Fasig-Tipton average rises

Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's winter mixed sale, its catalog numbers boosted by about 200 mares from the John Franks estate, ended Monday evening at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Ky., with gains in gross and average.

The auction's top price was the $235,000 that Lance Robinson paid for a Grade 3-winning broodmare prospect named Sheila's Prospect. The 6-year-old mare is by Not for Love and sold through the Three Chimneys agency.

The two-day auction sold 394 lots, well up from last year's 285, and grossed $4,713,100. That was up 49 percent from last season's $3,160,900 aggregate. The 2004 average price also rose, by 8 percent to $11,962. The median remained level with last year at $5,000.

The sale-topper went through the ring at Sunday's opening session. Monday's session-topper was a $180,000 Deputy Minister filly named Scoutingaround. An unraced 4-year-old, she went to Gainesway Farm and was part of the Franks estate's dispersal. Scoutingaround, a broodmare prospect offered through the Hill 'n' Dale agency, is a daughter of the Grade 1 winner Fit to Scout.