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Audience members held their applause until Songbird left the ring at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
Fasig-Tipton concluded its November Sale on the evening of Nov. 6 with plenty of glitter — a record for gross receipts with $74,200,000, in addition to two of the most expensive mares sold in the company’s history. But it was also a night for plenty of emotions.
Horse auctions can often (though not always) be somewhat dry affairs compared with the thrill of the racetrack or the anticipation of the foaling barn. Each year the calendar is very much the same, and thousands of horses change hands as part of the Thoroughbred business’s ever-marching agricultural cycle. Without it, there would be no financial basis for the beautiful farms around Lexington. But sales can often be reduced to the crunching of numbers. Monday night’s event served as a vivid reminder of how much individual horses can move fans and longtime veterans alike.
The auction’s top two prices were raised by Songbird, who hammered for a staggering $9.5 million, and Tepin, who sold a few minutes later for $8 million. Both endeared themselves to fans across the country after multiple successful racing seasons, and their biggest supporters were out in force on Monday.
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Songbird fetched the highest price — $9.5 million — at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
Songbird, campaigned by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm and trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, began attracting attention as a 2-year-old in 2015 when she became the undefeated winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She continued her unbeaten streak through 11 races, tasting defeat by a matter of inches in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Distaff alongside Beholder. At the time of her retirement, Songbird had collected two Eclipse Awards and $4.6 million in earnings.
Tepin became known as “Queen of the Turf” during her career, which also included two Eclipse Awards and graded stakes wins in three countries, including several against males. Mark Casse trained the Robert Masterson-owned filly through four seasons and to one Breeders’ Cup Mile win with total earnings of $4.4 million.
Fans crowded into the hallways of Fasig-Tipton’s pavilion, into spare chairs and around the outdoor walking rings in the dark and cold to get a glimpse of the two mares, who sold a few minutes apart from one another. Each entered the ring before a room full of several hundred people, so quiet observers could hear if the mares had snorted, the only sound camera shutters clicking over and over. The audience waited until each horse had left the ring before giving them a round of applause for their accomplishments.
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Tepin sold for $8 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
After a slow-starting round of bidding for Songbird, Whisper Hill Farms owner Mandy Pope jumped into the battle, which saw bidspotters shouting from all corners of the pavilion. Pope was slow to put in her final few bids, because she admitted, she was going well over her budget to get the mare.
“My accountant isn’t going to be very happy with me,” she admitted.
Pope started making headlines at the sales in 2012 when she paid $10 million at Fasig-Tipton November for Havre de Grace, an Eclipse Award winner and Horse of the Year. Although she said she was electrified when Songbird stepped into the ring Monday, it wasn’t quite the same experience.
“Havre de Grace was more, to be honest with you. She was Horse of the Year,” she said. “To me, Havre de Grace is still the queen. Songbird has a little bit to overcome with that. So now they’ll have their own broodmare battle. Grace, of course, has several years on her.”
The sale was a special moment for Porter, who has been battling cancer and said Songbird’s racing brilliance had helped him keep going in his fight. He told reporters afterward he was prepared to take half as much money for her, having set the reserve below $5 million; he was delighted to learn Pope was the purchaser.
Pope had hoped to pick up Tepin too, but felt the bidding was too hot after she had stretched her budget for Songbird. In the end, it was M.V. Magnier who paid $8.5 million for Tepin. Tepin will join the famed broodmare band of Coolmore in Ireland, where plans call for her to be bred to Galileo (IRE), one of the world’s top studs, in 2018.
Gross sales were improved 37 percent from the 2016 sale, while the average price of $645,217 increased 5 percent. The median of $250,000 decreased 34 percent, while the RNA rate improved to 18 percent from 28 percent last year.
Songbird and Tepin were among 19 horses to bring $1 million or more (17 mares and two weanlings, including one by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah). Gross sales were improved 37 percent from the 2016 sale, while the average price of $645,217 increased 5 percent. The median of $250,000 decreased 34 percent, while the RNA rate improved to 18 percent from 28 percent last year.
The auction, in particular the sale of Songbird, were emotional for Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. Browning had enjoyed watching Songbird’s racing development with his father, Boyd Browning, Sr., who died this fall after a long illness. Browning was with his father in the hospital when he learned Songbird would be run through the November auction. He recalled his father was thrilled, having taken a keen interest in Fasig-Tipton during his son’s years working there, but both soon realized Browning Sr. would likely not live to see the sale in person.
Porter is also close friends with Browning, which Browning said had him especially nervous to make sure he did everything he could to make the process smooth.
“Songbird was a tiny bit bittersweet,” he said. “Now tomorrow, I’ll think, ‘What in the hell are we going to do next year for an encore?’ It was a really fun night, it was a rewarding night. But literally we’ll start working tomorrow on 2018 catalogue. This is a special sale and we attract special horses and I hope we produce special results.”
The next public Thoroughbred auction in the central Kentucky area will be Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale, which starts Nov. 7 and runs through Nov. 18.
Natalie Voss is an Eclipse Award-winning writer and features editor for the Paulick Report, an independent horse racing news and business publication. Voss is a five-time nominee for the Stanley Bergstein Writing Award for investigative reporting. Her coverage of the equine industry has appeared in Business Lexington, the Chronicle of the Horse, The Horse magazine, The Blood-Horse, and Acreage Life, among others