Broodmare dispersal delivers moderate numbers

A dispersal of broodmares supporting the late young stallion Far From Over provided the catalyst for the latest evolution of the Fasig-Tipton July sale, but ultimately, the three-in-one packaging provided by in-foal broodmares with 2021 foals alongside didn’t prove the top draw of the breeding stock session.

Far From Over, whose biggest win came in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes, died this month at age 9 following a seizure. The son of Blame, who raced for Steve Marshall’s Black Rock Thoroughbreds, Madaket Stables, and James Covello, was standing at William Gray’s Gray Farms near Cottonwood, Calif., for the partnership of Marshall’s Fountain of Youth Breeding, Burke Edwards, and Justin Ferrero. The stallion stood most of three seasons, with his oldest foals now yearlings. He injured his pelvis this spring in a paddock accident, ending what would be his final season early.

With Marshall dispersing stock, the partnership’s mares selected to support Far From Over were to be entered in a public auction to dissolve the partnership. Fasig-Tipton accepted the mares into its July sale, giving the owners an opportunity to disperse immediately rather than waiting for the traditional November sales. With the dispersal, Fasig-Tipton then opened its catalog to additional breeding stock entries. Ultimately, the breeding stock session put 51 horses through the ring, with the dispersal accounting for 14 of those.

The 14 dispersal mares accounted for a gross of $666,000, an average of $44,400. The sale’s overall top price was the $225,000 paid for stakes winner Jeweled Princess, carrying her first foal. The most expensive of the dispersal was $150,000 multiple stakes winner Too Much Prada, sold to The Elkstone Group.

“I thought it was really interesting,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said, adding that ultimately his own predictions “missed the market” somewhat.

“I was really surprised with how well some of the in-foal mares sold that weren’t part of the dispersal, and how well broodmare prospects sold. I was probably a little surprised that some of the mares with foals at their side didn’t bring a little more money.”

Of the mares in the dispersal, four sold with 2021 foals by Violence alongside. There were two foals by Honor Code, and one each by Catalina Cruiser, Far From Over, Good Magic, Laoban, Street Boss, and Yoshida. Two of the mares were in foal to Far From Over after being bred back earlier this year; the rest were in foal to either Violence or Connect.

As one explanation for why the package deals of in-foal mares with foals at their sides did not bring more money, Browning noted that the prices of the mares would come alongside “carrying costs,” or overhead in money and time to raise and sell the mare’s current foal, to safely deliver the mare’s current pregnancy and raise that foal, and then to breed and deliver a 2023 foal by a stallion of the buyer’s choosing.

“It’s making a significant commitment when you buy a mare that might have [multiple] foals on the ground,” Browning said. “We’ve seen that be an area of weakness in the marketplace . . . and that’s still there even if you’re selling the foal alongside, because you’ve got to carry that mare, you’ve got to breed that mare. The carrying costs . . . are not cheap, and it costs you money to get from point A to point B.”