Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
UNPRECEDENTED COOPERATION AMONG SALE RIVALS
A wave of change swept the Thoroughbred racing and bloodstock industries earlier this year as it grappled with the global coronavirus pandemic. That wave is set to crest at the end of this summer. The Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, rescheduled for the first weekend of September, could wash continued momentum into Lexington, Ky., for this year’s unprecedented yearling sale season.
The calendar kicks off with the Fasig-Tipton selected yearling showcase on Sept. 9-10, before continuing across town with the bellwether Keeneland September yearling sale on Sept. 13-25. The two auction houses, rivals who compete for the best horses in their catalogs and the attention of buyers, have this year joined forces to navigate the uncharted waters, with Fasig-Tipton coordinating the dates of its new sale with a receptive Keeneland to allow the two to benefit the industry and to establish joint safety protocols. Meanwhile, everyone must dive in with both feet.
“Normally, the market has the opportunity to ramp up gradually through the early Fasig-Tipton sales, and sellers can forecast what to expect in September,” said Mark Taylor, vice president of marketing and public sales operations for
his family’s Taylor Made Sales Agency, a perennial leading consignor. “This year, there will be nothing gradual. We will be forced to open up with 650-plus horses at Fasig-Tipton, and none of us really know what to expect. . . . There won’t be a lot of time to analyze the results before we jump into Book 1 at Keeneland.”
The most obvious difference on this year’s yearling sale calendar is that Fasig-Tipton was forced to reimagine its summer schedule, which typically consists of three summer selected yearling sales. The selected yearling showcase represents a consolidation of the company’s July selected yearling sale in Kentucky, the Saratoga selected yearling sale – which was to have celebrated its 100th edition in August – and its New York-bred yearling sale, also in Saratoga. The company expects those three sales to return to their traditional dates in 2021.
“Throughout the spring, it was apparent there were going to be certain issues and challenges unlike anything anybody’s ever faced before,” said Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning Jr. “We were unable to really start doing inspections and working on the July sale during the timeline we normally would. And then it became a factor that the 2-year-old sales were going to be pushed back, so the July sale got taken off the table. And obviously, with the immediate issues that took place in New York, that being a critical area of outbreaks, after a lot of thought and deliberation and evaluation, we made a decision that it wasn’t feasible to conduct [sales] in Saratoga this year because of the likely absence of fans and owners. It was going to be impossible to conduct a normal sale, and in hindsight, that premise was correct.”
As Browning alluded to, the North American juvenile sale season, which typically begins in March and concludes in June prior to the start of yearling sales, was upended by the pandemic. Four on-site sales dedicated to juveniles were held by the three major North American auction houses in 2020, compared to seven sales in 2019, with most of the remaining sales pushed back on the calendar. Fasig-Tipton’s boutique Gulfstream sale and Keeneland’s April sale were among the casualties.
The Thoroughbred bloodstock market typically proceeds with caution in response to economic uncertainty, as seen following the market crash of fall 2008, which caused sale figures and stud fees to plummet. The pandemic has resulted in stock market instability and a high unemployment rate. Additionally, the yearling and juvenile sale markets can feed off one another, as pinhookers, flush from success selling juveniles at a profit, may be inspired to restock freely at yearling sales. Conversely, a poor juvenile sale season can lead to market restraint. So, as sales companies waited for that juvenile sale season to conclude before beginning yearling sales, they also held their breath for the results.
This year’s juvenile sales market was fighting an uphill battle even without the pandemic, as a number of sales were coming off record renewals in 2019 that 2020 would be hardpressed to match. And indeed, the cumulative average price for all 1,760 juveniles sold between the four major-market sales this season finished at $72,014. The drop from an average of $97,789 last year for 2,120 horses who changed hands suggests a ceiling on the market, with buyers restrained in how far they will stretch their spending. The cumulative buyback rate was an encouraging 31 percent, ticking upward only slightly from 29 percent last year. That figure suggests an urgency on both sides of the marketplace. With fewer sales, buyers were forced to compete strongly to fill their orders, and consignors were eager to move their stock in the limited opportunities available.
“The most important part of the 2-year-old market was horses traded,” Keeneland director of sales operations Geoffrey Russell said. “There was a market there for these horses. Probably nobody became rich with them, but they were at least able to sell their horses, move on, and have a little profit.”
In addition to an encouraging 2-year-old marketplace, bloodstock industry participants have found encouragement in the fact that Thoroughbred racing continued to roll on, even in the midst of the pandemic. Although some jurisdictions experienced temporary shutdowns, all have now resumed, and the summer’s major meetings at Saratoga in the East and Del Mar in the West began on schedule. That allowed owners to continue meeting their expenses and profiting, and perhaps encouraged them to restock for races still to come.
