SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A colt by the late Arrogate got a timely update to his page in the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale catalog when his full brother, Cave Rock, was a dazzling debut winner Saturday at Del Mar. With that colt selling for $700,000 to rank among the New York-bred sale’s all-time highest prices, Fasig-Tipton closed this year’s run in Saratoga in strong fashion. Fasig-Tipton reported 188 yearlings sold during the two-day sale for gross receipts of $20,175,000, surpassing the $20 million threshold for the first time. At the 2021 edition, 203 yearlings sold for $18,566,500, which had been the previous top for this auction. This week's cumulative average was $107,314, soaring 17 percent from $91,461 in 2021. This was the second-highest average all-time for the New York-bred sale, missing the $107,512 established in 2018 by less than a percentage point. The median price – considered a key indicator of the health of the marketplace because it is not affected by outlying high prices as much as the average – jumped 6 percent, to $74,000 from $70,000 in 2021. The median also was the second-highest in sale history, trailing only the $76,000 set in 2018. "The New York-bred racing and breeding program is very strong," said Conrad Bandoroff of consignor Denali Stud. "You look at what these New York-breds are running for at Saratoga – they're running for $120,000 maidens. And I think that just gives people a lot of confidence in the New York-bred program and the horses that are on offer here." The cumulative buyback rate was an outstanding 19 percent, compared to 21 percent last year. The buyback rate was the second-best all-time at this sale, behind the record 17 percent in 1981, before the New York-bred program began its rise to prominence in the 1990s. "Historically, this sale's had a little bit higher RNA rate than a lot, because of the racing opportunities” for New York-breds, Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. "And breeders oftentimes want to make sure the horse stays here in the state of New York for obvious reasons, because of the breeders' awards." The strong figures at the New York-bred sale followed the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale on Aug. 8-9, which sold 14 seven-figure horses and smashed its records for gross, average, and median. "Certainly, a lot of folks did not get horses bought last week, and some money carried over," Browning said. "The great thing is that this sale has the ability to stand on its own two feet – it's no longer an asterisk or an afterthought to the selected sale. This is a legitimate horse sale that continues to produce . . . Grade 1 winners in open company, and it stands on its own feet." Along with prominent New York-based outfits such as the multi-classic winning Sackatoga Stable, other nationally prominent outfits active at the New York-bred sale – many after being active at the selected sale last week – included perennial leading owner Klaravich Stables, New York native Mike Repole, Eclipse Thoroughbreds, the WinStar Farm-affiliated Maverick Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, and Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm. "We really are enjoying the New York program," said Dean Reeves, who, with wife, Patti, races as Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, which bought a pair of six-figure yearlings this week. "We've been successful in it, we're having a good time with it. The New York program, the incentives, being able to get a lot of money back out of the horse quickly up here in New York is really a big deal for us. It helps turn the money back over for us. . . . We are looking at the weanlings in the [Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed] sale. [New York-breds] are an integral part of our stable right now." After a 2-year-old sales season in which the most expensive horse sold was a New York-bred, pinhookers stocking up with multiple purchases at this sale included Cary Frommer, Grassroots Training and Sales, Jesse Hoppel, Kings Equine, and Scanlon Training and Sales. It was Tom McCrocklin of Champion Equine, also a noted pinhooker, who emerged to purchase the $700,000 sale-topper. The colt was consigned by Eaton Sales, as agent for his breeder, the Longford Farm of Dan Burke and daughter Kathleen Burke Schweizer. The colt's price made him the most expensive colt ever sold at the New York-bred sale and ranked as the auction's second-highest price all-time, behind a $775,000 Malibu Moon filly sold in 2019. McCrocklin prevailed in a long bidding battle and said he would have gone farther, if necessary. “We were gonna buy the horse,” he said. Buying the horse got immeasurably more difficult when an already good pedigree got a major update 48 hours earlier. The colt's dam is the Bellamy Road mare Georgie's Angel, a precocious and impressive winner of her first two starts, including the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga. Cave Rock, the mare's fifth foal – three of her first four were winners – was bred in Kentucky by Ann and Ronnie Sheffer Racing. After his delivery in March 2020, Georgie's Angel was bred back to Eclipse Award champion and leading moneywinner Arrogate, in what would be his final season at stud before his death that June. Later in the year, Georgie's Angel was offered at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, and, in a pandemic-affected marketplace, Longford purchased her for $75,000 carrying this colt. Cave Rock began to give the first hints that he could continue to update the page when he was well-regarded at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale, as he sold for $550,000. He made his anticipated debut last Saturday at Del Mar and won by six lengths. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 101, tied for the top number for a juvenile this year. “Obviously a big update . . . Very impressive first time out,” McCrocklin said, adding that this colt was on his radar even prior to Saturday’s race. “Was kind of hoping [Cave Rock] wouldn’t run as well as he did, because it made him a little more expensive,” he added wryly. “It’s been a very strong market – July, the select sale, this sale.” McCrocklin said it has not yet been decided whether this colt will be retained to race, or if he will target a 2-year-old sale next spring as a pinhook prospect. “We’re gonna take him to Ocala and break him,” McCrocklin said. “We haven’t decided yet. He could go either way. Obviously, a lot depends on the brother.” The sale's second-highest price came during Sunday night's opening session, as Al Gold, who is campaigning Grade 1 winner Cyberknife this year, purchased a $600,000 Hard Spun colt. Joe Hardoon, racing manager for Gold's Gold Square LLC, signed the ticket. "He's a big, beautiful chestnut colt," Hardoon said. "A lot of size, a lot of leg to him. For how big he is, he's very light on his feet, a beautiful mover. He looks like he'll be a nice two-turn horse. Really, just everything we look for – and he's a New York-bred on top of it." The colt was consigned by Perrone Sales, on behalf of the Apache Farm of William and Jane Moriarty, who co-bred this colt with Godolphin, which stands Hard Spun in Kentucky. He is out of the unraced Dixie Union mare Passe, making him a half-brother to Grade 1-placed multiple stakes winner Wonder Gal, now the dam of stakes winner Wonder Wheel. Passe is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Social Queen, dam of Grade 1 winner Force the Pass. Grade 1 winner Perfect Drift, who earned more than $4.7 million, also appears on the catalog page. Rounding out the top five prices were a $375,000 Nyquist colt, purchased by LML, Inc.; a $370,000 Good Magic filly, purchased by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing; and a $355,000 Bolt d'Oro colt, purchased by agent Greg Martin. For hip-by-hip results, click here.