Late fireworks propel Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale

By Tom Law

The second session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale finished with a flourish early Monday evening to help push the market to results that included a second straight record for total receipts.

Fasig-Tipton reported sales on 219 of the 300 yearlings through the ring over the two-day sale for a record $20,904,000 (including post-sale returns), up 3.6 percent from last year’s mark of $20,175,000 for 188 sold.

The increased number of yearlings sold – which came after an initial catalog of 364 – and rise in overall RNA rate led to a drop in average price. Average price came in at $95,452, down 11.1 percent from last year’s average of $107,314. Median rose 1.4 percent from $74,000 in 2022 to $75,000 this year.

“All in all it’s a healthy market,” said Boyd Browning Jr., Fasig-Tipton president and chief executive officer. “You’ve heard me describe for a while, in July and again here, it’s going to be fair marketplace. The buyers were complaining that they couldn’t buy the horses that they wanted and the sellers were saying they wish they had a little bit more marketplace, particularly in the $30,000 to $60,000 price range. That’s indicative of the world we live in today.

“Overall, a very successful sale. The New York-bred program continues to be a leader in the United States certainly and probably in the world of a state-bred type program. There’s great incentives for people to both breed and to race in New York and that was reflective of the results the last two days.”

The strong finish kicked into gear when Tom McCrocklin purchased the sale’s co-highest-priced yearling, going to $380,000 to purchase Hip 628[2], a colt by Practical Joke. That price matched what Chris Baccari’s Baccari Bloodstock, acting on behalf of country music star Toby Keith, paid for Hip 306, a colt by Violence, in the opening minutes of Sunday’s session.

McCrocklin also bought the topper at last year’s New York-bred sale, going to $700,000 on behalf of Champion Equine for a colt by Arrogate. He later sold that colt, a full brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Cave Rock, for $1.05 million at this year’s OBS March sale.

McCrocklin said he plans to pinhook this year’s co-topper, along with his other purchases from the sale. He said he liked “everything” about the Practical Joke colt.

“I thought he was the best horse in the sale and just when you thought Practical Joke was sleepy, he’s come back to life,” said McCrocklin. “I mean the filly of Chad’s [Brown], she’s a legitimate horse, Ways and Means. So, you know it’s a little bit of trying to look into the future so that’s what we do and it’s a lot of risk and a lot of money.

“It worked out last year on a few horses and it’s extreme risk mitigated by expertise. It’s not necessarily my expertise but somewhere in there there’s got to be expertise.”

McCrocklin bought nine yearlings for multiple clients over the two days for an average price of $131,667.

“I always spend more money than I expect to,” he said. “But you know, I say all the time, ‘these guys that are buying these horses, they’re very smart.’ They’re sharp. First you’ve got to find the horse then you have to jump through all the vetting hoops. But really your appraisal skills come into play. ‘How much is this horse worth today?’ Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you get punished. … but I think we’re all adrenaline junkies a little bit so we’ll play the game.”

Bred by Donald McCormick and consigned by Nardelli Sales, agent, the co-sale-topping colt is out of the Grade 3-winning Awesome Again mare Golden Mystery.

McCormick purchased Golden Mystery carrying the Practical Joke colt in utero for $60,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Golden Mystery, a 17-year-old who won nine races and earned $540,223, finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in 2011 and won the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Stakes in 2013.

The colt is the sixth foal out of Golden Mystery, who is the dam of multiple stakes winner and $117,600-earner Apalachee Bay. She’s also the dam of a New York-bred filly by Improbable born May 7.

“For this sale I guess it’s right up there,” said McCormick, who along with his wife Lorna sold two yearlings at the sale. “I’m not sure it’s exceeding expectations, everyone has high goals. For us it was. It was a nice price for a nice colt. They’re getting a nice colt.”

The session got off to a fast start – just as it did Sunday night – with the seventh yearling through the ring bringing $360,000.

Roderick Wachman signed that ticket for MyRacehorse and RT Racing from behind the sales pavilion for Hip 407[3], a ridgling by Authentic

from the family of several top-sellers at the New York-bred yearling sale in recent years. He is out of the winning Street Sense mare Savvy Sassy and was foaled at Stonewall Farm in Granite Springs.

“We like this horse because he is a nice big, scopey, athletic, two-turn looking colt,” said Wachman, global head of bloodstock and racing for microshare syndicate MyRacehorse. “I think he’s going to develop significantly more and we’re really looking forward to seeing him get under tack. … Obviously Authentic is a big draw card. Of course. MyRacehorse was part owners of Authentic.”

Winner of the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic, Authentic was voted Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt that season. He entered stud in 2021 and his first crop are yearlings.

The 11 Authentic yearlings that went through the ring at last week’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings sold for an average of $510,909. MyRacehorse purchased an Authentic colt out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Brandy for $400,000 at last week’s sale and another New York-bred by Authentic, a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Casa Creed, sold for $725,000 to Live Oak.