“I thought it was very encouraging to see racing bounce back from the shutdown,” Denali Stud vice president Conrad Bandoroff said. “The handle numbers in July were extremely encouraging. That’s so important for the marketplace for owners to be able to have horses in their stable
running and hopefully generating some purses.”
And so as the calendar turns to September, crosstown rival auction houses Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland have come together to coordinate the dates of their sales in order to limit travel for buyers and provide a single set of biosecurity protocols.
“The relationship with FasigTipton, yes, it is a competitive relationship, but in times of pandemics, the industry is more important than the companies,” Russell said. “It was very important for us to work with FasigTipton to make sure the industry was served the best we could provide. It was very important for the market that they were able to conduct their sale, and then to make it convenient for our consignors and our buyers.”
The two auction houses recently released joint biosecurity safety measures for their sales. A negative COVID-19 test within 10 days of entry to the sale grounds will be required of all consignors and staff, veterinarians and staff, farriers, van counter representatives, media, and any other person who will be interfacing with the public on a daily basis. Buyers are not required to be tested, but must complete a health questionnaire prior to the sale. Traffic onto the sale grounds will be limited, as neither sale will be open to the public, with attendance limited to credentialed participants. Buyers must pre-register online, and seating capacity will be limited in the sale pavilion. The companies have created a single virtual access credential to be used across both sale facilities. Daily health screenings, including temperature checks, will be performed upon access to the grounds for all attendees. Face coverings will be mandatory, in accordance with a Kentucky mandate, and social distancing of at least six feet is required throughout the grounds.
In addition to those mandates, consignors also have reimagined some parts of their own routines to reduce traffic and touch points. For example, Taylor said that his consignments would utilize digital cards for buyers to list their desired horses to inspect, rather than
paper cards handed to a consignment employee, as is the norm.
The coordinated sale dates also have allowed Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton to lobby government officials together in what Russell describes as an “industry-based approach” to allow provisions for international buyers to travel to Kentucky for the sales. Foreign nationals from a number of parts of the world were not permitted to enter the United States as of mid-August. The sales companies, along with other industry entities such as the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and National Thoroughbred Racing Association, have asked officials to consider exceptions for those traveling on industry business.
“We’ve been working really hard with state and federal officials, including Senator [Mitch] McConnell and Congressman
[Andy] Barr and the department of homeland security to work for travel allowances for international customers,” said Shannon Bishop Arvin, president-elect of Keeneland and also the company’s interim head of sales. “We are optimistic that those efforts are going to be successful . . . . To the extent buyers aren’t able to travel here, we’ve worked hard to make sure that they can participate remotely.”
Both the sale companies and individual consignors have worked to virtually market yearlings this season, providing walking videos and other virtual inspection materials, as well as additional comments and notes on yearlings. This is not only intended to serve international buyers, but also domestic buyers who wish to limit their on-site interaction with others and to maintain social distancing.
Both Keeneland and FasigTipton
also launched online bidding platforms this year, which they envision integrating seamlessly with live bidding in physical auctions, and have expanded their traditional phone-bidding programs.
“Without European participation, you’re going to feel that on the front end, in Books 1 through 3, and without Korean and South American participation, you feel that on the back end, on really the breadand-butter $20,000 to $30,000 horses,” Bandoroff said. “We’re talking about a situation where it could become pretty catastrophic. But people are resilient. They’ll find a way to get business done. Even if they can’t attend – whether they work with consignors, whether they work with domestically located agents, they’re going to find a way to get business done.”
One other thing Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland will have in common this September is their ties to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks, with hopes for major catalog updates. Fasig-Tipton has cataloged a New York-bred half-brother to Kentucky Derby favorite Tiz the Law, already a four-time Grade 1 winner of the Belmont Stakes, Runhappy Travers Stakes, Florida Derby, and Champagne Stakes. The one-off selected yearling showcase also will feature a halfbrother to Santa Anita Derby winner and Kentucky Derby contender Honor A. P.; as well as a half-brother to Alabama Stakes winner Swiss Skydiver, one of the Kentucky Oaks favorites. Meanwhile at Keeneland, the catalog sports a colt by leading sire Into Mischief who is a half-brother to Art Collector, who was expected to be the second choice in the Derby before a minor injury caused his withdrawal, and a half-sister to the brilliant dual Grade 1 winner Gamine, also among the headliners for the Oaks.
“We’ll damn sure have our fingers crossed for some nice updates,” Browning said. “We’ve seen some of the magic that can happen around the November sales with the Breeders’ Cup and the proximity to those races.”
“Also, there’s nothing better than an owner winning a major race before a horse sale,” Russell added.