The Keeneland November breeding stock sale was hammered last year by the global financial crisis, suffering alarming downturns of 45.5% in gross, 39% in average price, and 42.9% in median price after a record-setting run in 2007. This year, consignors and sale company officials are hoping that–at the very least–the declines will slow down, but the odds are against a rebound during the auction’s 13-day run, Nov. 10-22, in Lexington.

The breeding end of the Thoroughbred business has been hit especially hard, and with many horsemen planning to send fewer mares to the breeding sheds in 2010 in an effort to cut their costs, there probably will be less demand for many of the horses at Keeneland, especially the lower-quality producers.

“We go into every sale with a degree of optimism, and we’re hoping that things will turn around a little bit,” said Bill Farish of Lane’s End Farm. “But we think the chance (for improvement) is not great, so we’ll just have to see what happens. We’re seeing the projected foal crop go down to 30,000. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of that trend, and I don’t know where it will bottom out. There will be a fair number of mares that are in the sale that may not be bred back next year.”

There are 4,702 horses cataloged for the auction, down 17.6% from the record figure of 5,709 in 2008