I’ve been doing Best of Sale for the majority of sales in North America since 1990. Today, I just finished evaluating Day 1 of the Keeneland November sale. In all of the past 17 years, I have never seen a stronger first day for broodmares! Normally, 35% to 38% of Day 1 qualify as BOS recommendations. This year the number is 45%. But the real story is the number of highly-rated mares. For BOS, I use a star rating system with 1.0 Stars being the minimum qualifier and 5.0 Star being as good as it gets. Look at these ratings for Day 1:
5.0 Stars — 5 Broodmares
4.5 Stars — 9 Broodmares
4.0 Stars — 10 Broodmares
3.5 Stars — 13 Broodmares
I reviewed my recommendations over the past 17 years for Day 1 at Keeneland November, and the previous high for 5.0 Star Recommendations was four, BUT that was for the ENTIRE sale! The same hold true for the 4.5 Star, 4.0 Star, and 3.5 Star recommendations. All I can say is that if you are looking foundation-type broodmares, this year’s Keeneland November sale may be the best opportunity you will ever have. I will post an update after I finish Day 2.