$1.5 million Quality Road filly tops opening session of Fasig-Tipton yearling sale

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.

With the coronavirus pandemic pushing back the juvenile sale season earlier this year, and travel and gathering restrictions due to the ongoing crisis, Fasig-Tipton was forced to reimagine its summer schedule, which typically consists of three summer selected yearling sales. The selected yearling showcase represents a consolidation of the company’s July selected yearling sale in Kentucky, which typically begins the North American season; the boutique Saratoga selected yearling sale, which was to have celebrated its 100th edition in August; and its New York-bred yearling sale, also in Saratoga. The company expects those three sales to return to their traditional dates in 2021.

Fasig-Tipton reported 172 horses sold for gross receipts of $27,166,000 during the first of two sessions at the selected showcase. In addition to bidding on the sale grounds and an expansion of the longstanding phone-bidding program, horses could be purchased via an online bidding platform that was introduced to Fasig-Tipton sales in June, which is now integrated into live auctions.

The day's average price finished at $157,942, and the median was $100,000. The session's overall buyback rate in what was expected to be a selective marketplace finished at 34 percent, improving significantly after a slow start.

"Statistically, we had no expectations – it was impossible, really, to know how to compare this sale to 2019 results," Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr., said. "What we hoped to achieve was to have a viable marketplace, to have commerce be conducted amongst buyers and sellers, to create an environment to help restore some confidence in the marketplace, to provide some stability and foundation for the 2020 yearling sales. And we're only halfway through, so I'm gonna be cautious in my overall analysis at this point, but I'm very, very, very encouraged."

Robbie Medina, acting as agent, signed the ticket for the session-topping Quality Road filly on behalf of Joseph Allen. Medina, a longtime assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, is now the general manager of Blackwood Stables.

"She's a beautiful filly and you can't get a better pedigree," Medina said.

The filly is out of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Marvellous, a Galileo mare who is already the dam of stakes winner Fort Myers. Marvellous is a full sister to multiple European classic winner Gleneagles, Group 1 winner Happily, group stakes winners Coolmore and Taj Mahal, and Irish classic-placed Vatican City. Their dam, Group 2 winner You’resothrilling, is a full sister to champion and leading sire Giant’s Causeway.

The filly, who was bred in Kentucky by Orpendale, Chelston, and Wynatt, was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Farm, as agent.

Although there was spirited bidding on top lots, the market showed some restraint and would only stretch so far, as the Quality Road filly was the session's only seven-figure horse. The other top prices on the day were a $700,000 Curlin filly and a $700,000 Into Mischief colt. All three of the top prices came in the final 100 hips of the session as the market began to pick up steam.

"I think any time you start a sale, there's a little bit of trepidation," Browning said. "It takes a little bit of time to find its way, to get a little confidence, and I think that was certainly the case today. But I think as we progressed through the day, people gained more and more confidence."

The Curlin filly was purchased from the consignment of Blue Heaven Farm by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, acting on behalf of Michael Lund Petersen. Baffert, who saddled his sixth Kentucky Derby winner last Saturday with Authentic, flashed a thumbs-up to photographers as he called out "Bargain!" to the auctioneers from the balcony where he and Lanni were bidding.

The filly is a half-sister to Grade 2-placed Virginia Key. Both are out of the Grade 3-winning Newfoundland mare Our Khrysty, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Bullsbay.

The Into Mischief colt, purchased by Dr. Dermot O'Byrne from the consignment of Denali Stud, as agent, is a half-brother to Grade 2 winner Made You Look. His second dam is Hall of Fame racemare and blue hen Serena’s Song, making his dam a half-sister to Group 1 winner Sophisticat, graded stakes winners Grand Reward, Harlington, and Schramsberg, and stakes winners Serena’s Tune and Serene Melody. It is the family of champion and emerging young sire Honor Code.

Spendthrift Farm's Into Mischief, the nation's reigning leading sire, broke through with his first classic winner with Authentic last Saturday. The stallion enjoyed a solid session Wednesday, with three yearlings in the top 10 prices and his eight total sold averaging $406,250. One of those was a $450,000 colt that Spendthrift and the My Racehorse micro-ownership group, two of the partners in Authentic, purchased together.

"It's a little spotty," Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said of the market. "We've sold some that we've been really happy with. Had one we RNA'ed where we thought we were reasonable with our reserve that we were a little disappointed not to get sold. But we sold some very well and thought the prices were fair on the two that we bought."

Many of the New York-breds in the catalog were grouped together at the start of the session in what was dubbed the “New York-bred preferred section.” Although some other New York-breds were scattered throughout the catalog later in the sale, the first 164 hips in the catalog represented the vast majority of the 177 horses foaled in that state in this showcase. They were tasked with the unenviable position not only of selling outside of their home market, but with selling early in the day as the market established itself.

The New York-dedicated section finished with 66 horses sold, but a buyback rate of 47 percent. The horses sold grossed $5,069,000, averaging $76,803, and checking in with a median of $65,000. Browning didn't attribute the results entirely to the pandemic.

"Traditionally, if you look over the last 10 years, the New York-bred sale has probably the highest RNA rate of any of our select or major sales, because there's so many racing opportunities for the New York breeders," Browning said. "So there's kind of less pressure on them from the outset. . . . [But] certainly the group that got probably the toughest hands in terms of a marketplace would have to be the New York breeders."

The top-selling New York-bred was a $300,000 Tiznow colt purchased by the Sackatoga Stable of Funny Cide and Tiz the Law fame. Sackatoga principal Jack Knowlton and trainer Barclay Tagg were in attendance at the sale just days after Tiz the Law finished second in the Kentucky Derby in nearby Louisville.

The colt, consigned by Hunter Valley Farm, as agent, is out of the stakes-placed Gilded Time mare Eternal Grace, dam of four winners from five starters. Her runners are led by Grade 2 winner Bye Bye Bernie, Grade 3-placed Joe Franklin, and stakes-placed Little Dipper.

Among the buybacks in the New York section was a half-brother to Tiz the Law, who left the ring on a high bid of $245,000 that failed to meet his reserve. The Mission Impazible colt, out of the Grade 2-winning Tiznow mare Tizfiz, was consigned by Sequel New York, as agent for breeders Randy Gullatt and Steve Davison’s Twin Creeks Farm. Gullatt said Twin Creeks now plans to race the colt themselves. The farm also owns a 2-year-old full sister to this colt named Angel Oak.

For hip-by-hip results from Wednesday's session, click here. The second and final session of the Fasig-Tipton showcase takes place Thursday.