Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale has already surpassed its 2024 total gross with three days remaining in Lexington, following the conclusion of its two-day Book 3 on Saturday.
Through five days, 1,125 horses sold through the ring have generated $214,870,500, marking a 31.54% increase from the same period last year when 1,055 horses sold for $163,353,500. The average price rose 23.25% from $154,837 to $190,996, while the median increased 36.84% from $95,000 to $130,000.
Saturday’s session saw 259 horses sell for $25,328,500, a 29.55% jump from the fifth day last year when 255 horses grossed $19,551,500. The average price reached $97,793, up 27.55% from $76,673 in 2024, with the median rising 41.67% from $60,000 to $85,000.
Faris Breeding led all buyers during the session, spending $930,000 on six horses. Gainesway topped consignors with sales of $3,807,000 for 37 horses.
The session’s top seller at $400,000 was Way too Sexy (Flatter) (hip 1482), a 4-year-old mare consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa, Agent. Placed in a maiden special weight race at Santa Anita in January for Bob Baffert and the Three Amigos, Way too Sexy was retired and covered by second-crop sire McKinzie for 2026.
“[You rarely have] the chance to get into those kinds of families, an old Pin Oak family,” said Cary Bloodstock’s Andrew Cary, who signed the ticket on behalf of Coteau Grove Farms. “She was purchased by Peter O’Callaghan as a weanling and then Bob Baffert and Donato Lanni as a yearling so it’s pretty hard to get past that.”
Way too Sexy is out of stakes winner and multiple graded stakes-placed Ready to Confess, a daughter of GI Frizette Stakes winner Confessional. She is a half to stakes winner No Confession (Into Mischief).
McKinzie, second only to Vekoma in the second-crop stallion standings, has sired notable runners including Baeza, Scottish Lassie and Chancer McPatrick.
“He’s has done extremely well starting off,” Cary said of the covering sire. “He looks like a stallion with a great future ahead of him. His weanlings in the sale have been very well received and he’s had several Grade I winners with more to come I would think.”
Louisiana-based Coteau Grove Farm plans to breed their newest broodmare to Wit, a son of Practical Joke who retired last year to stud through a partnership between Whispering Oaks and Coteau Grove Farms.
“She’ll go back to Louisiana,” Cary said. “We’re building a national-caliber broodmare band there with the likes of Tumbarumba’s mother and Margie’s Intention’s mother. So hopefully this one will follow in their footsteps.”
The top weanling of the day was a son of Vekoma (hip 1541) purchased by Brian Graves’s En Fuego Stables for $375,000. Bred in Kentucky by Aymen Moftah Inkeep, the colt was consigned by Columbiana Farm.
“[I liked] everything really,” said Graves, who also serves as the General Manager at Gainesway. “I thought he was one of the best weanlings here today if not the best and I had my mind made up this morning when I came up to the sale.”
The Vekoma colt is out of an unraced Nyquist half-sister to GI Xpressbet Florida Derby runner-up State of Honor (To Honor and Serve).
“Vekoma is doing great,” Graves said. “For any second-crop stallion to surpass $11,000,000 in earnings means that he must be a special stallion in the making.”
When asked about the current market conditions, Graves was succinct: “[The market is] absolutely savage.”
The November Sale continues Sunday and runs through Tuesday with all sessions beginning at 10 a.m.
