ability to produce Book 1 quality animals. Her yearling was a star from day one; she has massive residual value if she becomes the racehorse her physical and pedigree indicates she can—great effort by Bedouin and Caroline Wilson to top the day."
At the conclusion of Monday's session, Keeneland reports 224 of the 326 horses through the ring sold for gross receipts of $16,261,900, a 9.6% year-on-year decrease. The average and median prices remained similar to the previous year at $72,598 and $40,000, respectively. One hundred and two horses failed to meet their reserve, representing an RNA rate of 31.3%, an increase over 2022 of 18.6%.
"The beginning of the day was a little slower than we expected; it was a bit sluggish. We are fighting back and getting the RNA rate better right now, but it's a little higher than it would have been expected at the beginning of the day," said Keeneland's vice president of sales Tony Lacy.
"However, quality was selling well, and major buyers were here; the domestic market was strong. It's a follow from November, and you can see a trend continuing. The stock that was young or had current activity in the family and the short yearlings that had good physicals and were by the right sires were in strong demand. There was a great crowd here with lots of energy, and everybody was in great form. Overall, we are very content with how the day went."
During the 2022 opening session, Keeneland recorded 265 horses sold of the 334 to go under the hammer for gross receipts of $18,712,200. Suitable for an average price of $70,612 and a median of $37,000. Sixty-nine horses failed to meet their reserve, representing an RNA rate of 20.7%.
"Stability in the marketplace is something we are all looking for, having no massive spikes—which isn't sustainable each year. We've got a lot of volatility in the global markets, financial markets, and economies," Lacy commented. "We will see this stabilization and great trade again tomorrow. All the major domestic players are here and very active."
WATCH: Relive an Exciting Keeneland January Sale Day 1
Twelve mares sold for over $250,000, while eight yearlings were sold for over $150,000.
The Taylor Made Sales Agency saw 20 horses change hands Monday to the tune of $2,282,5000 to be the Day 1 leading consignor by gross; those horses sold for an average price of $114,125.
"The market has started strong," Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales said. "I think it's a robust market for quality. Once you get any horse worth below $50,000, there's a fine line between $35,000 and being worth about $10,000. A lot of people do not want to pay bills on an inexpensive mare. It's a weak part of the market. It costs just as much to feed a $10,000 mare as an $800,000 mare. But I think the market is good. It's similar to what we've seen in the last couple of years."
Airdrie sire Upstart topped the charts during session 1 with five mares in foal to the son of Flatter selling for a total of $670,000 to make him the leading covering sire Monday.
Carrying out the complete dispersal for Patricia Generazio, Denali Stud's Conrad Bandoroff echoed a similar feeling saying, "For us, we've had a solid day. My perspective of the market is probably skewed or different from some of my compatriots; with the dispersal we've been handling, all of those horses have sold with no reserve. We haven't had very many buybacks, and we've been able to move the horses we've had reserves on. We've sold a lot of horses right at the reserve, but at the end of the day, I guess that means we got our appraisal right."
Selling from Book 1 continues Jan. 10, beginning at 10:00 a.m. (ET) with Hips 421 - 840D scheduled to go under the hammer. As of Monday evening, 89 horses had been withdrawn from the second session.
