Fasig-Tipton Photos
Fasig-Tipton Inspection Team—Bayne Welker, Max Hoge, Denis Lynch, Evan Ferraro and Wes Peterson—at the at the 2018 July Sale and Horses of Racing Age Sale / Photo courtesy Fasig-Tipton
The yearling sales season in Kentucky has begun. Fasig-Tipton recently conducted its single-day July Sale, following its Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age sale.
The gross receipts of $19,762,500 were up 23 percent from last year. The average price of $100,829 rose 8 percent, while the $75,000 median was up 7 percent. The percentage of horses not attaining their reserve was 30 percent, which was steady compared to last year.
The July Sale is a prime spot to market yearlings before the much larger auctions in September and October. Consignors may choose to send a yearling to sale in July if they are a particularly quick-developing individual physically and will stand out well. There’s also some advantage to offering a yearling for sale early in the season if their pedigree will make them stand out in the smaller sale—which may be the case if a yearling is one of two or three in the catalogue by a highly valuable stallion, or if the yearling is a strong representative from a new sire.
Such was the case for Hip 131, one of the first offspring by 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah to be offered for public sale as a yearling. The filly, out of Yonaguska mare Young Musician, is from the family of multiple graded stakes winner and international runner Mind Your Biscuits. Select Sales consigned the filly for Machmer Hall of Paris, Kentucky. Although the filly did not sell in the ring for a high bid of $245,000, she was later bought privately by agent JJ Crupi for $200,000.
American Pharoah’s weanlings made a splash when they came up for sale in late 2017, which bodes well for the yearlings who will be going through the ring later this year. The stallion’s long-term impact as a sire remains to be seen until after several crops have hit the racetrack. Historically, Triple Crown winners have been something of a mixed bag as stallions. Secretariat was a flop as a sire but went on to be a good sire of broodmares. Affirmed’s breeding legacy paled in comparison to his longtime rival Alydar. Seattle Slew, despite humble bloodlines himself, went on to sire a number of influential stallions, and his name is still routinely found in the pedigrees of classic winners today.
Fasig-Tipton Photos
Photo courtesy Fasig-Tipton
The July Sale is also a good place for pinhookers to find prospects. Pinhookers purchase horses as weanlings or yearlings and resell them as yearlings or 2-year-olds in training in hopes of generating a profit. The July auction is an opportunity to get a mature horse at a reasonable price. Well known pinhookers Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds and Cary Frommer were active, picking up $765,000 and $130,000 worth of horses respectively.
The top price for the July Sale was a $520,000 colt by Flatter out of Curlin mare No Curfew. Lane’s End consigned the horse, who was purchased by Al Rashid Stable.
The Horses of Racing Age sale saw a record for gross receipts at $9,318,000 for 100 horses. The average of $93,180 was down 3 percent, while the median of $50,000 was down 11 percent. The RNA rate finished at 16 percent, slightly higher than last year’s auction.
The Horses of Racing Age auction marks the relatively unusual opportunity for buyers to get horses in active training in a public auction setting. Some horses will leave the sale for retirement, but unlike the winter auctions which include recent runners, this one is intended to connect racehorses with their next owner/trainers. The top price for the racing age portion was $700,000 for My Miss Tapit, a graded stakes-placed filly from the Todd Pletcher stable. My Miss Tapit recently finished third in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Stakes at Gulfstream Park on June 30 and was previously campaigned by Mathis Stable. Elite Sales consigned the daughter of the desirable stud Tapit, who was purchased by Breeze Easy Stables.
The next public auction in Kentucky will be Keeneland’s September Sale, which starts September 10 and concludes September 23.