Led by a $3.55 million Bernardini colt who smashed the sale record for highest price, the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale concluded with strong figures Tuesday evening at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. Fasig-Tipton reported 391 horses sold at the two-day sale, with the Bernardini colt in the second session, for gross receipts of $37,297,700. That bettered the Midlantic juvenile sale record of $33,692,000, established from 357 sold last year. The cumulative average price was a record $95,391, ticking upward 1 percent from the prior high-water mark of $94,375 set last year. The median price did dip 6 percent, to $47,000 from the record $50,000 established last year. The median is considered a key figure for market health, as it is a figure that represents a broader swath of the activity, and is not influenced as much by outliers at the top of the marketplace as the average price can be.  The buyback rate was a respectable 19 percent. Last year’s figure of 16 percent was the third-lowest in sale history.  :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Bloodstock agent and clocker Gary Young, acting as agent for Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing, prevailed in the battle to secure the sale topper, who is named Berning Remarks. The trip through the ring by the Bernardini colt, who is from the third-to-last crop by his sire, who died last July, had been anticipated since last Wednesday, when he blitzed a furlong in 9 4/5 seconds on the five-furlong dirt track at Timonium during the three-day under-tack show. The time lit up stopwatches as the fastest work at this sale in a decade, following a filly by Successful Appeal who breezed 9 4/5 seconds in 2012. With that work playing on the video screens in the Midlantic sale pavilion, bidding on the colt opened at $100,000 and climbed in six-figure increments to $900,000 in less than a minute. It hovered there for a long moment before breaking the seven-figure ceiling, making the colt the first at this year’s sale to do so. Once that mark was surpassed, steady activity continued as the bidders slugged it out from there, with the price again climbing in six-figure increments. With the high bid sitting at $3.5 million, Young countered with a final $50,000, and that was enough for the underbidders. Young bid with Bob Baffert, the regular trainer for Zedan, in attendance. Baffert, who handled the star-crossed Medina Spirit for Zedan, is currently serving a 90-day suspension that runs through July 2. The colt's price smashed the previous sale record of $1.8 million that Michael Lund Petersen paid for an Into Mischief filly in 2019. That filly turned out all right, as Gamine went on to win seven graded stakes in her career and secure an Eclipse Award as outstanding female sprinter in 2020. The Bernardini colt is the highest-priced 2-year-old sold in North America since Cezanne, now a multiple graded stakes winner. Cezanne fetched $3.65 million at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale, pre-pandemic. According to Fasig-Tipton records, the colt is also the highest-priced horse ever sold at public auction in the state of Maryland, and the highest-priced horse ever sold at public auction worldwide by successful sire Bernardini, the Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old male of 2006. The A.P. Indy stallion, who stood as a homebred for the Darley Stallions operation, is the sire of 89 stakes winners, including 16 Grade/Group 1 winners, to date. The New York-bred colt was consigned by Becky Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock, as agent for Chester and Mary Broman, perennial leading breeders in the Empire State. He was broken by Sequel at Winding Oaks in Ocala, and his training at Timonium leading up to the Midlantic sale was overseen by assistant Carlos Manresa, Thomas’s son-in-law and general counsel at Sequel. “The expectations were pretty high,” Manresa said of the colt's outstanding breeze. “Like most of the Bromans’ horses, they’re bred to go fast, and he did just that. We didn’t know he was going to go quite that fast – we hadn’t asked him to go that fast. But we knew he would be a standout performer. “We had huge expectations, and he exceeded them.” The colt is out of the winning Medaglia d’Oro mare G Note, dam of three winners from as many starters. G Note is out of Grade 2 winner Seeking the Ante, who is out of Grade 1 winner Antespend, the dam of Grade 1 winner Friends Lake. Seeking the Ante produced stakes winner Minerologist, dam of stakes winner Can You Diggit. This family has been active recently, as Seeking the Ante also produced Risk a Chance, dam of this year’s Grade 2 winner Un Ojo. "We've had the whole family," Thomas said. "It's one of the Bromans’ foundation families, so it's been really good." :: Want the best bonus in racing? Get a $250 deposit match, $10 free bet, and free Formulator with DRF Bets. Code: WINNING Following the Bernardini colt, the two highest prices of the sale were standouts for freshman sires, with a $725,000 Girvin filly and a $675,000 Bolt d’Oro colt both selling at the opening session. The Girvin filly sold to bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, on behalf of owner Michael Lund Petersen. Grade 1 winner Girvin, by Tale of Ekati, stands at Ocala Stud in partnership with Airdrie Stud and racetrack owners Brad and Misty Grady. He sired his first winner on May 5, as Devious Dame rolled by 5 1/2 lengths on debut at Churchill Downs. Girvin's session-topping filly, who worked a furlong in 10 1/5 seconds, was consigned by Paul Sharp, as agent. The filly is out of the Smart Strike mare Sweet Pistol, whose lone starter to date is a winner. Sweet Pistol is out of three-time graded stakes winner Pomeroys Pistol. That mare, who was also multiple Grade 1-placed, produced Grade 2 winner Thousand Words. The Bolt d'Oro colt was purchased by Spendthrift Farm and Frank Fletcher, in partnership. Spendthrift stands Bolt d'Oro, a Grade 1-winning son of Medaglia d'Oro. The freshman is already the sire of a pair of winners. The New York-bred colt, who was among the large group tied for the second-fastest furlong of the breeze show at 10 seconds flat, was consigned by Pike Racing, as agent. He is out of the stakes-placed Aldebaran mare Shine Softly, dam of six winners from as many starters, including stakes winner The Grass Is Blue. Shine Softly is out of champion turf mare and multiple stakes producer Soaring Softly, and this is the extended family of champion Wavering Girl. For hip-by-hip results, click here.