Lexington, KY – Fasig-Tipton’s new format for its July 15 sale was met with resounding approval from buyers as the combined auction of yearlings and horses in training finished with strong numbers.
This year’s yearling sale saw total receipts down slightly from $15,364,000 to $14,625,000 as compared to last year, but entries were also down from 283 hips to 222. Average price for the 163 horses sold was up, from $81,291 at the 2012 sale to $89,785. Median was also up from $60,000 last year to $72,000.
The proportion of horses not attaining their reserve was down from 49.7 percent to 36.2 percent.
The highest-priced yearling of the sale was Hip 51, a filly by Desert Party who commanded $460,000 for consignor Allied Bloodstock. She was purchased by Richard Hogan, agent on behalf of Nat Rea’s Regis Farm.
The filly is out of Lil Cozette, a mare by Kris S. who also produced Cosmic Kris, second-place finisher in the Grade 3 Hawthorne Derby and third-place finisher in the Grade 3 Arlington Classic Stakes.
The yearling sold as a weanling at the 2012 Keeneland November breeding stock sale for $85,000, making her a profitable pinhook. (The practice of buying horses as weanlings or yearlings reselling them later at auction for profit is called “pinhooking.”) Hogan said he ended up paying more than he had expected for the filly, but thought she was worth it.
“She's just a really nice athlete, just a lovely filly. I thought there was more nice fillies here than colts, but that's just the feeling I get,” said Hogan after the sale.
The July Yearling Sale has traditionally marked the start of the yearling sales season, but earlier this year officials announced that they would hold a separate sale, named the Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, which immediately finished the conclusion of the yearling sale.
Previously, there hadn’t been a public auction platform reserved exclusively for horses with racetrack experience, although some take a break from the track to attend the January’s Keeneland Horses of All Ages Sale or Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky Winter Mixed sale in February.
“In the Thoroughbred world, this auction will feature many changes in the way active racehorses are marketed,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning before the sale. “To now, selling a racehorse has been dominated by private negotiation. Sellers have been at a distinct disadvantage because this process limits competitive bidding. We are looking to change that.”
The catalogue for the Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale drew some big names, including Fusaichiswonderful, and Jaycito. Fusaichiswonderful, a 3-year-old filly by Fusaichi Pegasus, grabbed headlines in Puerto Rico when she won four straight Group races at Hipódromo Camarero there before shipping to the United States and placing in the Grade 3 Eight Belles and finishing third in the Victory Ride. Fusaichiswonderful dropped the hammer at $130,000 to buyer Volt Resources.
Jaycito, a 5-year-old by Victory Gallop, ran in two editions of the Breeders’ Cup for former owner Zayat Stables, finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and eleventh in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Marathon. Jaycito sold for $50,000 to Tony Alton Pennington.
The horse who topped them all though, was Starship Truffles, who brought an impressive $1,000,000 from buyer Castleton Lyons. The 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper has raced 24 times with 14 wins, only finishing out of the money six times in her life.
Not only that, it appears she’s peaking at just the right time—on July 6, Starship Truffles got her first graded stakes win in the Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder Race Course in Florida.
Starship Truffles was consigned by Hidden Brook, agent for former owner Chasing Tails Stables.
She will likely remain in the barn of trainer Marty Wolfson, and continue her racing career, according to Gabriel Duignan, agent for Lexington-based Castleton Lyons.
The seven-figure price was the icing on the cake of a successful inaugural sale. Of 55 horses offered in the Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age catalogue, only 15.3 percent were unsold. Total sales amounted to $5,819,000 with an average of $105,800 and a median of $45,000.