Fasig-Tipton concluded its two-day Kentucky Winter Mixed sale with modest gains on February 5, marking the end to the breeding stock sale season in Central Kentucky. Broodmare prospects drew the highest prices of the auction as breeders did some last-minute shopping in advance of the breeding sheds opening later this month.
Total revenues of $9,659,400 were down 7 percent from a year ago and the average price of $29,539 was up 3 percent. Median price of $15,000 was up 43 percent. The buyback rate was down slightly from 2018, leaving 20 percent of the horses going through the ring unsold.
Courtesy Fasig-Tipton
One of the top two prices was $285,000 for a striking gray 5-year-old mare named La Manta Gris, who came to the sale just a few days after her last race in Florida. The purchase ticket was signed by Jacques Sparrow Bloodstock, which reporters learned was a pseudonym for agent
Courtesy Fasig-Tipton
David Ingordo
David Ingordo, who declined to identify the buyer. Ingordo purchased La Manta Gris earlier in her life for another client. During her racing career, the mare was owned by Blackstone River Stable, the racing operation belonging to Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli.
The crossover between Thoroughbred racing and other professional sports is a common one. Some professional athletes and managers have kept it small, buying fractions of racehorses in partnership with others. In 2014, two-time NBA all-star Rashard Lewis made headlines in the racing world for his ownership of graded stakes winner Cigar Street with longtime friend Jake Ballis. Former University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino had a share in a filly named Coach Rocks who ran in the 2018 Kentucky Oaks, though he caused a media stir when he announced he would not attend the race due to fears he would be confronted with negative reaction from the crowd. (He also owned a share in a horse called Party Dancer, prompting many giggles. He told the Louisville Courier-Journal he did not name the horse or make any connections to the scandal that contributed to his departure from the university.)
Other professional athletes have taken a more complete approach to ownership. The Colorado Avalanche’s Erik Johnson has multiple horses of racing age and of breeding stock. While many owners remain investors and show up only on big race days, Johnson reportedly has input on the instructions given to jockeys before the race and chooses the stallions to be crossed with his mares (a task often left to bloodstock consultants). He has had good luck so far — he has had shares in Grade 3 winners Curlin Road and Shane’s Girlfriend, and in Grade 1 winner Bowies Hero.
Possibly the largest buy-in from a professional athlete in recent years came from Olympic gold medal ski racer Bode Miller, who in 2017 announced his intentions to train horses after his retirement from the slopes. Miller, who shadowed Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert, had hoped he could bring his knowledge of human conditioning to gain an edge with horses. He purchased a private barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, which he equipped with an equine treadmill and hyperbaric chamber. Miller had also been an active owner in 2015 and 2016, but his entries seemed to tail off last year. It’s unclear whether Miller will proceed with the ambition after the unexpected death of his young daughter, Emeline, in 2018.
The next public Thoroughbred auction in Kentucky will be Keeneland’s April Sale. The auction, which on hiatus from a lack of entries for the past several years, returns with its traditional 2-year-olds in training. The sale will this year also include older horses of racing age. The April Sale will take place April 9.
Courtesy Fasig-Tipton