Fasig-Tipton July sale opens market for yearlings

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The yearling sale season in North America officially begins with this week’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected summer yearling sale, which traditionally showcases early-blooming youngsters with solid physical development.

Those young horses will step into the sale ring at Fasig-Tipton’s Newtown Paddocks headquarters on July 9 with a number of positive factors on their side. The Fasig-Tipton July sale marks the first opportunity for pinhookers to begin restocking their benches, perhaps feeling bullish following a solid 2-year-old sales season. The juvenile market surpassed $200 million in aggregate gross sales, and a number of sales were led by record-priced offerings.

The July sale comes in with some additional buzz, as graduates from its two most recent editions have performed strongly in stakes company over the last three months, including at the start of this year’s juvenile stakes calendar. Maryanorginger, a $190,000 purchase by Gold Square last July, won on debut in the Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park. Meanwhile, Kimari, purchased for $152,000 by Eaton Bloodstock, won her debut at Keeneland before finishing second in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting.

Going back to the 2017 edition of the Fasig-Tipton July sale, graduates included Chelsea Cloisters, who was Group 3 placed in France and second in last year’s inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. The $125,000 Cromwell Bloodstock purchase is stakes-placed this season. Joevia, a $50,000 Fasig-Tipton July graduate before being resold as a 2-year-old, won the Long Branch Stakes and finished third in the Belmont Stakes.

This year’s Fasig-Tipton July sale, which has 364 hips cataloged, offers the chance for first-crop yearling sires to get off on the right foot, as there are relatively few yearlings by some leading sires for them to contend with. There are no yearlings in the catalog by classic sires Tapit and War Front, both commercial powerhouses, as breeders and consignors with top prospects are likely awaiting higher-end sales later in the summer and fall. There also are no yearlings by this year’s leading general sire Quality Road; just two by 2018 leading general sire Kitten’s Joy; and none for multiple championship-producing sire Candy Ride.

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Into Mischief, a leading juvenile sire who was represented by multiple seven-figure lots in that category’s sales season, has six yearlings in the catalog. Other prominent, established sires in the catalog include Distorted Humor and Malibu Moon, with three yearlings each prior to additional outs; Uncle Mo, with a pair cataloged; and Awesome Again, Curlin, Ghostzapper, and Lookin At Lucky, with one each.

This year’s first-crop yearling sires include two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, winner of the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and 2016 Dubai World Cup. He has five yearlings from his first crop in the Fasig-Tipton July catalog, accounting for outs through July 1. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and Eclipse Award divisional champion Nyquist went on to win the 2016 Kentucky Derby. He has three yearlings cataloged, while multiple Grade 1 winner Exaggerator, who defeated Nyquist to win the 2016 Preakness, has six. Eclipse Award champion sprinter Runhappy has four yearlings cataloged, while European champion juvenile Air Force Blue has a trio.

Classic-placed Frosted, whose multiple Grade 1 victories included a dazzling score in the 2016 Metropolitan Handicap, sported the highest stud fee among incoming North American stallions for 2017 at $50,000. He has five yearlings from his first crop at Fasig-Tipton July. Other standouts from his class with yearlings cataloged include Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hit It a Bomb (1), Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz (1), Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red (1), Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tourist (4), and additional Grade 1 winners Brody’s Cause (7), Mshawish (4), and Outwork (13).

Last year’s Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale finished with 196 yearlings sold for $19,762,500, a gain of more than $3.6 million in gross from the 2017 edition of the sale. The buyback rate was relatively steady in what has continued to be a selective market, finishing at 31 percent compared to 30 percent. The average price finished at $100,829, and the median was $75,000 – gains of 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively, from the 2017 edition.