RECENT AUCTIONS POST HIGHLIGHTS

Keeneland’s Toroughbred auctions in November 2022 and January 2023 completed the sales season with a number of positive results. At the 10-session November breeding stock sale, which began the Monday afer Keeneland hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships for the third time, bullish results refected positive market trends:

• Robust commerce among the world’s deepest buying bench;

• Exceptional oferings that yielded 13 lots sold for seven fgures, led by champion Midnight Bisou for $5.5 million and a fractional interest in Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner and eventual Horse of the Year Flightline for $4.6 million; and

• Continued demand for quality foals that produced North America’s highest-priced weanling for the ninth time in the past 10 years.

At the auction, Keeneland sold 2,329 horses for $216.4 million, for an average of $92,928 and a median of $35,000.

Keeneland in 2022 created a stand-alone auction for horses of racing age that in

Masters Of Craft Awards Return

Keeneland Mercantile, the unique retail destination in downtown Lexington, and Keeneland magazine have announced the second Masters of Craf Awards, an annual competition to highlight regional artisans and makers across multiple disciplines while celebrating crafsmen and businesses that manufacture and produce products in the U.S. Te overall grand prize winner will receive $5,000, a physical award, and featured product placement in Keeneland Mercantile and KeenelandMercantile.com.

Te competition ofers four categories (food & drink, home goods, wears, handmade), which will have three fnalists apiece. Tose 12 fnalists will be eligible previous years had been included in the November breeding stock sale. At the horses of racing sale on Nov. 17, the day afer the breeding stock sale, Mick Wallace, agent for Ghandarvi, paid $1 million for a 2-year-old colt by Into Mischief who is from the family of multiple Grade 2 winner and successful sire Munnings. Te colt was named Extortion.

A total of 172 horses sold for $11.8 million, for an average of $68,648 and a median of $36,000. who owns Gathered Mercantile and Amsden Cofee Club in Versailles, Kentucky. for the Patrons’ Pick Award, which is decided by an online public vote. Te entry deadline was Feb. 5. Te winner is to be announced March 20 and will receive $1,000 and a physical award.

Solid trade and an emphasis on quality oferings marked the four-day January horses of all ages sale, which was led by the sale of recent Santa Anita Park winner Ancient Peace for $650,000 to Travis Boersma’s Boardshorts Stables. A total of 1,000 horses sold for nearly $47.3 million, for an average of $47,279 and a median of $19,000.

• Lawrence Weeks, chef at North of Bourbon in Louisville, Kentucky, who started LocalsOnly, a pop-up focused on local people, products, and food.

Judging the competition are:

• Beth Lewis, owner of Olde Tyme Marketplace in Madison, Indiana.

• Darren K. Moore, licensed jeweler of the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup.

• Emily Riddle, designer and blogger

• Heather Wibbels, the “Cocktail Contessa,” an author, columnist, award-winning mixologist, and managing director of Bourbon Women.

Winners and fnalists will be announced in the summer issue of Keeneland magazine.

In 2022, the overall winner of the frst Masters of Craf Awards competition was “Te 42 Twin” Tree Swing produced by Southern Pine Swing Company of Jacksonville, Florida.