Demand high for New York-breds entering Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale

The continued ascension of the New York-bred program over the past half-decade gives those selling horses at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale plenty of optimism. The auction will take place Monday at the Humphrey S. Finney sales pavilion, beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Demand for New York-breds at auction is high, with the average sale price for yearlings hitting a peak of $57,524 in 2015 and this year’s edition of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale having produced a $450,000 Uncle Mo colt. The fall mixed sale offers opportunities to capitalize on that marketplace with weanling pinhook prospects and mares in foal to the state’s stallions.

This year’s catalog features 318 entries, down 14 percent from the 369 entered in last year’s sale. Comprising this year’s catalog are 179 New York-bred weanlings (56 percent of the total catalog), 105 broodmares and broodmare prospects, and 34 New York-bred yearlings.

“I think it’s a good catalog,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for buyers and sellers, particularly on the weanling front. It’s become known for the weanling trade, and it looks like that will be a robust market again with lots of activity in 2016.

“The mares are certainly enhanced by the New York-bred program as well. There is no other state program that is as strong as the New York-bred program. There are tremendous incentives for people to breed New York-breds, so it creates a strong marketplace. I expect a good group there this year.”

The sale also serves a useful purpose as a secondary market for statebred yearlings, following the popular New York-bred sale in August.

“It’s another alternative if your horse isn’t mature enough or might not be ready for the August sale,” Browning said. “It’s certainly an opportunity to sell your yearling in New York, which probably increases the probability of it being raced in the state, which is significant from a breeders’ award perspective.”

The 2015 Saratoga fall sale, a single-day auction, saw 162 horses sold for $2,833,800, down 12 percent from the two-day renewal in 2014. The average sale price rose 5 percent to $17,493, while the median went unchanged at $10,000. The buyback rate finished at 46 percent.

The top nine prices from last year’s sale were drawn by weanlings, led by a first-crop Shanghai Bobby colt who sold to Hunter Valley Farm for $140,000. Out of the stakes-winning Cure the Blues mare Electric Shock and a half-brother to three stakes-placed runners, the colt was a $200,000 pinhook at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale.

The broodmares Justenufappeal and Man Stuff tied for the highest price among their peers, each selling for $50,000.

Michael Lischin and Nathan Lacomb bought Justenufappeal, a stakes-winning Exchange Rate mare in foal to Mission Impazible. St. Elias purchased Man Stuff, a stakes-winning Belong to Me mare who went through the ring in foal to Gemologist.

A City Zip filly led the auction’s yearlings, going to Three Diamonds Farm for $40,000. The still-unnamed filly is the first foal out of the stakes-winning Freud mare Freud’s Notebook and is working toward her debut at the Churchill Downs training center.

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