Fasig-Tipton’s first year of standalone digital sales came to a close this week, as the $340,000 broodmare Moyo Honey fetched one of the platform’s highest prices to date when topping the company’s December digital mixed sale. The sale traded 97 horses in its largest auction thus far, grossing more than $1.9 million. “The December digital selected sale was our largest digital catalog to date, and it marked the close of an incredibly successful year for the digital platform,” said Leif Aaron, Fasig-Tipton’s director of digital sales. “Buyers and sellers have been very supportive of Fasig-Tipton digital, we’ve sold 279 horses in our first year to the tune of around $10 million. We still have work to do, but this first year has shown us that there is a need for this segment of the horse business, and we look forward to expanding upon that success in 2023.” All three of the country’s major auction houses built remote-bidding platforms in 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel and gathering restrictions made in-person bidding logistically challenging. Online bidding, alongside traditional phone bidding, has continued to be integrated into in-person auctions as the industry has returned to normalcy, and auction houses have continued to experiment with the use of digital platforms in their work. For example, Keeneland held several stand-alone online sales in 2020 and 2021 and unveiled a “metaverse” experience during last month’s November breeding stock sale. Fasig-Tipton officially announced the launch of Fasig-Tipton Digital in February 2022, having named Aaron to his position at the head of that venture the month prior. The company proceeded to host 14 sales this year, each open for a period of several days. In the “traditional” sale catalogs with several horses, bidding closes on each lot in two-minute intervals on the final day of the sale. The platform also has hosted several small or even single-horse “flash” sales, providing the flexibility for owners to quickly cash in on stock that has appreciated in value, particularly young racing stock. “The Thoroughbred business is increasingly focused on creating liquidity by selling horses at opportune times, and this platform allows us to serve the marketplace by facilitating those transactions,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. Juveniles who score impressive maiden victories are very often considered strong sale prospects, and Fasig-Tipton’s digital platform stepped in to facilitate several of those sales this year in flash fashion. Dazzlingdominika won her second career start May 13 at Churchill Downs for Ready Made Racing. She subsequently sold for $120,000 to Eric Waller in a digital sale that closed May 26. The following month, Goa Gajah and Lakota Seven swept the exacta in a maiden race in Ireland for Magnolia Racing Syndicate. The connections offered the two juveniles in a flash sale, with Barry Fowler purchasing Lakota Seven for $220,000 on June 28, 11 days after the race. Goa Gajah was a buyback, with a high bid of $170,000. Moyo Honey’s $340,000 sale this week marked the fourth-highest published price of the year for Fasig-Tipton Digital. The broodmare Amazonian sold for $420,000 to KatieRich Farms in September during the Glenn Todd dispersal hosted on the platform. During the company’s April digital sale, the broodmare Wrong Color sold for $400,000 to Anglo Saxon Bloodstock and the filly Power Surge went for $370,000 to Jay Em Ess Stable. Pinehurst, a Grade 1 winner in California as a juvenile and winner of the Group 3 Saudi Derby earlier this year, sold for what Fasig-Tipton reported was a record digital price in November. The price was not disclosed, and bidding activity was only available to registered and approved bidders. Gary Broad’s Walmac Farm later announced that it would stand Pinehurst at stud in Kentucky in 2023, with Town and Country Farms as a partner. At this week’s December sale, Moyo Honey led 97 horses sold for $1,909,200. The graded stakes-placed Mizzen Mast mare, who is in foal to red-hot young sire Gun Runner, was purchased by Elicia Rankin from the consignment of Paramount Sales, agent. The digital platform “was very easy to use,” Rankin said. “I’m extremely pleased with my purchase.” While the barns at Fasig-Tipton’s Newtown Paddocks facility in Lexington, Ky., were available for consignors who wanted to showcase their December offerings to buyers in a central location, offerings also were located, and showcased digitally, from other locations in Kentucky, as well as California, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Breeder and consignor Carrie Brogden of Machmer Hall noted that that was an advantage for this mixed sale season in particular. “The difference in stress and risk to pregnancy is astonishing, and I am already thrilled with the pricing,” Brogden said. Fasig-Tipton has six digital sales already on its calendar for 2023, with the ability to add additional flash sales. The calendar kicks off with the March digital sale from March 2-7.