Curlin stars in second night of Fasig-Tipton yearling sale
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Two of the most consistent American classic sires in recent years have been Curlin and Tapit. Perennial leading sire Tapit is the only sire in the modern era to be represented by three winners of the Belmont Stakes; meanwhile, two-time Horse of the Year Curlin was represented by a classic winner or classic-placed runner from each of his first six crops.
Tapit set the table at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, sending out the top two lots of Monday evening's opening session, including the sale's first seven-figure horse. Curlin closed out a classic edition of the boutique yearling sale on Tuesday night, with a trio of seven-figure lots in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion as the Fasig Saratoga sale concluded its 99th renewal with record average and median figures.
Curlin was represented by a pair of $1.5-million colts and another colt sold for $1 million on Tuesday night as Fasig-Tipton closed the sale with 135 yearlings reported sold for gross receipts of $55,547,000. That did mark a drop of 12 percent in the gross, compared to 170 yearlings sold for $62,794,000 in 2018. Slightly fewer yearlings were cataloged this year, with 223 hips in the catalog compared to 255 in 2018; pre-sale outs, plus a higher buyback rate - 26 percent compared to a cumulative 21 percent last year - also helped contribute to the drop in gross.
However, what the sale was missing in quantity, it made up in quality. The cumulative average sale price soared, finishing at $411,459, up 11 percent from $369,376 last year, and establishing a sale record. The previous mark was $385,259, established in 2001.
The two-day median price finished at $350,000, surpassing by 17 percent the sale-record $300,000 established in 2017 and matched in 2018.
“Quality sells,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning emphasized in his post-sale remarks.
"We live in a very realistic market where buyers are certainly willing to pay what they consider to be a fair price, and then probably a little bit," Browning continued. "There's tremendous competition at the upper end of the marketplace. People are craving to have quality horses to run at Saratoga next summer, or to run in the classics two years from now, and they're willing to pay for them. But they have limits. They stop bidding. Sometimes they partner up to spread the risk, which has kind of become a way of life amongst the buying group, which tends to minimize the 'craziness' at the top end of the market.
“It’s remarkable to think that the average was $442,000 tonight,” Browning continued, referencing Tuesday’s session-average price of $442,864, up 14 percent from $388,839 in the corresponding final session last year, which included the same number of seven-figure horses. “I would not have dared this morning to say we’d average [that]. … But we knew we had a lot of very valuable horses today that had a lot of interest and positive feedback. Thrilled, overall, with the results.”
All three of Curlin's seven-figure lots sold to diverse partnerships, a setup that, as Browning noted, is becoming a norm in the commercial arena as buyers look to share risk on expensive colts who may be stallion prospects.
"Obviously, Curlin had a special night tonight, but he had special horses," Browning said. "It didn't take a genius to figure out, coming into the session tonight, when you talked to the major buyers and you talked to the consignors, where they were really excited - 'I've got a really good Curlin, I've got a really good Curlin, I've got a really good Curlin.' They have his frame, they showed themselves with class, and he's a classic sire."
West Point Thoroughbreds, which purchased the $1 million Tapit colt who led Monday's opening session, swiftly put together a large partnership to land a $1.5-million Curlin colt who co-led Tuesday's session. When the dust settled, the names on the sales ticket were West Point, Woodford Racing, Siena Farm, Valdes Singleton, Sandbrook, and Freeman.
"Everything just came together," West Point's Terry Finley said. "That's what you have to do with these horses, you gotta put everything together, and two or three minutes before the sale, everything really came together."
The colt is the first foal out of the A.P. Indy mare America, who won the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Aqueduct and placed in a pair of Grade 1 events. America is from a deep female family, as her third dam is Kentucky Oaks winner and blue hen Blush With Pride. The best-known of that mare's multiple stakes winners is Grade 2 winner Better Than Honour, the dam of four stakes winners herself including a pair of Belmont Stakes winners in champion Rags to Riches, who also won the Kentucky Oaks, and Jazil. Champions Malinowski, Peeping Fawn, and Xaar and Grade/Group 1 winners Chimes of Freedom, Denon, Senure, Streaming, and Thewayyouare also appear on this catalog page.
America's colt was consigned by Arthur Hancock's Stone Farm, as agent for breeder Bobby Flay.
"You could see they accept and like Curlin," Hancock said. "He's a great stallion. But I worried. I saw a lot of them bring a lot of money, and I said, 'I hope that's not some of the money they were gonna spend on ours!'"
America's colt matched the $1.5 million price another partnership paid for another Curlin colt earlier in the evening, as the Australian outfit Aquis Farm teamed up with Let's Go Stable and Crawford Farm Racing. Shane McGrath, an executive for Aquis, said the colt will remain in the U.S. for the foreseeable future and will be conditioned by Todd Pletcher, who regularly trains for Let's Go. However, he did not rule out the possibility of the colt racing internationally in the future.
"We want to get global," McGrath said. "Hopefully, this horse, he looks like a one-turn horse, and we're looking forward to being here [in Saratoga] with him next year. The prize money's so good in Australia now - if he's good, you would have to consider it. We'll give him to Todd, he'll work it out, and if he says he's good enough to come down, maybe he could be an Everest horse -- we've got an Everest slot. If he's good enough, I'd love to bring him down in due course."
The colt is the first foal out of the Scat Daddy mare Wapi, who was a champion in her native Chile at age 3. Wapi is a half-sister to Chilean stakes winner Lucky Winner and Group 3-placed Lucky Weekend. Both of those runners are by Lookin At Lucky, who, like Curlin, is a son of Smart Strike.
Chilean champion We Can Seek appears on the catalog page, and Wapi is from the extended family of champion Heavenly Prize, Grade 1 winners Bigger Picture, Dancing Forever, Dancing Spree, Dramatic Gold, Fantastic Find, Finder's Fee, Furia Azteca, Furlough, Good Reward, King of Clubs, Oh What a Windfall, and The Liberal Member.
Wapi's colt was consigned by Denali Stud on behalf of breeders Don Alberto Corporation and Three Chimneys Farm. Denali also consigned Curlin's other seven-figure lot of the evening for breeder Stonestreet Farm, as Robert LaPenta's Whitehorse Stables and Bridlewood Farm purchased a colt for $1 million. The colt is out of the stakes-placed Yes It's True mare Yes Liz.
"We thought this was the best athlete here, by possibly the best stallion in the country," bloodstock agent John Panagot said.
Behind the two $1.5 million Curlin colts, the $1 million Curlin colt, and the $1 million Tapit colt sold on Monday night, the top lots of the auction were:
* A $950,000 colt from the second crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, sold to M.V. Magnier of the Coolmore group, which stands the young sire. The colt, sold in the Tuesday session, is out of the Grade 1-placed stakes winner Bon Jovi Girl, a half-sister to champion Gio Ponti, and the dam of graded stakes winner You’re to Blame.
* A $950,000 Curlin colt sold to Ken McPeek, as agent for Paul Fireman’s Fern Circle Stables. The colt is the first foal out of Grade 1 winner Taris, and was the early leader of Tuesday’s session.
*A $950,000 Tapit filly purchased by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni on behalf of Heider Family Stables on Monday night.
* A $900,000 Medaglia d’Oro filly from the family of his multiple Grade 1 winner Elate. Claiborne Farm, as agent, purchased the filly on Tuesday night.
*A $900,000 Medaglia d’Oro filly out of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Light the City, purchased on Monday night by bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe.
For hip-by-hip results from the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, click here.
--additional reporting by Matt Hegarty