Fasig-Tipton digital continues to thrive into July sale

Now in its third full year of operation, the Fasig-Tipton digital auction platform continues to set the bar higher for itself. Fasig-Tipton digital, which is scheduled to host a sale from July 18-23, has broken its own record for an individual horse’s price three times this year.

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 been integrated into live auctions as the industry has returned to normalcy, but Fasig-Tipton has continued to lean further in to the digital sector.

The company officially announced the launch of Fasig-Tipton digital in February 2022, and has since kept up a schedule of regular auctions.

One advantage of the digital platform is that horses can be showcased remotely. This makes logistics easier for active racing stock, who can continue training without shipping to an auction house. This was the case when Fasig-Tipton digital hosted a dispersal of the late Robert Lothenbach’s racing stable earlier this year. The majority of the top lots were stabled at Fair Grounds in Louisiana.

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Consignors have also noted they sometimes prefer the digital platform for broodmares, eliminating any risk from shipping or stress during pregnancy.

The availability of the digital platform does seem to be having some effect on the live marketplace. The recent Fasig-Tipton July horses of racing age sale in Kentucky had more than 100 fewer horses cataloged compared to 2023. Ultimately, the sale finished with 67 horses sold, compared to 144 last year.

“We had fewer horses this year, and that’s a function of the success of the digital sales,” said Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning Jr. “I think there’s a time and a place for horses. Some are better suited for a digital sale, and some are better suited for a live sale. And that’s really what we’re here to do – is to serve the marketplace. We’re pro-digital, and we’re pro-live horse sales.”

A predominant market desire is for horses with strong recent results, and live auctions have responded by keeping catalogs open for supplemental entries up until sale time, as digital sales do. The proof is in the results. In April, the 2-year-old colt Cheval de Guerre was second by a neck in his debut at Keeneland. Some 31 hours later, he was the final horse in the ring as a supplement to the Keeneland April horses of racing age sale, and sold for a co-sale-topping $450,000.

More recently, the 3-year-old colt Informed Patriot was third in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby on a Saturday night, was added to the catalog for the Fasig July horses of racing age sale the next day, and on Monday night provoked a spirited bidding war before hammering down for a sale-record $1.55 million, also as the final horse in the ring.

Continuing to build on this market desire for recent form, Fasig has hosted several single-horse “flash” sales on its digital platform – providing the flexibility for owners to quickly cash in on stock that has appreciated in value, rather than waiting for a scheduled sale.

In late April, the 2-year-old colt Mensa, an impressive debut winner about two weeks prior, sold for $740,000 to Resolute Racing as a single-horse flash offering. That eclipsed the previous digital record of $660,000 for the broodmare Eileen’s Dream set earlier in the month at the scheduled April sale.

The record was broken for a third time this season when graded stakes winner Cairo Consort brought $820,000 from Town and Country Racing to lead the June digital sale.

Fasig-Tipton’s most recent flash sale offered the broodmare Cloudy Dancer about a week after her son Shareholder won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting. David Hutson purchased the mare for $430,000.

“This sale is a perfect example of what Fasig-Tipton digital is about,” said Leif Aaron, Fasig’s director of digital sales. “The mare’s owners saw an opportunity to capitalize on her increase in value.”

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