THE 2023 Keeneland November Sale concluded on Thursday, and a market adjustment was reflected in the fact that the final figures all reported falls of between 15% and 20% from a year ago.

Demand remains strong for the headline acts, as it usually does, but buyers are being more cautious and valuations are becoming more grounded. Current world crises are undoubtedly impacting on speculators and on financial markets, though there is no lessening in demand to own horses, with more lots sold this year than last.

While the quality of the books falls as the sale progresses, there have still been a number of special highlights. There were 11 fillies and mares who brought seven-figure sums on the first day of the sale, reported in last week’s edition, and that number rose to a dozen last Saturday, equalling the number from last year. Twelve months ago, the sale also featured the $4.6 million sale of a fractional interest in Flightline.

Three Witches, who six days earlier finished third in the $1 million Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita, sold for $1.7 million to Rifa Mustang Europe to lead the third session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. The sale of the four-year-old daughter of Into Mischief, consigned by Indian Creek, was the final million dollar transaction of the nine-day sale.

“When we saw Three Witches go through the ring for $1.7 million, going to a client that is pretty established internationally, that’s really encouraging,” Keeneland’s Tony Lacy said. “We’re seeing that international investment is still here. The money is still here for the right horses. Overall, we’re very pleased.”

Rifa Mustang Europe purchased Three Witches, who won the Grade 3 Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream Park in early October, by way of internet bidding. Out of the Tale Of The Cat mare Layreebelle, she is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Spellbound and Grade 3 winner Kid Cruz. “She was bought on behalf of a significant investment based in Australia and Europe,” said Barry Bowditch, managing director of Australia’s Magic Millions and Keeneland’s Australasian representative, who spoke on behalf of the buyer.

“She’ll stay here in America, and we’ll try again on the race track, which is exciting. For a mare that raced a few days ago in one of the strongest Breeders’ Cup races of the weekend, she looked so well and handled the trip from California to Kentucky so well. You just feel that the best of her racing is yet to come. It will be great to have a new investor racing horses here in America. We’re discussing who will train her at the moment.”

“I thought it was pretty fantastic,” said Sarah Sutherland of Indian Creek. “Obviously, the filly was well received, and we knew she was a standout both physically and with her race record and pedigree. Any time you get over a million dollars it’s pretty special. It exceeded our expectations, and we’re just thrilled.”

Market reacts positively to Flightline coverings

CANCEL This, a four-year-old winning daughter of Malibu Moon from the family of Grade 1 winner and sire Girvin and 2023 Grade 1 winner Brightwork, sold to Larkin Armstrong, agent for Helen Alexander, for $825,000 and she topped the second session of the Keeneland November Sale.

Cancel This, who is out of stakes winner Catch My Fancy, by Yes It’s True, was consigned by Four Star Sales. Armstrong said Alexander wanted to purchase young mares for her breeding programme. “It was one of the pages we loved the most in the whole sale,” he said. “We have been waiting for her. We loved her, and we thought it was amazing that two of her full-sisters are Grade 1 producers. We were impressed with her all around. We stretched to get her, but we’re really excited to get her.”

Three of the five highest-priced horses sold last Friday were broodmares carrying members of the first crop of 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline. The first was stakes winner Exotic West, a five-year-old daughter of Hard Spun who sold to Gage Hill and Runnels Racing for $650,000. Grovendale Sales consigned the mare who is from the family of Grade 1 winner Ron The Greek.

Gage Hill’s Terry Finley, whose West Point Thoroughbreds co-owned Flightline, was thrilled to acquire a mare in foal to the stallion. “Our outlook is that we can’t get enough of him,” Finley said. “We’re really happy with the first book of mares that he had, and the second is shaping up really, really well already.”

Thirty Year Farm paid $625,000 for Grade 3 winner Lady Scarlet, a four-year-old daughter of Union Rags also in foal to Flightline. Consigned by Lane’s End, she is from the family of Canadian Horse of the Year L’Enjoleur and Canadian champions La Voyageuse and Medaille D’Or. “We loved her. She was our first pick,” Kristen Esler of Thirty Year said. “She was in my heart from the moment I saw her. She’s beautiful, and she’s everything we looked for in conformation. She was an A+.”

Act Now, whose two-year-old colt, Coach Prime, captured a maiden special weight race at Del Mar by more than seven lengths three days earlier, sold to Avenue Bloodstock for $610,000 to become the most expensive purchase during Monday’s sixth session of the sale.

Consigned by Nardelli Sales, the eight-year-old Act Now is a daughter of Street Sense, she was sold in foal to City Of Light and she also is the dam of multiple stakes-placed Dr Oseran.

Out of the Bernardini mare Always Trouble, Act Now is from the family of Grade 1 winners Minardi and Joking, as well as Grade 2 winners Tale Of The Cat, Fed Biz and Red Carpet Ready. Act Now’s son Coach Prime sold for $1.7 million at Keeneland’s 2022 September Yearling Sale.

Justify’s weanlings selling like hotcakes

CSWV acquired Saturday’s top-selling weanling when it paid $525,000 for a daughter of Justify out of the winning Algorithms mare Ada Lovelace, herself out of 2021 Broodmare of the Year Indian Miss and a half-sister to champion Mitole and Grade 1 winner Hot Rod Charlie. The filly was consigned by ELiTE.

“We’ve been trying to buy really nice horses like that from the beginning of the sale,” buyer Paul Sharp said. “That was a legit family, and she is a very athletic, really nice filly from one of the best sires in the world at this time. We’re very happy to have her.”

At $525,000, the second session’s top-priced weanling was a son of Constitution sold to Cherry Knoll Farm. Out of the winning Munnings mare Gone To Town, the colt is from the family of champion Negligent and Grade 2 winner, and he was consigned by Nursery Place.

“We try to bring a handful of weanlings every year to Keeneland – a very select few,” said Griffin Mayer of Nursery Place. “They have to be really, really nice with pedigrees and by the right sires. He checked all the boxes and honestly, he’s probably one of the better colts that we’ve raised in the last 10 years. He’s very special.

“We sell 25 yearlings or so every year at Keeneland,” he added, “but there are always three or four that are so nice as babies and you think, ‘why do we hold onto them?’ We’ve had a lot of success here at Keeneland November.”

Purchases by Randy Hartley and Dean De Renzo’s AAA Thoroughbreds were led by a colt by Uncle Mo for $510,000. Consigned by Stone Farm, he is the first foal out of the Curlin mare American Caviar, and from the family of Broodmare of the Year Better Than Honour.

“If you find a good baby now, you’ve got to step up and pay,” Hartley said. “We’re super big Uncle Mo fans.”