Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale: Curlin colts tops session at $550,000

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Curlin colt lit the board at $550,000 as the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale hit its midway point with results that compare favorably to last year’s renewal in a number of categories.

Through two of four sessions at its Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Fasig-Tipton reported 544 yearlings sold for gross receipts of $28,753,000. Through two of four sessions last year, 517 horses had sold for $24,081,300.

The cumulative average price sits at $52,855, up 13 percent from $46,579 last year. The median sits at $20,000, down 13 percent from $23,000 at this point last year. The buyback rate is improved to 20 percent, from 24 percent.

“Spirited bidding from the very beginning of the sale to the very end of the sale,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said, noting that the session-topper came late in the day. “I looked up late, and the back walking ring, the outside walking ring, the [adjacent] Kentucky Room, they were all jam-packed still. . . . More encouraging was just the level and consistency of bidding throughout the day. Truly, the October sale has something for everybody.”

The Curlin colt, who also leads the sale, was purchased by Alistair Roden, as agent for Mark Breen late in the session.

Breen “loves this horse, loves the pedigree, and I loved him physically,” Roden said. “Really, really good physical.”

The colt was consigned by Taylor Made Sales, as agent for breeder Stonestreet Farm. The colt had previously been entered in, but withdrawn from, both the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale and Keeneland September yearling sale. He found a receptive marketplace this week as the only horse thus far to push bidding past $500,000.

The colt is out of the winning Harlan’s Holiday mare Sass and Class, dam of Grade 2 winner Royal Charlotte.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.

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