LEXINGTON, KY – Led by a $3.3-million son of Gun Runner, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale powered through a record-setting opening session Monday in Lexington. When the dust had settled after the first of two elite Book 1 sessions, 106 yearlings had sold for $69,240,000. The average was $653,208–the highest ever at a single September session–and the median was $537,500. With just 28 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 20.90%. Those figures are ahead of last year’s opening session, when 98 head grossed $54,795,000 for an average of $559,133 and a median of $450,000. They are also ahead of the 2024 total Book 1 average of $586,103 and median of $475,000.
“It was a fantastic day,” said Keeneland President Shannon Arvin. “It’s fun to talk to the auctioneers after and ask how it felt, because it looks different to them up there than it does to us watching from behind. And they said it was just so exciting, so electric, and there were so many new faces. It was really fun to see the pavilion so packed, the back ring so packed. Everywhere people were watching and enjoying and having a really great time. It was an incredible horse sale.”
A total of 15 yearlings sold for seven figures during Monday’s session, the highest to reach that threshold during a single session since 2006…