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As Keeneland’s assistant director of sales operations, Dean Roethemeier’s job duties change with the seasons, but always involve looking to the future. In the fall he pores over sale entries. In the winter he travels overseas to meet with foreign buyers. In the spring he accompanies the inspection team to examine prospects. And in the summer, he takes all that he’s learned and applies it to formulating the strongest catalogs possible for September, November, and January.
In five years with the Keeneland sales operations team, Roethemeier, 41, has been able to soak up knowledge from past and present heads Geoffrey Russell and Cormac Breathnach. It is no surprise, then, that when asked where he would like to see his career path end up, Roethheimer’s immediate answer is, here, at Keeneland.
Days before Book 1 of the September Yearling Sale, Roethemeier spoke with MarketWatch about his introduction to Thoroughbreds, what he loves most about his job, and what makes Keeneland special.
MarketWatch: How did you get interested in horses?
Dean Roethemeier: I was born and grew up in Henderson, Ky. So my introduction to racing was going to Ellis Park in the summers. Ellis is a small racetrack and I just love everything about it. We’d go with friends and family through the summer.
And then I went to the University of Louisville. We’d go to Churchill Downs and Keeneland and I was just blown away. I did the Equine Industry Program at (University of) Louisville. I loved everything about racing. I didn’t know what I wanted to do within that world but I knew that I wanted to be part of it.
I got it in my head that I wanted to become a vet. I did the prerequisites for vet school, and at the same time I applied for the Darley Flying Start program. I was lucky enough to get accepted so that put the vet school dream to bed.
At the end of Flying Start I stayed on with Darley/Godolphin in England at Dalam Hall and did some stallion marketing before moving to Kentucky and doing stallion nominations at Jonabell.
MW: What’s your role at Keeneland?
DR: My initial role was more client relations and development, which I think is part of everybody’s role in the sales department at Keeneland. Now I’m the assistant director of sales operations. I work closely with Cormac to put these sales together from start to finish.
MW: What’s your favorite part of the job?
DR: We take entries in May for September, and then we make a plan for which of those yearlings we’re going to inspect and plan those inspections out. I really enjoy going out and seeing those yearlings on inspections, mid-May through June.
And also seeing them once they get to the grounds here and how they’ve changed, or maybe how they’ve stayed the same. You put so much thought into where these horses should fit within the sale or your opinion of them and then it’s neat to see them go through the ring and prove you right or wrong.
Dean Roethemeier works the grounds in advance of the September Yearling Sale at Keeneland
MW: What are buyers looking for these days? How has it changed in the few years that you have been at Keeneland?
DR: Domestically, I don’t know that it’s changed. I think most people are coming here hoping to buy the Kentucky Derby winner, or something close to it.
But I think I think our sellers appreciate that we can give them information on, say, what the new emerging international markets are and who those buyers are. So they feel informed when it comes time for the sales. They see new faces walking around and we can fill them in on who those people are and what they might be looking for.
Roethemeier inspects a yearling at the sale
MW: What makes Keeneland such a special place to work?
DR: It’s a lot of different things. It’s very unique within the world of racing and sales. There’s our mission and what we do, our unique structure, not really having to answer to shareholders and things like that, makes it a great place to work. Our mission is by horsemen, for horsemen.
Everybody knows Keeneland and, traveling around the world, it opens a lot of doors. If someone has any interest in breeding, racing, or sales, they’re going to know what this place is, and want to talk to you about it, which is really fun.
I think everybody that works at Keeneland feels this same commitment to be a good steward of the place and the institution that it is. We all want to improve it as much as we can and prepare it for the future, whatever that means for racing and breeding, and leave it in a better place than we found it.
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