LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Keeneland surpassed its own world record
for gross receipts in a single thoroughbred auction Monday at its
September Yearling Sale.
The purchase of a colt by the sire Officer, out of the broodmare
Prim Flower, for $45,000 by Excel Bloodstock, LLC brought the
sale's total gross to $324,927,500. The record was broken during
the auction's seventh day, 2,216 horses into the 5,110-horse
catalog for the sale, which runs through Sept. 26.
Last year, Keeneland set the former record during its 14-day
September sale, selling 3,370 horses for $324,904,300.
To break the record so early in this year's sale "is a real
thrill for everyone involved," Keeneland sales director Geoffrey
Russell said.
On the second day of the sale, a Storm Cat colt out of the
broodmare Tranquility Lake sold for $9.7 million -- the highest
price ever paid in the September sale's 62-year history and the
third-highest price ever paid for a yearling at a Keeneland
auction.
The colt was purchased by John Ferguson, the buyer for Sheik
Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai. Ferguson
also signed the ticket for a $6.3 million Storm Cat colt earlier in
the sale's second session.