Keeneland, Investing in Racing's Future since 1936.
Issue link: https://keenelandmagazine.epubxp.com/i/681141
KEENELAND.COM K SUMMER 2016 69 the early years, with the sales setting record averages, drawing the offspring of the nation's leading sires, and helping boost Keeneland's reputation. The Breeders' Sales Co., a separate entity that conducted the sales, continued to build on that reputation through the 1950s and 1960s. "The business was just beginning to become an international business, and something like that (a new pavilion) was pretty necessary for people coming from all over the world to the sales," McLean said. "I think Keeneland, maybe, was ahead of its time a little bit and realized where it was going." As Keeneland's Tom Thornbury recalled from his days as a teenager working for Lee Eaton, the need was especially obvious as the excitement surrounding the sales — and the audience — grew. "It [the old pavilion] was so small, and you would have had a crush of people inside, but no one would have been able to observe," said Thornbury, who is now associate director of sales. "Visionary" design The Keeneland Association, having merged with the Breeders' Sales Co. and now entrenched in the business of selling horses, approved construction of a new pavilion in 1966. Two years later the board of directors gave fnal approval to the project and hired Arthur Froehlich and Associates of Beverly Hills, Cal- ifornia, to design the facility. The grand opening was set for the 1969 July sale. "Froehlich was an internationally known race- track architect," Bassett said. "He'd done Belmont; A TRIBUTE TO NORTHERN DANCER Tucked away inside Keeneland's world-renowned sales pavilion is a small bar named after a small Thor- oughbred whose legacy looms large in the world of equine commerce: North- ern Dancer. Considered perhaps the greatest Thoroughbred sire of the 20th cen- tury, Northern Dancer has had an unmatched infuence on Keeneland's yearling sales. The legacy of this great horse continues through the sons and grandsons of Danzig, Storm Cat, and others whose offspring routinely top the Keeneland sales. So, it was only ftting that the dimin- utive Northern Dancer somehow would be represented in Keeneland's sales pavilion. Displayed inside the cozy bar are photos of the "sire of sires," as well as his racing silks. "The Northern Dancer Bar tells you the infuence he had," said Associate Director of Sales Tom Thornbury. During the July select yearling sales, evening sessions drew overfow crowds of horse people as well as spectators. James E. "Ted" Bassett III ANNE M. EBERHARDT KEENELAND PHOTO KEENELAND PHOTO