Through-the-ring sales surpass $240 million

Keeneland’s 83^rd November Breeding Stock Sale, featuring weanlings, broodmare prospects and in-foal mares, concluded Wednesday with $240,897,200 in total through-the-ring sales for the second-highest through-the-ring gross for the auction since 2007. Adding another $12,194,500 in post sales reported to date for the nine-session auction from Nov. 3-11, total sales this year increased to $253,095,700.

The record gross for the November Breeding Stock Sale was $341 million in 2007, when the event covered 15 sessions and included horses in training. Since 2022, horses in training have had their own sale, the Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale, which will take place Thursday as a stand-alone event.

This year at the November Breeding Stock Sale, Keeneland sold a total of 1,892 horses through the ring, for an average of $127,324 and a median of $50,000. The average exceeded the $125,572 from last year to set a record for the sale, while the median is 16.67% below the sale record $60,000 in 2025.

Launching the 2026 auction was a vibrant single-session Book 1, which posted nearly $96 million in sales — 31.88% higher than the first session of 2025. That day, 23 horses, including four weanlings, brought $1 million and more compared to 18 during the first session last year. They included the year’s most expensive mare at auction in North America, Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed millionaire Quietside, sold in foal to Nyquist for $5.2 million.

During the remainder of the sale, two additional horses sold for $1 million to increase the number of seven-figure horses to 25 for the highest amount in that category since 2007. They were Zee Drop, in foal to Flightline, on Day 3 and Spangled Banner, in foal to Tiz the Law, on Day 5 — both purchased by Saleh Al Otaibi’s Al Ruwais Stables. The first horse during the fifth session in November Breeding Stock Sale history to bring $1 million, Spangled Banner was the subject of a significant catalog update when her 2-year-old, U. S. S. Valor, won the Champagne (G1) at Belmont Park on Oct. 3.

“The November Breeding Stock Sale continued a spectacular fall at Keeneland, which began two months ago with the most successful September Yearling Sale in history,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “It’s been a special time at Keeneland, from our Fall Meet and the celebration of Keeneland’s 90th anniversary to the Championship Sale at historic Castleton and our fourth time hosting the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. We are grateful to everyone who has shared this season with us and for the continued support of the Thoroughbred community. It takes a lot of people working together to make all of this possible, and we are fortunate to be a part of such a dedicated community.”

“This has been a very strong November Breeding Stock Sale, and we’re grateful to the buyers and sellers who continue to support the auction and make this marketplace what it is,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “The trajectory of the sale has continued to climb year after year, which is a reflection of the quality of the horses and the depth of the buying bench, both domestically and internationally. We saw buyers competing for promising young horses for a variety of purposes and breeders reinvesting in their programs, which is always an encouraging sign for the market. We’re very pleased with the results.”

Book 1 highlights

In addition to the $5.2 million sale of Quietside to Erdenheim Farm Thoroughbreds by consignor Stone Farm, agent, these mares brought $2 million or more during Book 1:

Ahavah ($4.8 million). The winning Grade 2-placed runner in foal to Gun Runner sold to Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa. Lane’s End, agent, consigned the 4-year-old daughter of City of Light.
Admit ($3.1 million). M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm purchased the 4-year-old Grade 2-winning daughter of Blame in foal to Life Is Good. Claiborne Farm, agent, consigned the mare.
Flag Day ($2.9 million). The 10-year-old daughter of Giant’s Causeway who is the dam of Grade 3 winner Hall of Fame and carrying a Gun Runner full sibling to that runner sold to Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm. She was consigned by Denali Stud, agent for Earle Mack A Complete Breeding Stock Dispersal.
Kilwin ($2.6 million). Erdenheim Farm Thoroughbreds also acquired the 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy who was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1). Kilwin was consigned by Royal Oak Farm, agent for BBN Racing and Rick Howard.
On Time Girl ($2.6 million). David Lanigan, agent/Heider Family Stables, purchased the Grade 2 winner, a 3-year-old daughter of Not This Time. She was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.
Eve of War ($2.4 million). The dam of Grade 1 winner The Puma, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), sold to Al Ruwais Stables. The 9-year-old daughter of Declaration of War is in foal to Sierra Leone.
Expensive Queen (IRE) ($2.1 million). A 5-year-old daughter of Lope de Vega, the Grade 1 winner was purchased by Godolphin. Fourth in the Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf (G1), she was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.

Book 1’s four weanlings sold for $1 million and more were led by a colt by Justify who is a full brother to Betfred Two Thousand Guineas (G1) winner Ruling Court sold for $1.3 million to Magnier and White Birch Farm. He was consigned by Nursery Place, agent.

Nursery Place, agent, also consigned a Good Magic half-sister to Broodmare of the Year Puca who sold to Whisper Hill Farm for $1,050,000.

“Obviously we did incredibly well,” Nursery’s John Mayer said. “(Keeneland) had assembled a great buying bench and we were fortunate to have two horses jump through the hoops and they went to end-users. It worked out perfectly.”

The two other seven-figure weanlings were an American Pharoah filly from the family of Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady consigned by Clarkland Farm and purchased by Glen Hill Farm for $1 million and a colt by Gun Runner supplemented to the auction by consignor Lane’s End, agent, and sold to Violet Stables for $1 million.

