Lexington, KY - When the Fasig-Tipton November sale wrapped up on Monday evening, the buzz around the auction ring was almost as focused on the horses that didn’t change hands as the ones that did.
Overall, the sale’s numbers were down from the 2013 edition of the sale. The gross sales of $53,678,000 were down 13.8 percent; average price of $589,611 was up 3 percent, and median of $200,000 was down 20 percent.
Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning cautioned that comparing those numbers from one year to the next is not especially valuable.
“I really don’t believe it’s that important in a sale like this from year to year. In a yearling sale, the crop’s pretty much the same from year to year,” said Browning.
There were 23 horses sold for $1 million or more this year.
The highest-priced of those seven-figure horses was a sort of racing royalty. Princess of Sylmar, who captured the hearts of many race fans in her career, dropped the hammer at $3.1 million, which was enough to send her to Japan for a broodmare career. The Princess, trained by Todd Pletcher, won the G1 Kentucky Oaks in 2013, the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks, the G1 Alabama, and the G1 Beldame—a feat that had never been accomplished before in history.
Representatives of Taylor Made Sales Agency, which consigned the filly, were actually a little disappointed with the figure.
“I thought she was worth a little more than that,” said Mark Taylor, vice president of sales for Taylor Made. “But that was a fair price… she was special. Unfortunately, she tapered off a little bit at the end of her 4-year-old year [on the track.] I think if she could have run back to her 3-year-old form those last few races, that maybe she could have brought significantly more than that.”
Shadai Farms picked up the filly from owner/breeder Ed Stanco. Stanco told media many times before that he hated to sell Princess of Sylmar, but thought it was time to retire the horse and he does not deal with breeding stock. Taylor said Stanco was too sad about having to sell the filly to attend the auction.
Perhaps because of the strong prices, several owners were hesitant to let their mares go for less than what they considered a fair price. Owners are permitted to give the auction company a minimum, below which the horse does not change hands. This reserve price is not announced, although occasionally consignors will divulge it to buyers as a way of helping them make their budgets. That secrecy meant that most in the audience were surprised when 2012 Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can left the ring with a final bid of $4.9 million and Fasig-Tipton’s results page indicated that she had not sold. The mare, that was in foal to leading sire Tapit, will go back home to former Gov. Brereton Jones’ Airdrie Farm.
Stephanie’s Kitten, fresh off a plane from the Breeders’ Cup in Santa Anita on Friday, was also marked as Reserve Not Attained at $3.95 million. Ken Ramsey, the filly’s owner, revealed that for just $50,000 more, she might have been whisked away to a new home.
“She was a family project,” said Ramsey. “I named her after my granddaughter, so there were a lot of tears when I said I was going to sell her … I felt like if she brought $4 million, I could let her go. If she didn’t bring it, we were taking her home.
“No regrets either way,” he said.
Stephanie’s Kitten is one of a whole family of ‘Kittens’ by Ramsey centerpiece sire Kitten’s Joy, who stands at Ramsey Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., many of them named after Ramsey family members. Her mother, Unfold the Rose, is out of G1 winner Bail Out Becky, who produced champion Puerto Rican mare Ransom the Kitten (also by Kitten’s Joy). Stephanie’s Kitten, who has been conditioned by trainer Chad Brown, recently ran second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, having won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2011. In between, she won the G1 Flower Bowl and G1 Just a Game.
Ramsey indicated that Stephanie’s Kitten will be back in training with Brown for another season, and could appear at this sale again next year. If she doesn’t pick up the value he wants and remains sound, it’ll be back to the track again.
Ramsey built his breeding empire around Kitten’s Joy, and did so largely with bargain basement mares, which may explain his hesitation to keep a high-money female on the farm.
“I thought she was too expensive a mare to keep on the farm,” said Ramsey. “I run them outside, 25 in a herd, all year long.”
The sale saw two other high-money RNAs—Stopchargingmaria, who did not sell at $3.15 million and will remain in training, and Turbulent Descent, who brought $2.45 million.
The overall RNA rate was 28.9 percent.
The breeding stock sales season continues Nov. 4, when Keeneland will kick off its November Breeding Stock Sale, which runs through Friday, Nov. 14. Sessions will start at 10 a.m. daily.