Optimism high for New York-bred yearling sale

The Saratoga Special

After the record-setting Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings to start the week, optimism remains high for continued success at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale scheduled for Sunday and Monday.

“We’re looking forward to a strong sale,” said McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds’ John McMahon. “We’re hopeful that the enthusiasm and the support from the buyers continues into the New York-bred sale. We have a nice group of horses, one of the best groups of horses we’ve had in recent years. We’re happy with the way they look. Have to just hope everything works out, plenty of people show up, weather cooperates, storm blows away, sun comes out.”

Despite heavy rain coming from Tropical Storm Debby that was enough to cancel Friday’s card at Saratoga Race Course, potential buyers still came out in big numbers to the sales grounds, all intent on picking their favorites from the catalog of 300.

“The consensus, myself included, is more of the same,” said Carlos Manresa, director of operations at Sequel New York. “Obviously, it’s going to be at a different level, but there’s no difference in the excitement and the energy that the sale has right now. We may have seen a couple of buyers go home, but there’s certainly more that have arrived.

“Even through the rain, people are rushing to see horses whenever they can,” Manresa said. “Everyone has high, but reasonable expectations. Coming off of a record-setting sale, everyone’s feeling pretty good about the industry as a whole.”

The sale begins at 7:30 p.m. Sunday – a half-hour later to accommodate the rescheduled Grade 1 turf stakes at Saratoga Race Course – with the first 100 yearlings. Monday’s session begins at noon. Consignors, Fasig-Tipton officials and representatives of the Emprie State’s breeding and racing industries are ready for the sale.

Fasig-Tipton President and Chief Executive Officer Boyd Browning Jr. pointed to improved quality of yearlings at the New York-bred sale in recent years as just one reason for optimism.

“The New York-bred sale has improved, gotten better,” Browning said. “Fifteen years ago it looked like two different populations of horses. The horses leaving the grounds Wednesday morning, shipping out from the select sale, and the horses that were shipping in. You were like, ‘well, that one’s going out and that one’s coming in.’ They didn’t remotely resemble each other physically.”

Browning also said purse parity, which will see New York-bred overnight races for 2-year-olds on the New York Racing Association circuit offer purses matching their open-company counterparts starting January 1, 2026, will play a role in creating more demand for state-breds.

“The New York-bred program is producing quality individuals, quality horses and quality runners. It gives us a lot of optimism going in,” Browning said. “There are some good things going on in the New York-bred program. We’re going to have purse parity coming up.

“I’m old and I’ve been doing this a long time, but if somebody would have told me 15 years ago there would be purse parity in New York, for open horses and New York-bred horses I would have said you’ve lost your damn mind. Lo and behold we’re going to have that. You can’t help but hope this sale will continue to help the industry in New York.”

Najja Thompson, executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., agreed.

“The enthusiasm in Saratoga for the racing industry this time of year is unmatched,” he said. “The Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale includes a robust catalog of quality yearlings from the very best in New York breeding. We welcome horsemen and horsewomen to participate in the sale, which is a must-attend event with an established record of successful graduates in the New York-bred program and across the country. We’re looking forward to another outstanding sale.”

In addition to McMahon of Saratoga and Sequel, several of the major consignments from North America’s top auctions are on hand. Denali Stud, Hunter Valley Farm, Indian Creek, Paramount Sales, Taylor Made Sales Agency and Vinery Sales are among that group, along with several longtime consignors and supporters of the New York program like Summerfield, Thorndale, Eaton Sales and Hidden Lake Farm.

“It’ll be a great sale,” said Jonathan Thorne of Thorndale. “Fasig does a good job of selecting properly conformed horses, and looking through the catalog, the pedigrees look pretty strong. Racing’s going great here in New York and we’ve had a lot of traffic.”

“There’s a lot of people here,” said Francis Vanlangendock of Summerfield. “The last sale was good, so the momentum is going to go into this sale. Good horses are going to sell really well. You just have to know where you are.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2024/08/10/optimism-high-for-new-york-bred-yearling-sale/

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