Hip 595, a colt by Quality Road bred by Waterville Lake Stable, sold for sale-topping $370,000 late in Monday’s session at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. Susie Raisher Photo.
The Saratoga Special
The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale wrapped up Monday with a sharp gain in average price amidst strong demand at the top of the market.
Fasig-Tipton reported an average price of $104,920, an increase of 10.3 percent over last year’s average of $95,132. Overall, 182 of the 251 yearlings through the ring sold for $19,095,500, down 8.8 percent from last year’s total of $20,929,000 for 220 sold. Median rose 15.3 percent and the buyback rate rose slightly from 26.7 percent last year to 27.5 percent in 2024.
“A continuation of things that we’ve seen all week, very active bidding throughout and a real demand for quality horses,” Fasig-Tipton President and Chief Executive Officer Boyd Browning Jr. said. “Lots of activity. (The) RNA rate kind of crept a little today compared to last night, but it got to the traditional range. It’s why you don’t make any bold proclamations last night.
“(The sale) reflects the overall quality of the New York breeding program, how good the New York breeding program is for both breeders and racers. And I think NYRA certainly recognizes the importance of the program for their overall year-round racing calendar, and it’s nice to see the groups, everybody kind of working together to improve the program, to continue to move it forward. We’re thankful to be a part of that.”
The New York-bred sale followed a record-breaking Saratoga sale of selected yearlings, leaving Fasig-Tipton with a banner season in upstate New York.
“It’s a very encouraging week,” Browning said. “Last Monday we started at 6:30. We finished this week on Monday at about 5, and in that week, we sold over $100 million worth of horses. We’ve never done that before. That’s a pretty significant accomplishment, something that we’re proud to say, that’s meaningful and that’s significant to our industry.
“I can’t even say it was a goal. Like I said, nobody believes me. We don’t set goals in a traditional sense. Our goal is to attract as many good horses as we can get that fit in the sale. One of the reasons the gross is down this year is because dummy here (referring to himself), we had more horses than we had stalls. That’s a mismanagement on my part. And as a result, that’s why the gross is down. We had 64 or 66 fewer horses in the catalog this year than we did last year. But it’s quote-unquote, right-size, and it’s the appropriate number that we need to have in the sale. Hopefully I don’t have to fire myself next year.”
Fasig-Tipton reported four yearlings sold for $300,000 or more, including the sale-topper that went through the ring late Monday, and 23 others that brought $200,000 or more.
The sixth-to-last yearling through the ring, Hip 595, commanded the highest price of the two-day sale, bringing a bid of $370,000 from trainer Chad Brown on behalf of Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stable Inc.
Bred by Waterville Lake Stable and consigned by Don Robinson’s Winter Quarter Farm, agent, the colt is out of the Hard Spun mare Portmagee and is a half-brother to stakes winner and $213,050-earner Derrynane. Robinson expected the colt to sell well, before he even arrived on the Saratoga sales grounds.
“He was an easy horse. Before he left the farm, I knew he’d be well-received,” Robinson said. “The rest of the consignment becomes more of a struggle, but one that’s very easy, they kind of lead you through. You don’t lead them. We were delighted.”
The sale-topper is a half-brother to two other foals of racing age – the 4-year-old Candy Ride filly Souffle who is placed twice in five starts and the unraced 2-year-old More Than Ready colt Rossbeigh.
Brown credited bloodstock agents Mike and Mary Ryan for picking out the sale-topping colt for Klarman.
“I am busy across the street racing and without them I would not have been able to get this covered,” Brown said. “Mike thought he was the best colt in the sale so we waited around all day and we were willing to stretch for him.
“We got some good buys. It was a good sale, there were some expensive horses, but I will tell you I bought some horses under what we thought they would bring. For a lot of shoppers here there was still some good value spots and it kind of all averaged out for what we were doing.”
Brown visited Winter Quarter’s consignment to see the colt and Robinson came away enthused.
“I saw Chad; he came really late and kind of gave the blessing and I thought that was probably where he was going,” Robinson said. “He was very popular. He’s an easy one with lots of interest. I thought he’d do really well and happy that he did because it was for great clients. I’m glad it was a good result.”
The pace of the second session started relatively slow – eight of the first 13 yearlings through the ring were buybacks – before picking up. The pace sped up approaching the midpoint of the session when Hip 485 sold for $275,000 and Hip 486 brought $300,000.
