$200,000 Stay Thirsty colt tops Fasig-Tipton California sale

A colt by Stay Thirsty out of the California champion My Fiona sold for $200,000 at Monday’s Fasig-Tipton California fall yearling sale, the most expensive hip of the one-day auction at Los Alamitos.

The colt was consigned by Terry Lovingier’s Lovacres Ranch and purchased by Naseer Fusihuddin of San Diego, who has raced a small number of horses in recent years. Lovingier said he briefed Fusihuddin on the Stay Thirsty colt that led the sale and a Stay Thirsty colt out of the California champion Lost Bus that Fusihuddin purchased for $110,000.

“I pointed him on these horses,” Lovingier said.

The sale venue was relocated from Fairplex Park in Pomona to Los Alamitos, about 35 miles away, to conduct the event in Orange County, which has less stringent rules on public gatherings during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, 166 horses sold for $3,735,700, an average of $22,504. There were 90 listed as not sold and 42 withdrawn from a catalog of 298 yearlings. The buyback rate was 35.1 percent.

The average fell 18.9 percent from the 2019 sale that saw 137 horses sell for $3,667,800. The buyback rate at the 2019 sale was 46.2 percent.

In 2019, six horses that sold for $100,000 or more, led by a colt by Goldencents purchased for $150,000. The colt, named Rocketcent, is currently in training at Santa Anita for his debut.

The Stay Thirty colt that led Monday’s sale is the second foal out of My Fiona, who was co-owned by Lovingier and won 6 of 16 starts and earned $478,473. My Fiona was the California-bred champion 2-year-old filly of 2016, the year she won two stakes for statebreds.

My Fiona is the dam of Fi Fi Pharoah, a 2-year-old filly by American Pharoah who has not raced.

Lost Bus was the California-bred champion older female of 2016, the year she won the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at 64-1 at Santa Anita for Lovingier. The Stay Thirsty colt sold for $110,000 on Monday is her second foal.

Three horses at Monday’s sale sold for $100,000 or more. The most expensive filly, by Nyquist, was purchased for $135,000 by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners from the consignment of Tom Bachman’s Fairview LLC.

The Nyquist filly is out of Moon River Gal, by Malibu Moon. Moon River Gal won a maiden special weight race at Indiana Grand in her third and final career start in 2014. She is a half-sister to the stakes winners Lady TNT and Sweet Hope.