LEXINGTON, Ky. – A $1.6 million Quality Road colt led energetic trade in the Keeneland sale pavilion Tuesday afternoon as a number of high-ticket offerings pushed the Keeneland September yearling sale's marquee Book 1 portion across the finish line with gains.

On closing weekend of the summer meeting at Saratoga Race Course in 2009, Rachel Alexandra brought the house down on the meet, as well as her Horse of the Year campaign, by defeating older males in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes. That same weekend, her stablemate Hot Dixie Chick earned a Grade 1 victory by taking the Spinaway Stakes.

There was cautious optimism as the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale returned to its traditional place on the calendar this week to continue what has been a solid comeback for the juvenile sales marketplace following the upheaval of 2020. The reality surpassed those hopes. Not only did the two-day auction at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium finish with major gains over the displaced 2020 edition, it smashed the sale's all-time records for gross, average, and median.

The four-day Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale, the final major-market North American yearling auction of the season, concluded a solid run in a turbulent marketplace on Thursday evening, posting an improved median and buyback rate.

A Quality Road colt sold for $560,000 as the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale, the final major-market North American yearling auction of the season, continued to post solid figures as it reached its midway point.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A filly by Quality Road sold for $1.5 million to lead the opening session of the one-off Fasig-Tipton selected yearling showcase Wednesday in Lexington, Ky., which also represented the belated start to the major-market North American yearling sale season.

The following are horses to watch, based on pedigree alone, at the Fasig-Tipton select yearlings showcase on Sept. 9-10 in Lexington, Ky. This list reflects catalog updates and sale outs through Sept. 9.

Selling on Wednesday, Sept. 9

Hip No. 73, colt by Mission Impazible – Tizfiz, by Tiznow. Consigned by Sequel New York, agent.

City of Light kicked off the year in style for his sire, Quality Road, by winning the Pegasus World Cup Invitational by 5 3/4 lengths, continuing the momentum from his win in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile the previous fall. However, the Pegasus was the career finale for City of Light, as he immediately shipped to Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky to join his sire in time for the 2019 breeding season. There were still more than 11 months remaining in the racing season.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – While a softer upper market led to declines in the figures during the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale’s opening session on Monday, five horses sold for prices in excess of $300,000 to lead a relatively solid middle market.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The six-time graded stakes winner Marley’s Freedom will be bred to Quality Road this year, owner Ron Perry said on Sunday.

Marley’s Freedom won 9 of 18 starts and earned $1,233,935. Trained initially by Bob Hess Jr., and later by Bob Baffert, Marley’s Freedom won her final start in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos last July.