Keeneland 2-year-old sale rebounds
By Glenye Cain Oakford
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's April 2-year-old sale closed out the boutique juvenile auction season on a bright spot, reversing the 2009 sale's declines in gross and median. The sale-topper was a $625,000 Bernardini colt that Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stable purchased from William Helmbrecht, agent. Helmbrecht's brother Mike bred the colt in the name of the Woodbridge Farm, which he operates with partner Bill Geist.
The single-session auction at Keeneland's sale pavilion in Lexington grossed $12,013,000 for 71 horses, a slight improvement of 2 percent from last year's total for 66 juveniles. The average fell by 5 percent, a much shallower decline than that seen last season, to $169,197. In the most positive sign, horses that sold brought a median price of $135,000, up 15 percent from 2009's figure. Buybacks were 37 percent.
SALES RESULTS