Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale start with gains

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A pair of $350,000 colts led the way as the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale set the tone for its run with solid figures Monday.

Fasig-Tipton reported 265 yearlings sold for gross receipts of $13,198,000 during the first session of this four-day sale at its Newtown Paddocks facility in Lexington. In the 2023 opening session, 257 horses sold for $11,224,800.

Monday’s average price was $49,804, a 14 percent year-to-year, session-to-session gain from $43,676. The median was unchanged from the comparable session, at $20,000. The buyback rate was also steady, at 25 percent.

“It was a very satisfactory day,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. “Lots of good horses left in the pipeline for Tuesday through Thursday.”

A $350,000 colt by Quality Road set the bar for the session on Monday morning, and later in the day a colt by Into Mischief matched that mark. Both of these yearlings were buybacks at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale in August.

The Quality Road colt was purchased by Novogratz Racing Stables from the consignment of Brookdale, as agent. A $385,000 short yearling purchase by Joseph DiRico out of this year’s Keeneland January horses of all ages sale, he was a $435,000 buyback at the Saratoga sale.

The colt is the second foal out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Evocative, who is a half-sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Justwhistledixie. More notably, Justwhistledixie has been an excellent broodmare, producing Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner New Year’s Day and graded stakes winners Mohaymen, Enforceable, and Kingly.

The Into Mischief colt was purchased by BSW/Crow Bloodstock, as agent, from the consignment of Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, as agent. Blake-Albina consigned the colt – bred by Newtown Anner Stud Farm – in Saratoga, where he was a $325,000 buyback.

The colt is out of the Pulling Punches mare Indy Punch, dam of six winners from as many starters, led by multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire United. She also has produced graded stakes winner Harlan Punch, stakes winner and producer Tensas Punch, and group stakes-placed Royal Navy Ship.

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