Constitution colt tops opening N.Y-bred yearling session at $340K

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Last week, perennial leading sire Tapit helped get the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale off to a strong start, with the top-priced lots of the opening session. This week, it was Tapit's son Constitution's turn to shine. The young stallion, currently North America's leading freshman sire, was represented by a colt sold for $340,000 to top the opening session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale, which posted not-unexpected declines in some areas.

Fasig-Tipton reported 66 horses sold during Sunday evening's opening session at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion for gross receipts of $5,972,500. The opening session of last year’s sale, which was structured somewhat differently, finished with 80 horses sold for $8,326,000. The 2018 edition of the New York-bred sale had 326 hips in the catalog, split roughly equally between the two evening sessions of the sale following Saturday and Sunday cards at Saratoga Race Course. With Saratoga now dark on both Monday and Tuesday, however, this year's sale, with 331 hips total, staged a slightly smaller evening opening session, with 119 hips, meaning the drop in gross was not unanticipated. The majority of the catalog, 211 hips, will be offered during a Monday session that begins at noon, Eastern.

“I had a small stroke downstairs when I saw the gross, and looked at last year’s gross, and said, ‘This isn’t possible,’ and then I said, ‘Well, it is possible, because you’ve changed the format, genius,’ ” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning laughed. “So it’s impossible, really, to compare results. [We’ll have to] talk over overall results tomorrow, when we get figures for the two days, because then, it’ll be apples-to-apples.”

The session’s average sale price was $90,492, a drop of 13 percent from the corresponding 2018 opening-session figure of $104,075. The latter figure, in itself, was a massive gain from the 2017 renewal of the sale, which checked in at $87,688 for the opener. The 2018 New York-bred sale finished with record figures for gross, average, and median as the statebred program continues to surge in national prominence. Browning alluded to this market eventually finding a plateau after years of growth. Additionally, the nature of yearling sales makes session-to-session fluctuations possible, as hip order is determined alphabetically by the dams’ names, beginning with a random letter, rather than by any subjective judgment of the quality of the horse.

“The average is down a little bit, but I think we’ve got a lot of remarkable horses tomorrow,” Browning said. “We’ve seen remarkable growth in the New York-bred program in recent years, and I think it’s reaching some level of maturity. … You can’t continue to go up forever.”

The session-to-session median remained unchanged, at $75,000. The buyback rate for the opening session was 32 percent, compared to 41 percent last year.

The session leader, who was purchased by trainer John Terranova as agent for an undisclosed client, is from the second crop of Constitution, a multiple Grade 1-winning son of Tapit standing at WinStar Farm. Through Saturday, Constitution led this year's competitive freshman sire class by earnings, with a bankroll of $537,387 to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah's $473,358. Both have seven individual winners. Constitution's winners include graded stakes winners at both marquee summer race meetings -- By Your Side in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga and, on the opposite coast, Amalfi Sunrise in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. He is also responsible for one of the handful of juveniles to break the 90-plus Beyer Speed Figure threshold, as Tiz the Law earned that figure with an impressive maiden win at Saratoga last Thursday.

"We were really happy we got him -- we thought he was the best horse in the sale," Terranova said. "Obviously, Constitution, you see him getting off to a hot start with the 2-year-olds. He's had some versatile runners he's had on the track already."

The bottom side of the pedigree was also a selling point for Terranova. The colt, who was consigned by Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, as agent, is out of the winning Arch mare Akris Queen, who Terranova trained.

"She's got a big pedigree and everything," Terranova said, "a nice, sound filly. It's nice to see her throwing a good-looking colt like that."

Akris Queen, the dam of one winner from two starters to date, is out of the stakes-winning Flying Paster mare Catnip, a half-sister to several stakes horses, including European champion Hold That Tiger and Belmont Stakes winner Editor's Note. Catnip is the dam of multiple graded stakes winner Indescribable, Grade 3 winner Micromanage, stakes winner Elaflaak, and multiple stakes producer Catchofthecentury.

The evening's other top lots were a $300,000 colt from the first crop of champion sprinter Runhappy, purchased by Oracle Bloodstock as agent for Reeves Racing, R. A. Hills, and Corms; and a $260,000 Twirling Candy filly purchased by JCE Racing and Travis Durr.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.