Keen Ice #2 and #3

I declare the winner of Day 1 of the Keeneland sale to be Jerry Crawford of Donegal. Late in the day he struck paying $350,000 (or 2x the stud fee) for a very nice son Curlin. The dam was a multiple graded winner routing, and the second dam bring long-distance Euro-pedigree. Crawford bought another son of Curlin in 2013 at Keeneland for $120,000. That turned out to be Keen Ice, who earned over $3,600,000, even thought he only won 3 races, and now stands for $20,000.

The sale did not go that well yesterday. Average price fell from $430,000 last year to $373,000 this year. That drop is more pronounced because “book 1” was reduced to 450 horses from over 600 last year. There were also at least 20 of those last second outs that prevented the buyback rate from being reported as 45% rather than the 36% they actually reported.

I counted at least 20 horses yesterday that were withdrawn from the sale, even though they were not reported as out at the beginning of the day. Overall only 109 of 224 horses were sold. Their were 62 reported RNAs, but only about 35 outs at the beginning of the day. That leaves about 28 horses that mysteriously did not appear in the ring. Maybe a few developed a cough overnight, but most of the sellers knew they would not make their reserve.

Today I will search for my Keen Ice #3. I will use Donegal as a model and look for a top sire for less than $350,000. I thought these would all be too expensive, but with poor market conditions, maybe one will fall to me.

Here is my list;

1. #305 – Curlin by Street Cry
2. #273 – American Pharoah by Sadler’s Wells
3. #323 – Medaglia d’Oro by Pulpit 4/30
4. #440 – Pioneerof the Nile by Street Cry 3/17
5. #419 – Candy Ride by Arch 5/8
6. #413 – Candy Ride by AP Indy 3/20
7. #338 – War Front by Galileo 2/9
8. #245 – Pioneerof the Nile by Arch 3/8
9. #342 – Pioneerof the Nile by Pure Prize 4/19
10. #365 – Union Rags by Pulpit 4/21
11. #239 – War Front by Galileo 3/29

Maybe all these horses will too expensive, or maybe they will be “the deal of the century”

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Scoreboard

Starlight bought 8 top priced horse in partnership with Madaket. All of them had dams on the sprinter/precocious side. I did not like a single one.

Eclipse bought 3 horses. They were ok, but nothing that I would consider.

Centennial bought an unexciting Nyquist.

Repole bought 7 horses, and a few others bought 4. The Arab buyers were mostly not around.

Maybe this is a good time to be a buyer.