New era for Keeneland as Scat Daddy’s Sydney mare Con Te Partiro set for US auction
The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, described as one of the most important thoroughbred auctions in the world, got underway in the US last night as the company’s incoming leader pointed to Australia as setting the platform for the global bloodstock market to appeal to a grounded buying bench.
Shannon Arvin, a “recovering lawyer” with a rich pedigree in the American thoroughbred industry, will succeed Bill Thomason as president and chief executive of Keeneland from January 1 next year.
For now, in her interim role, Arvin is focusing on the 12-session September Yearling Sale, an auction that provided this month’s Kentucky Derby (Gr 1, 10f) and Kentucky Oaks (Gr 1, 9f) winners Authentic (Into Mischief) and Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) as well as the US Triple Crown winner and Coolmore shuttler Justify (Scat Daddy).
“We’ve been watching all the other sales that have been before ours and we’ve been eagerly awaiting the start of ours,” Arvin told ANZ Bloodstock News at the weekend.
“Trade is happening which is really encouraging and … while I don’t think we’re going to see any record-breaking grosses, averages or medians at our sale, I think we’ll be stable and everybody’s excited to just get back to some form of normality given the world we are in.”
Arvin added: “We view September as one of the most important sales in the world in terms of an opportunity to purchase future champions and if you think about our Kentucky Oaks and our Kentucky Derby winners, both of whom were Keeneland Sale graduates, that is something else that has happened in the past week that makes everyone extra excited about this sale and the grounds are buzzing.”
Southern hemisphere agents such as Boomer Bloodstock’s Craig Rounsefell, Andy Williams, Newgate Farm’s Henry Field are regular attendees in Kentucky, while the important November Breeding Stock Sale has in the past attracted the likes of Julian Blaxland, Bill and James Mitchell and Milburn Creek’s John Muir.
Speaking to ANZ Bloodstock News before announcing that the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Group 1-winning mare Con Te Partiro (Scat Daddy) would be a star attraction at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, Arvin found it hard to predict what the world economic state would be like in two months’ time but believes international buyers will be paying close attention to the US broodmare market.
Providing online bidding and information to buyers, she said, would play a big part in ensuring those overseas investors who usually attended the US sales were engaged in 2020.
She said: “We have always had good international competition from as many as 52 countries and certainly some of the big (global breeders such as Coolmore and Godolphin) who we count on as great supporters of the marketplace, we expect to be active again.”
The online technology, similar to that used by Inglis, and more recently by Magic Millions and New Zealand Bloodstock, was rolled out in time for the September sale.
“We’ve watched with a lot of interest other sales from around the world and (the Australian sales companies) have been the pioneers in that,” she said.
“It looks like the results in Australia have been really strong and there’s been a strong reaction from the market and we hope there will be for us, too.
“Even if the folks can’t be here physically, we’ve got the walking videos posted on a large number of horses in our sale and we’ve got people on the ground who are able to inspect for people who aren’t able to be here.”
‘Con Te Partiro a collector’s item’
Con Te Partiro, owned by S F Bloodstock who paid US$575,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Sale after she was initially a Keeneland September sale graduate three years earlier, significantly enhanced her immense value by taking out this year’s Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) and the Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) during the Sydney autumn carnival.
A daughter of US Grade 1-placed mare Temple Street (Street Cry), Con Te Partiro was also a Listed winner at Royal Ascot and at Saratoga before making her way to Australia for Waterhouse and Bott who are about to embark on an ambitious Breeders’ Cup campaign to coincide her reappearance at the Keeneland sales.
Arvin was delighted that S F Bloodstock’s Tom Ryan, Henry Field and Gavin Murphy had elected to offer the high-class mare at Keeneland.
“We’ve talked with Tom and Gavin and kept in touch with them and we have certainly followed her career. It is amazing with what she’s achieved,” Arvin said.
“She broke her maiden here in 2016 and she was (originally) owned by some friends, so it’s just been a fun story, because all of her owners have had such a good time with her.”
The seven-year-old mare (to southern hemisphere time), who went on her Group 1-winning run during the autumn, ran fifth first-up in the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and is expected to line up in Saturday week’s Golden Pendant (Gr 2, 1400m) at Rosehill.
S F Bloodstock’s Kentucky-based representative Tom Ryan said Con Te Partiro was “clearly a collector’s item and a limited edition” whose Australian form was deserving of a tilt at either the Fillies and Mares Turf (Gr 1, 11f) or the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Gr 1, 1m).
“As she has developed into one of the best mares in Australia, she has given us the confidence to take on the best in the world at the Breeders’ Cup,” Ryan told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Grade 1 races are always notoriously difficult to win, but her body of work (means that) she deserves a chance and she has already repaid our confidence many times over.”
It is not the first time S F Bloodstock has sent mares around the world in a bid to maximise their value. At the recent Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Australian Group 1-winning mare Viddora (I Am Invincible) was purchased privately in Europe, mated with Lope De Vega (Shamardal) and brought back to the southern hemisphere where she sold for $2.55 million.
Ryan expects the US broodmare market to be similar to what was experienced in Australia this year, with high-quality mares in hot demand headed by $4.2 million seller Sunlight (Zoustar).
“The (US) market has been resilient in the face of great uncertainty. It was inevitable there would be some softness, but overall we are happy to see a relatively robust market for good horses,” he said.
“Our experience in bloodstock and other markets tell us that in times of great uncertainty there is always a flight to quality.”The second day of the Breeders’ Cup meeting is scheduled for November 7, two days before the Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale starts. Con Te Partiro, who will be consigned by Bedouin Bloodstock as agent, will be offered in Book 1 on November 9.