Hip 486, a filly by Connect bred by Kathleen Burke Schweizer and Daniel Burke, sold for $300,000 Monday at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga. Susie Raisher Photo.
Jacob West landed Hip 486, a daughter of Connect out of the Grade 3-winning Bellamy Road mare Georgie’s Angel on behalf of Mike Repole’s Repole Stable. Bred by Kathleen Burke Schweizer and Daniel Burke and consigned by Eaton Sales, agent for Longford Farm, the filly is a half-sister to Grade 1 winning Cave Rock and four other winners.
“She was a beautiful filly on her own right,” West said. “Pedigree backs it up, being a half to Cave Rock. She has a brother in Japan that’s doing really well. Members of our team, Alex Solis and Madison Scott, bought a 2-year-old out of the mare and they’re high on her too. It’s a blend of a really good physical, with some updates hopefully coming in the pedigree, and it resulted in $300,000.”
The 2-year-old filly, a daughter of Improbable also bred by Schweizer and Burke named Lakeside, sold for $135,000 to Solis/Litt at last year’s Saratoga New York-bred yearlings sale.
West said the $300,000 amount fit right where he estimated the filly would bring.
“We do an appraisal to get an idea of where they will go,” West said. “That’s about where we thought. The market seems strong right now for good physicals that have matching pedigrees. The market seems fair. The right horses are bringing the right money. Doesn’t seem outlandish or too wild. On the same token, it’s fair. If the market sees you to be what we all want, then you’re getting paid. It’s a balancing act of having all the right pieces and all the right boxes checked in order for these people to get paid.”
Burke also said the filly sold for what he expected.
“It’s a strong sale for horses that are good, and it’s a weak sale for horses that maybe don’t have the pedigree or don’t vet out properly, but there’s nothing new with that formula either,” Burke said. “She vetted clean and she’s out of a very good family. She sold to our expectations.”
Trainer Mike Maker, bidding alongside owner Peter Proscia of Paradise Farms Corp., landed Hip 485, a colt by Yaupon out of the New York-bred stakes-winning Frost Giant mare Frostie Anne.
“We liked the horse, got him vetted, it worked out. We are happy,” Proscia said.
Maker was pleased with the purchase, and the value for a colt from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Yaupon.
Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, the colt was bred by Rockridge Stud LLC, Saratoga Glen Farm and Beal’s Racing Stable LLC. He originally sold for $120,000 as a weanling at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale.
“His foals are very attractive horses, and we are glad to bring one home,” Maker said. “The price was what we wanted to spend, but I guess everybody says that.”
Hip 570, a colt by Not This Time from the family of multiple Grade 1 winner Stellar Jayne, sold for $270,000 late in Monday’s session. Bloodstock agent Joe Migliore purchased the colt out of the Grade 3-placed Medaglia d’Oro mare My Galina for Adelphi Racing Club and Chief Horse Futures.
“We are getting a proven sire that is rising to the top of the stallion ranks,” Migliore said. “That greatly helps when you also have New York-bred at the bottom of the page. Excited to have the Adelphi Club teaming up with Chief Horse Futures; it’s a relationship we began to develop at the beginning of the summer and happy to team up. We were on a few other colts that we got outrun on previously, so to land such a nice horse toward the end of the sale we are all very happy.”
Bred by Kingsport Farm and consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, the colt is the second foal out of My Galina. She’s out of the A.P. Indy mare So Far, who is out of $1,534-964-earner Stellar Jayne.
Hip 511, a colt by Galilean bred by Andy and Susan Beadnell, sold for $95,000 Monday at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, the highest price for a yearling by a New York-based stallion. Susie Raisher Photo.
Hip 511, a colt by Galilean from the family of Strike the Moon and Never Enough Time, landed the top price for a yearling by a New York-based sire. Bronco Bloodstock went to $95,000 for the colt out of the winning Mineshaft mare It’s Timeless.
Bred by Andy and Susan Beadnell and consigned by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, the colt is the second foal out of the half-sister to stakes winner and $394,393-earner Never Enough Time. Galilean, an 8-year-old son of Uncle Mo out of the El Prado mare Fresia, stands for $3,500 at Hidden Lake Farm in Stillwater.
– Reporting by Fin Maroney, Julia Reedy and Miles Clancy
