Keeneland keeps up the pace: Book 3 also produces millions and the record now hits 69
The Keeneland September Yearling Sale resumed following Friday's dark day with $61,072,000 in total gross sales, four seven-figure yearlings, and gains in both average and median prices. Not This Time sired the session's two highest-priced lots, fetching $1,500,000 and $1,400,000
LEXINGTON, Kentucky (Special for Turf Diario).— The book changed, but the buyers' appetite did not. Following Friday's scheduled dark day, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale returned this Saturday with the start of Book 3 and once again proved that the strength seen throughout the opening sessions was not reserved exclusively for the most select catalogs.
Four yearlings reached or surpassed the million-dollar mark, bringing the record number of yearlings sold for $1,000,000 or more during the first five sessions to 69.
A comparison with 2025 puts the current market momentum into even clearer perspective: at the same point in that edition, the total stood at 53. Keeneland traded 255 yearlings through the ring for $61,072,000, just shy of the $61,799,000 generated on the fifth session last year, when 278 head changed hands.
In other words, despite selling 23 fewer horses, total gross sales practically held firm.
The session average reflected that shift, reaching $239,498—a 7.74 percent increase over the $222,299 recorded in 2025. Meanwhile, the median rose 11.11 percent, moving from $180,000 up to $200,000.
The divergence at the top end was equally striking. In last year's fifth session, only two yearlings hit seven figures; this time, four crossed that threshold.
Not This Time sweeps the top spots
The session topper fetched $1,500,000, featuring a colt by Not This Time purchased by RTM Racing.
Consigned by Gainesway, the colt is the first foal out of Ana’s Gun, a daughter of Gun Runner and a half-sister to Structor (Palace Music), winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1).
The deep family line also features recent Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Always a Runner (Gun Runner), Australian champion Lady of Camelot (Written Tycoon), and More Than Real (More Than Ready), among other standout names.
“It is really hard to find horses like this one. He is incredible, beautiful, and boasts an extraordinary pedigree,” explained Mahmud Mouni, agent for RTM Racing.
For Mouni, the session in which he appeared was beside the point. “He could have been in Book 1 or Book 2. With the good horses, the book doesn't matter: if everyone likes him, the price gets there.”
Not This Time completed the top-spot double with a filly that reached $1,400,000.
Agent Lauren Carlisle signed the ticket for the daughter of O’Maggi, by Paddy O’Prado, consigned by Eaton Salesand hailing from the family of G1 winner Dream Tree (Uncle Mo).
Carlisle ended the day as the session's leading buyer, investing $2,835,000 across five yearlings.
Life Is Good hits seven figures as well
The day's third-highest price belonged to a colt by Life Is Good, sold for $1,250,000 to a partnership comprising St. Elias, West Point, Lane’s End Racing, and Belladonna.
Also consigned by Gainesway, he is out of Graceful Fancy, by Liam’s Map, from a family featuring G1 winners La Gueriere (Lord At War) and Al Mamoon (Believe It), alongside Munnings (Speightstown).
Adding immediate timeliness to the pedigree, his 2-year-old half-brother Fancy Ferraro had won on debut just ten days earlier at Kentucky Downs.
The fourth seven-figure yearling was a colt by Into Mischief, secured by agent Fergus Galvin for exactly $1,000,000. Out of Weather Delay (Curlin), he descends from G1 winner American Gal (Concord Point), within a family that also produced Reynaldothewizard (Speightstown), Seventh Street (Street Cry), and Lake Avenue (Tapit).
Gainesway shines once again
Beyond selling the session topper, Gainesway enjoyed a stellar session overall. The consignment sold four of the day's ten highest-priced yearlings and finished as the leading consignor, with 39 yearlings sold for a total of $12,685,000.
Two other colts reached $850,000. One was a son of Good Magic and half-brother to G1 winner Mongolian Groom(Hightail), acquired by Donato Lanni for FRC/Starlight/Madaket. The other was a colt by Flightline, a half-brother to G1 winner Constellation (Bellamy Road), for whom Al and Sandee Kirkwood paid the identical sum.
Also drawing significant attention was a colt by Honor A. P., the first foal out of Silent Wings (Quality Road) and belonging to the family of champion Abel Tasman (Quality Road). CHC Inc., Maverick Racing, and Light Post Ventures went to $750,000 to secure him.
Among the lots selling for $700,000 was a nod to Argentine bloodlines: a filly by Candy Ride, consigned by Gainesway and purchased by Courtlandt Farm. Bringing the same figure was a colt by Gun Runner out of G1winner Malibu Prayer (Malibu Moon), bought jointly by RTM Racing and Whisper Hill Farm.
Nearly $380 million across 5 sessions
The cumulative totals continue to offer the clearest measure of the sale's strength. Through five sessions, 888 yearlings have been sold through the ring for $379,187,000—a 2.64 percent increase compared to the $369,438,000 generated by 949 head at the same stage in 2025.
Fewer horses, more money
The cumulative average stands at $427,012, up 9.69 percent from last year's $389,292, while the median remains steady at $300,000.
Yet perhaps no figure is as telling as those 69 seven-figure yearlings, compared to the 53 recorded after five sessions in 2025.
Book 3 was expected to mark the start of a logical deceleration following four extraordinary sessions. The market responded otherwise. The catalog pages turned, but buyers continued to compete fiercely for what they deemed special. And with nearly $380 million sold and 69 million-dollar yearlings in the books, Keeneland keeps finding new ways to push its own benchmarks even further.
