Plenty to Look Forward to at Keeneland's January Sale

Keeneland will kick off 2026 with its Horses of All Ages Sale Jan. 12-13 in Lexington. The sale, which spans two days, compared to three sessions last year, features a catalog of 1,105 horses, including breeding stock, racing prospects, and short yearlings. Each session will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET. Following a highly successful 2025 sales season, Keeneland's vice president of sales, Tony Lacy, is optimistic that demand will remain strong. "This sale feels like an extension of the November Sale," Lacy said. "There's a lot of quality in here, probably more so than normal for a January Sale. We're very excited. "Over the last few days, there have been very few scratches, which is really encouraging because people feel positive about the market. The buyers have a lot of orders they haven't fulfilled, or pinhookers that haven't gotten their quota yet." Lacy said the decision to switch to a two-day format was made with the intent to maintain a consistent marketplace and ensure a swift process for buyers. "The intention was, when people make the effort to be here, they would prefer to get on with it and keep moving, rather than letting the market finish at 4-5 o'clock in the afternoon and have to come back the next day and start another day," he said. "If we made the decision to go to three days, I think we might have found that one day could be a little flat. We wanted to try and make sure we made it as concise as possible." Some highlights of the sale include Tiffany Case, the dam of Alabama Stakes (G1) winner and Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) runner-up Nitrogen. She is consigned as Hip 465 and offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for a D.J. Stable graduate, in foal to leading sire Not This Time. D.J. Stables held a curated reduction at the November Breeding Stock Sale, resulting in 31 head bringing $6,443,000. Jon Green, co-owner of D.J. Stables, knows to strike while the iron is hot. As he mentioned prior to the November Sale, the market cannot seem to fulfill the demand for high-quality mares. "When you're selling a mare like Tiffany Case, there are a lot of factors that go into it, because she is the blue hen mare that every program would love to own," Green said. "We were sitting down and deciding what to do with our broodmare band last year, and we made the decision to put 32 mares into the Keeneland November Sale, with the idea that we were going to go through a reduction; and all of those mares sold, so obviously the market really appreciated what we were bringing to the table." Green said Nitrogen was performing at a top level around the time of the November Sale and, when looking over D.J. Stables' stock, he realized that the market was still starving for top-rated mares. The decision was made to enter Tiffany Case in the January Sale. Green bought the mare at the 2019 Keeneland November Sale for $320,000, carrying her first foal by Violence, who went on to be the multiple graded stakes-placed mare Love to Shop, who topped last year's edition of the January Sale at $700,000. Nitrogen is just the second foal of the mare, and has never finished off the board in all 12 career starts, winning six of them in 2025, and defeating grade 1 winners Good Cheer, Lush Lips (GB), Scylla, and Thorpedo Anna under the care of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Being a daughter of the great broodmare sire Uncle Mo only adds to Tiffany Case's appeal. "I feel like she's being very well-received, and rightfully so," Green said. Lacy was equally optimistic about the mare: "She's relatively young, she's in foal to the right stallion (Not This Time). Her second foal, Nitrogen, is an Eclipse finalist for 3-year-old filly. She's won (graded stakes) on both surfaces. "The Greens had a reduction sale with us in November, and that was very successful. She's incredibly appealing, especially to the high-end buyers, because she is the dam of a potential Eclipse champion, as well as a filly who's got nothing but blue skies ahead of her for the coming year, and if not, a couple of years." Denali Stud will handle the Complete Dispersal of Woodford Thoroughbreds (Phase 2), which includes broodmare and racing prospects, broodmares in foal to top sires such as Good Magic, McKinzie, Not This Time, and first-crop sire Taiba, and a handful of short yearlings. Four Star Sales will offer graded stakes winner and $1 million King's Plate Stakes winner Mansetti (Hip 527). The 4-year-old son of Collected is offered as a racing or stallion prospect. He is out of the multiple stakes-producing Sky Mesa mare Gidget Girl. He has won five of his 11 career starts and racked up earnings of $776,003 under the care of Kevin Attard. Towards the end of the first session, buyers will have the chance to buy the dam of world record-setter and first-crop sire Cogburn. In a Jif, consigned as Hip 536 by Taylor Made Sales Agency, is offered in foal to the leading 2-year-old sire of 2025, Yaupon. Succeeding In a Jif is her Into Mischief colt (Hip 537), also consigned by Taylor Made. Perhaps the most special offering at this year's sale is Hip 413, Simply in Front, who achieved grade 1 success at Keeneland in the First Lady Stakes (G1T) for trainer Eddie Kenneally and owner Colebrook Farms. The daughter of Summer Front has earned more than $2.8 million from 16 lifetime starts. She is offered as a broodmare prospect by Richard Hogan, agent for Colebrook Farms. "It's great to have a recent grade 1 winner here," Lacy said about Simply in Front. "She's one who has a lot of appeal. She's by Summer Front, who is a very versatile stallion, by War Front. You can breed her to anything. She's a lovely filly." Last year's three-day sale saw 724 horses change hands for a gross of $35,225,900, including private sales. Three horses sold for a top price of $700,000, all mares. The average was $48,655, with a median of $22,000. A total of 206 horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 22.2%. Taylor Made Sales Agency was the leading consignor, selling 100 head from their draft for a total of $4,260,200. Pin Oak Stud was the leading buyer with two purchases totaling $730,000. As of Sunday evening, Keeneland had reported 109 outs in the first session.