Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale begins Monday

The last stop on the North American mixed sale season comes Monday and Tuesday when Fasig-Tipton hosts its Kentucky winter mixed sale – looking to follow up on a record 2022 edition – at its Newtown Paddocks facility in Lexington.

The Fasig-Tipton catalog initially had 465 entries. With supplemental additions, the catalog as of Friday morning had grown to 594 hips.

The sale represents the final chance to acquire a mare at public auction before breeding sheds open their doors next week. For example, Spendthrift Farm, which stands reigning leading sire Into Mischief, opens its shed on Feb. 10.

Some stallion owners with later retirees are still working to acquire mares to get their new prospects off on the best foot. It was announced on Jan. 17 that Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Fire At Will would enter stud at Sequel Stallions in New York, after he was purchased at a Fasig-Tipton digital auction. The Fire At Will Syndicate purchased six mares at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s winter mixed sale, the penultimate auction of this season, in late January.

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This sale also marks the final opportunity to acquire a short yearling. End-users have increasingly used the weanling and short yearling market to get out ahead of what has been a strong formal yearling market, which runs from July through October.

Pinhookers also are shopping for young stock to point toward those sales. This competition has created a competitive marketplace with short yearlings bringing 11 of the top 13 prices at the OBS January sale.

“As the last mixed sale before the start of breeding season, Kentucky winter mixed is a very important sale on the Thoroughbred auction calendar,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning, Jr. “This year’s catalog offers another quality group of stakes-credentialed racing and broodmare prospects and proven producers. The strength of covering sires and yearling sires has increased once again, as well.”

Young racing or broodmare prospects with strong recent form have been in high demand at many mixed sales – as seen at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale, which was topped by $650,000 Ancient Peace, a maiden winner in the weeks prior to the auction, and $600,000 England’s Rose, who was graded stakes-placed in 2022.

The trend stretches back to the 2022 Fasig-Tipton February sale, which was topped by the Grade 1-placed young mare Brilliant Cut, who was purchased for $750,000 by Katsumi Yoshida out of the supplemental catalog. Brilliant Cut led 431 horses sold for $17,245,500 over a strong two-day sale.

The average price was $40,013, 36 percent higher than the 2021 edition, and the median soared 60 percent, to $16,000.

The gross and median figures were sale records, while the average was the highest in sale history in a non-dispersal year, and the second highest overall. The buyback rate was an outstanding 11 percent.

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