“The top of the market was extra strong, and the popular horses brought in excess of what they were worth,” Glen Hill’s Craig Bernick said. “There were a lot of good buying opportunities, especially after Book 1. There was opportunity for proven mares who were 11-12-13 years old and had a runner or two.”

Overall leaders

Buyers: Erdenheim Farm Thoroughbreds paid $7.8 million for two horses (Quietside and Kilwin) to lead buyers.

Rounding out the 10 leading buyers were Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa, Al Ruwais Stables, MWG LLC, Spendthrift Farm, M.V. Magnier and White Birch Farm, Whisper Hill Farm, Summer Wind Equine, Glen Hill Farm and Ace Stud.

Consignors: For the fourth consecutive year and 29^th time since 1987, Taylor Made Sales Agency was the sale’s leading consignor, selling 287 horses for $45,910,400.

Taylor Made handled the Complete Dispersal of Aaron and Marie Jones, which brought a total of $3.22 million for seven horses. Purchased for $975,000 by Al Ruwais Stables, the top seller of the Jones horses was Sweet Kisses, a 9-year-old daughter of Carpe Diem in foal to Into Mischief. Sweet Kisses is the dam of stakes winners Donut God and Hammond.

Other leading consignors were Gainesway, Lane’s End Farm, Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, Denali Stud, Paramount Sales, Claiborne Farm, Grovendale Sales, ELiTE and Stone Farm.

Bluewater Sales, agent, consigned Spangled Banner, the seven-figure horse on the fifth day of the sale.

“We changed our business model after we sold our farm, and we are angling toward quality,” Bluewater’s Meg Levy said. “Over the last couple of years, everybody is hungry for that quality. If you show up with a quality horse like the mare in Book 3 (Star Spangled) then you got rewarded.

“We achieved an amazing statistic that we had never achieved before: We had a 100% clearance rate, all in the ring, I feel extremely grateful.

“It felt to me like quality was rewarded,” Levy added. “We had a couple of mares at the beginning that brought considerably more than we thought. If you had an average horse, it was hard to get it sold. In the middle market, it looks like the margins are getting thinner and thinner. Since 2020, the costs have gone up dramatically to breed a horse, everything from stud fees, vet bills, feed and staff. It’s really hard on those in the middle market because there is not much to breed to in the middle range, unless it is a first-year horse.”

Covering sires: Gun Runner was the leading covering sire by gross and by average with seven in-foal mares bringing $12,750,000 for an average of $1,821,429.

Among sires with their first pregnant mares at the auction, Sierra Leone was the leader with 19 in-foal mares bringing $6,740,000.

Weanling market

Weanlings accounted for more than $81 million in through-the-ring sales as end users and pinhookers competed for offerings.

Leading buyer: Glen Hill Farm paid $3,150,000 for seven horses, including $1 million for the previously mentioned daughter of American Pharoah.

Craig Bernick of Glen Hill explained his strategy of buying weanlings.

“We just found it so competitive (at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale) a few years ago when we tried to buy some yearling colts, wefigured we could try to buy the colts as foals so they could be in our program,” Bernick said.

At the 2024 November Breeding Stock Sale, Bernick paid $220,000 for the Justify weanling colt Nola Soul, who in June won the Chesham S. at Royal Ascot in England.

Other leading weanling buyers this year were Caitlin Dunne, agent for Asagi Stables; Cherry Knoll Farm; AAA Thoroughbreds; Tracy Farmer; Dunne, agent for Wesley Ward; Violet Stables; Cavalier Bloodstock; Whisper Hill Farm; and M.V. Magnier and White Birch Farm.

Leading consignor: Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, sold 85 weanlings for $8,596,700.

Following Taylor Made by gross sales of weanlings were Gainesway, Warrendale Sales, Lane’s End Farm, Eaton Sales, Four Star Sales, Grovendale Sales, Paramount Sales and Legacy Bloodstock.

Leading sire: Grade 1 winner Arabian Knight, represented by his first crop of weanlings this year, was the leading sire of 2006 foals with 35 horses bringing $5,052,000.

The top weanling sire by average was Gun Runner, whose three weanlings averaged $716,667.

Today’s results

During Wednesday’s final session, a weanling colt by Volatile from the family of Grade 1 winner and leading sire Medaglia d’Oro sold for $125,000 to Malih Al Basti, Oracle Bloodstock agent, to record the highest price. Consigned by Bridie Harrison, agent, he is out of the Jersey Town mare Tenafly.

Total sales from the session were $1,971,200, more than double the $913,400 from the corresponding session in 2025. The average of $13,141 rose 9.34% from $12,018 last year, while the median jumped 28.57% from $7,000 to $9,000.

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On Thursday, Keeneland will hold the November Horses of Racing Age Sale. The auction begins at noon ET. Click here for the online catalog, which includes 136 horses.

All Keeneland sales are streamed live on Keeneland.com. Phone and internet bidding are available.

The 14^th Annual Sporting Art Auction, a partnership between Keeneland and Cross Gate Gallery, begins Friday at 4 p.m. in the Keeneland Sales Pavilion. Keeneland’s share of Sporting Art Auction proceeds support non-profit initiatives.

Click here for more about the auction.