“Actually, they’re not all the same,” Wachman said. “We bought one last week that was more of a sharper model than this guy. Again, both very correct and nice, well-made horses. … He really does seem to put down a nice horse. When I look at the Authentics I think Into Mischief. Hopefully he can go on that trajectory.”

MyRacehorse’s new purchase is a half-brother to the stakes-placed duo of Brattle House, who sold for $775,000 at the 2019 Saratoga New York-bred sale; and Bourbon Bay, who brought $205,000 at the 2018 Saratoga New York-bred sale. Savvy Sassy’s 2020 foal, the Flatter filly Splashy, also sold at the 2021 Saratoga New York-bred sale for $220,000. She is also the dam of a weanling New York-bred colt by Medaglia d’Oro born April 14.

Don Robinson’s Winter Quarter Farm consigned each of those New York-breds for breeders Oak Bluff Stable and Christophe Clement.

“He didn’t need much help; he was very popular,” Robinson said. “We got him off the floor and he sold. Very happy. … As everyone says, for the right horse, they sell. We’ve had some nice horses go through where it’s puzzling and gotten very little interest. But if you have the right horse you can do well.”

The session’s and sale’s top-priced filly went through the ring about an hour later when trainer Wesley Ward, bidding for Preferred Equine, landed Hip 463[6], a daughter of Munnings out of the Malibu Moon mare To the Moon Alice for $340,000.

“She just looked like a standout individually in the sale,” Ward said. “We’re really happy with her. She looked like the best filly we’ve seen in this sale.”

Bred by and foaled at Old Tavern Farm in Saratoga Springs, the filly is the fifth foal out of the half-sister to Grade 2 winner Unchained Melody. Too the Moon Alice is the dam of New York-bred winner Two for Charging and the unraced New York-bred 2-year-old Ghostzapper filly Don’t Scroll who sold for $160,000 at the 2021 Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. To the Moon Alice’s 2-year-old, a filly by Uncle Mo, was a $77,000 RNA at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale.

Niall Brennan, agent for JR International Holdings, landed the fifth most expensive yearling and second highest-priced filly of the sale when he went to $325,000 from behind the sales pavilion for Hip 619, a daughter of Munnings out of multiple New York-bred stakes winner Freudie Anne.

“From the first time we saw her I felt like she was a very, very good Munnings. He’s a great stallion; it doesn’t matter if it’s fillies, colts, turf or dirt,” said Brennan, who said the filly would be raced by Richard Spoor. “The mare was excellent. They do a great job at Hunter Valley. They raced the mare, they raised this filly. She looks like a really good Munnings.

“I thought she’d be expensive. This is what people are stepping up to do now and we’ve tried to buy a few nice fillies with some pedigree that could run for Richard. He loved her. We just set our sights on her from the first day we saw her.”

Bred by Fergus Galvin, Marc Detampel, Jayne Johnson and Adrian Wallace and consigned by Hunter Valley Farm, agent, the filly is the fourth foal out of the Freud mare. She’s a full sister to the 2-year-old Lamorna, who sold for $320,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale; the 3-year-old filly Showemyourheels who sold for $350,000 at the 2021 Saratoga New York-bred sale; and the winning 4-year-old colt Eddie the Great, who sold for $100,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Showcase.

“She’s been an incredible mare for us, we’ve sold over a million dollars out of her,” Galvin said. “This is her fourth Munnings. It’s a great cross, with Freud. It’s super physically as well. We’ve had a pretty good sale. We brought some nice horses. I know it’s been a little bit patchy for some people, but we got the right bounce of the ball so to speak. We’ve been very happy.”

Hip 551, a colt from the second crop of Solomini, landed the highest price for a yearling by a New York-based stallion at the sale on a bid of $150,000 from Reeves Thoroughbred Racing.

Bred and consigned by Hunter Valley Farm, the colt is out of the Indian Charlie mare Cheyenne Autumn. He’s the eighth foal out of the mare, who is the dam of stakes winner and $267,126-earner Firecrow and one other winner.

Solomini, an 8-year-old multiple Grade 1-placed son of Curlin out of the Storm Cat mare Surf Song, stands for $6,500 at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs.

Fasig-Tipton reported eight yearlings sold for $300,000 or more and 26 for $200,000 or more. Last year’s New York-bred sale saw 12 yearlings bring $300,000 or more – including colts for $700,000 and $600,000 – and the same number sell for $200,000 or more.

“Very good activity, lots of outstanding horses on the sales grounds,” Browning said. “Average declined slightly from last year, probably as a result of some additional horses entered in the sale.

“Being realistic there probably is a slight, slight decline in the middle market. The pinhookers last year had a relatively tough year and are being more selective. There’s increased selectivity throughout the marketplace. We were fortunate in the main sale to have an exceptional group of horses.”

– Additional reporting by Nolan Clancy and Mary Rufo

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2023/08/14/late-fireworks-propel-fasig-tipton-ny-bred-sale/

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