Coolmore's M.V. Magnier, Peter Brant, and Winchell Thoroughbreds teamed up to land a Gun Runner colt (Hip 177) with a black-type-drenched pedigree for $3.3 million during the Sept. 8 opening session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
The dark bay or brown colt crowned the September sale's first session which produced 15 seven-figure sales—the highest number for the first session since 2006. Among the richest purchases, four were by Three Chimneys Farm's marquee sire and 2017 Horse of the Year.
Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa sold the Gun Runner colt that the farm also co-bred with Determined Stud out of the grade 2 winner Thoughtfully (Tapit ). The session topper's dam is a full sister to stakes winner Signator, and a half sibling to two other stakes winners—grade 2 winner Annual Report (Harlan's Holiday) and multiple stakes winner Giant Payday (Giant's Causeway). The September colt's third dam is grade 1 winner Furlough.
"He's by Gun Runner, and all the lads really liked him," Magnier said.
Gun Runner stood the 2025 season at Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky., for an advertised fee of $250,000. He sits third on the general leading sires list through Sept. 7.
Magnier and Brant's White Birch Farm paired up last year to buy Hip 177's half brother by Curlin for $1.3 million during the second session of the September sale.
"Chad (Brown) actually likes him quite a bit, so hopefully he'll win soon enough," Magnier said of the Curlin colt, who has been breezing since August at Belmont Park.
"We knew he (Hip 177) was a very smooth, very good horse by a great sire who had another grade 1 winner (Brant) yesterday (in the Del Mar Futurity), from a prolific female family," said Hill 'n' Dale Farm's John Sikura. "You hope for the best.
"After a million dollars, you're just watching and hoping. You never know where they're going to wind up, but the good thing is, I knew we were strong going in, multiplicity of interest from strong people. After that, you're just a spectator in the process, and hopefully they all get brave and stay brave (bidding)."
The top-priced filly of the session was Hip 144, a filly by Not This Time who sold for $2 million to David Lanigan, Ted Durcan, agents for Mrs. Cindy Heider. She is out of the stakes-placed mare Stave and was bred and consigned by Hinkle Farms.
"I knew this filly was in the catalog," Heider's husband, Scott Heider, said. "There are two fillies on the page (Surf N Sand and Coco as in Chanel) that we raced and were stakes winners for us. We knew the family, and we really like the Hinkle family. They raise very good horses. We looked at a lot of good fillies in Book 1 and I told (my team), 'This is the one I want.' I had no idea we would have to wrestle that hard to get it done."
READ: Not This Time Filly Rings the Bell at $2M
All metrics for Day 1 showed record growth including gross sales, average, and median. A total of 113 head sold for $71,595,000, including post-ring sales, up from last year's $57,045,000 from a similar 108 horses. The average was a single-session record of $633,584, topping last year's of $528,194, and a median of $500,000, up from last year's $410,000. Twenty-one horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 15.7%.
"We saw a really healthy environment. Everybody here that came to buy horses felt that they had to spend more to get them," said Keeneland's vice president of sales Tony Lacy. "It's okay to break records, and we broke records today, which was great, but I feel like it's very sustainable. There's not strong peaks and valleys. You can see the logic in the prices horses are bringing."
Keeneland president and CEO Shannon Arvin credited the bonus depreciation resulting from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the investments that are going into the racetracks for helping fuel some of the demand.
"This is a full circle, this is for the sport," Arvin said. "I think there's also some recognition of the excitement and the belief we all have to be investing so much in our facilities for the future of the sport."
Lacy echoed Arvin's thoughts: "Everything we're doing, we're putting back into the game. That's one thing we're very proud of at Keeneland. You buy with us, you sell with us, you race with us; and that ecosystem, helps us plan forward and gives us a lot more confidence in what we do."
Taylor Made Sales Agency was the leading consignor, selling 23 head for $13,655,000. CHC, Maverick Racing, and First Go Racing led all buyers with six purchases totaling $4,050,000.
The action continues Sept. 9 with the second and final session of Book 1, beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET. Hips 191-374 are slated to go through the ring. As of Monday evening, Keeneland had reported 29 outs.
