Hip165Switch
The Fasig-Tipton Auction Floor
Lexington, KY - Fasig-Tipton’s November Sale posted huge gains over 2011, largely thanks to 15 entries that broke the $1 million mark in an electric atmosphere Monday night.
The average was $692,184, a whopping 67 percent increase from last year’s average of $414,494. Out of 180 hips cataloged, 47 did not attain their reserve, at an RNA rate of 35 percent, up from 27 percent last year.
“It exceeded our most optimistic expectations,” said Boyd Browning, Jr., president of Fasig-Tipton. “I think it was mostly the breadth of bidders at very high levels. This was not a sale that was dominated by one or two bidders … there was a broad, broad cross-section of buyers from all over the world.”
The star of the night, as expected, was Hip 76, Havre de Grace. Prior to her entry, the lights dimmed in the nearly-full sales pavilion as Fasig-Tipton cued a highlight video of the Horse of the Year’s many qualifications as a broodmare prospect. The mare walked into the sale ring to complete silence as Terrence Collier, Fasig-Tipton’s announcer and director of marketing, introduced her with the oft-quoted Shakespeare line—“Some are born great…and some achieve greatness.”
With a slew of bids from inside the sales pavilion and phone bidders, the final price landed at $10 million to gasps from the crowd, and to the surprise of many, the sale ticket was not signed by one of the international spenders on the grounds last night, but by Mandy Pope of Florida’s Whisper Hill Farm.
Havre de Grace’s price is the highest at public auction for a broodmare prospect just off the track. The current world record for an active broodmare is $14 million, set by Better Than Honour at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton November sale.
“I don’t know what to say,” said an overwhelmed Pope to the throng of media and well-wishers outside the sale ring. “She’s very sweet. She put her head in my lap when I went out to see her … She’s the epitome of what we’re all trying to breed as far as conformation and racing ability, and we sure hope she will pass that on to her foals.”
Pope said that the decision to join the anticipated bidding war for the mare was one she considered over several weeks. No decision has been made on a stud for Havre de Grace.
Seller Rick Porter said the price was much higher than he had anticipated, and he was delighted the mare was going to a loving home—especially one within the U.S.
“It’s always hard when you’ve got a horse like that that you spend so much time watching perform the way she did. It was hard when I went in to say goodbye to her today,” said Porter. “[The video] said it all—she’s got amazing talent, amazing beauty, and amazing grace.”
Consignor Mark Taylor, vice president of sales and marketing at Taylor Made Sales said he had hoped the unique combination of a female Horse of the Year with outstanding pedigree and conformation would bring forth buyers who weren’t normally big spenders.
“We thought she could bring people off the bench or out of the woodwork that previously had not played,” said Taylor. “She’s just a rare thing. If you get in her presence, she pulls you in, and I think that’s what happened with Mandy Pope.”
“Just being around her, she brings tears to your eyes. We’d be driving back from Lexington two or three times a week [because] my kids would want to feed Havre de Grace carrots,” said Taylor.
The second-highest price of the night was Hip 176, Untouched Talent, dam of Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) runner-up Bodemeister, who brought $5 million for consigner Brookdale Sales on behalf of Audley Farm.
“She’s a very, very good-looking mare. Her yearling looked very good at the sale in September. She’ll go home to be bred to Galileo in Ireland.” said Aisling Duignan, who signed the ticket for purchaser Coolmore. “[Bodemeister] was a factor in the decision. To produce a horse like Bodemeister and a yearling like that … she’s young and well-achieved and she’ll suit the program.”
Also among the fifteen horses achieving seven figures or higher was Hip 165, Switch, a race mare or broodmare prospect with earnings of over $1.3 million consigned by Lane’s End.
“She’ll probably go back to Ireland, and it doesn’t take brain surgery to guess who she might meet,” said Fiona Craig on behalf of Moyglare Stud Farm, referring to popular Irish stallion Galileo. “Pricewise, it was a tough sale.”