Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Big gains at Saratoga sale
It’s never a bad time to have an elite yearling at a major auction, but this year’s Fasig Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale proved that it’s getting better for the cream of the crop, as illustrated by a record median price and the secondhighest gross and average in the boutique auction’s history.
The two-day auction saw 156 horses sold for $52,995,000, the sale company said Tuesday, a 16 percent gain in gross from last year’s Saratoga sale, where 156 horses sold for $45,570,000.
The average sale price rose 16 percent to $339,712 from $292,115, while the median rose 26 percent to a record $300,000 from $237,500. The buyback rate finished at 20 percent, down from 23 percent in 2016.
“We had high expectations coming into the sale, and we exceeded those expectations,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said. “There was remarkable depth in the buying pool between $250,000 and $750,000, just enormous competition. Horses were exceeding their reserves by two, three, four times in many instances, and you’d see it happen consecutively, which I think demonstrates a healthy marketplace.”
While returns were historic for the auction, Browning said the trade still had a level of restraint, even at the highest levels. The two most expensive buybacks of the sale left the ring with final bids of $1 million and $885,000.
“It’s still rational,” he said. “We saw a couple high-priced buybacks tonight. People own expensive and valuable horses, and they don’t always have to sell them. They have the right to set a reserve and value their horses where they believe is appropriate.”
Each of the sale’s sessions produced a horse who sold for an auction-high $1 million.
Tuesday’s session was led by an Orb colt who sold to Kerri Radcliffe Bloodstock on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbreds. The chestnut colt is the first foal out of the Grade 3-winning Flashy Bull mare Flashy American. He is from the family of Grade 3 winner I’m Already Sexy.
“This is actually my favorite colt in the sale, so I’m delighted to get him,” Radcliffe said. “The stallion has already come out and is getting results, and he’s from a great farm in [consignor and co-breeder] Gainesway.”
Though Phoenix Thoroughbreds is a global operation, Radcliffe said the colt will remain in the U.S. and likely will be trained by Bob Baffert.
Flashy American was a $395,000 purchase by Blue Sky Stable with Tuesday’s co-sale topper in utero at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton February winter mixed sale. She was sold later that year, in foal to Tapit, for $950,000.
The session-topping colt was bred in Kentucky by a partnership including Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd.; the farm’s director of public sales, Brian Graves; and Kidder Cole, among others. He sold as a weanling for $310,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale.
“It’s a really special moment for me,” Graves said. “We just wish them all the luck in the world. He certainly looks like a graded stakes horse.”
A Curlin colt topped Monday’s session, selling to Eric Fein, who is best known for co-owning runners such as Musket Man, Big Truck, and Syndergaard. The chestnut colt is out of the Grade 1-winning Devon Lane mare River’s Prayer, who is the dam of three winners from four foals to race. He was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings.
“We liked everything about him,” said Ian Brennan, the head trainer at Stonestreet Training and Rehabilitation Center, who signed the ticket as agent for Fein. “He was a beauty when we saw him. We’ve had a couple out of the mare, and the mare’s really nice. He’s for a good client, and we’re just really happy to get him.”
Brennan said the colt would be sent to the Stonestreet Training Center in Summerfield, Fla., to begin his training. Brennan said Fein usually employs trainer Todd Pletcher for his race-ready runners.
Denali Stud consigned the colt as agent for Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet operation.
“He showed over 200 times,” Craig Bandoroff of Denali Stud said of buyer interest in the colt. “They wore him out, but those kind have got to come here fit. They’ve got to be able to stand the pressure, and he did. Every day, he just got into it more and more. Once he knew what his job was, he did his job.”