The Keeneland sale is grinding to a conclusion. The median sales price is down to $12,000. There are still a few $100,000+ horses being sold, but not may. A few Cupid’s sold for nice prices, and even a few Midnight Storm’s. The median for day 10 of the sale last year was about $20,000, so you could conclude that prices are down 50%.
That would be a little misleading. Any horse you buy this year will cost at least $30,000 to break and train into a race horse by next September. So a $20,000 purchase will cost $50,000 all in, and a $10,000 purchase is still $40,000 all in. There are still some economics here that I do not fully understand.
The buyback/withdrawal rate remains about 40%, down from over 50% earlier in the sale. It is an interesting mix of buyers. There are mainly pinhookers, but there are some interesting 3rd tier trainers. For example Travis Murphy (who runs at Iowa’s Prairie Meadow’s) has bought 5 horses for between $17,000 and $5,000. He is my new hero. Two other trainers that bought 5+ horses were Dan Pita and Austin Gustafson.
Pewter Stable was the only partnership was the only partnership that even took a swing on day 10 buying a Animal Kingdom for $5,000.
Buying A Race Horse 