Hip 251, a colt by Good Magic bred by Fortune Farm, sold for a record $230,000 at Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. Fasig-Tipton Photo.
A colt by champion Good Magic sold for $230,000 and a trio of mares in foal to New York-based stallion Honest Mischief commanded six-figure bids Tuesday to highlight the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale.
CF Farm purchased the sales-record colt, offered as Hip 251 out of the Vinery Sales consignment. Bred by Richard Nicolai’s Fortune Farm and foaled at Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater, the colt is the fifth foal out of the winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Popstar. The dam of an Ontario-bred yearling by Instagrand that sold for $29,517 at the recent CTHS Ontario Division Canadian-bred yearling sale, Popstar is also the dam of three winners led by the stakes-placed 2-year-old Catholic Boy filly Lady d’Oro.
“We didn’t expect that,” Nicolai said. “I thought he would sell well, he was a nice colt and well respected, but you just don’t understand the market sometimes. When people make up their minds and they want a horse, things like that can happen. You just never know. … But at the sale he did everything right.”
Nicolai purchased Popstar, carrying the Good Magic colt in utero, for $29,000 at this year’s Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.
“We got lucky with one. Took a shot, bought that mare in foal,” Nicolai said. “She had a couple young horses on the ground – a 2-year-old, a 3-year-old and a yearling – and I thought, if any one of these hits I might have a home run here. It turned out the 2-year-old this year (Lady d’Oro) broke her maiden and has some stakes-placing. That helped the mare a lot. He was a really good individual and I was in the right place at the right time. And I’d also like to give credit to Mill Creek Farm. They do a great job and I appreciate all their hard work”
The sale of the record colt helped the overall market post similar returns to the 2022 sale. Fasig-Tipton reported sales on 156 of the 243 horses offered for $4,522,200, down 1.7 percent from last year’s $4,599,700 for 142 sold. The sale’s average price of $28,988 dropped 10.5 percent from $32,392, while median slipped from $20,000 in 2022 to $19,000 this year.
Bahama Banks, Sweet Jubilee and Bellacolla were the trio of six-figure mares offered by Juddmonte through the Sequel New York consignment and in foal to Honest Mischief.
Glen Hill Farm went to $170,000 to purchase Hip 25, Bahama Banks, a 4-year-old daughter of Arrogate in foal to Honest Mischief. Fasig-Tipton Photo.
Glen Hill Farm purchased the highest-priced of the three, going to $170,000 to land Bahama Banks, a 4-year-old daughter of Arrogate offered as Hip 25. Unraced, Bahama Banks is out of the unraced War Front mare Bandana and is a half-sister to the Grade 2-placed Curlin filly Millefeuille.
“Bahamian Banks has a fantastic pedigree,” said Glen Hill Farm’s Craig Bernick. “We haven’t owned a filly from the family before and it’s always been one that we have respected. She didn’t run but is a very good-looking mare, and I hope Arrogate will be a good broodmare sire.”
Honest Mischief, a Juddmonte homebred son of Into Mischief out of the Grade 1-winning Seattle Slew mare Honest Lady, stood the 2023 season for $6,500 at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson. Honest Mischief’s first crop of yearlings hit the market in 2023 and 24 sold for an average of $46,438.
“Honest Mischief actually comes from the same pedigree so the foal will be inbred to Honest Lady, which will be interesting and hopefully works,” Bernick said.
Hip 300, Uncle Mo’s 3-year-old daughter Sweet Jubilee, sold for $140,000 to Shepherd Equine Advisors, agent for Larry Hirsch. Unplaced in one start, Sweet Jubilee is out of the multiple graded stakes-winning Ghostzapper mare Wine Princess. Out of Hall of Famer Azeri, Wine Princess is the dam of 2023 stakes winner Smokin’ T and three other winners.
McMahon & Hill Bloodstock, agent, purchased Hip 27, the 5-year-old placed Munnings mare Bellacolla, for $130,000. A half-sister to three winners from the family of Grade and Group 1 winners Sightseek, Tates Creek and Special Duty, Bellacolla is out of the winning Galileo mare Ventoux.
Reeves Thoroughbred Racing paid the highest price for a weanling by a New York-based sire when it went to $80,000 to purchase Hip 81, a filly by Galilean. Bred by Franklin Ave. Equine LLC, Michael DiDonato and Charles Esau and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, the filly is the third foal out of the winning The Factor mare Dawn Lightning. The filly was consigned by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, agent.
Galilean, a 7-year-old son of Uncle Mo, stood the 2023 season for $3,500 at Hidden Lake Farm in Stillwater.
