Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale sets records

There was cautious optimism as the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale returned to its traditional place on the calendar this week to continue what has been a solid comeback for the juvenile sales marketplace following the upheaval of 2020. The reality surpassed those hopes. Not only did the two-day auction at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium finish with major gains over the displaced 2020 edition, it smashed the sale's all-time records for gross, average, and median.

A $1.5 million Quality Road colt who ranked among the sale's all-time best prices led the way as Fasig-Tipton reported 357 horses sold over two days for gross receipts of $33,692,000. Last year's two-day sale, which was pushed to late June by the coronavirus pandemic, had 303 horses sold for $23,572,500. The previous record gross, $29,374,000, had been established just one year prior, in a strong 2019 renewal.

The sale's cumulative average price finished at $94,375, soaring 21 percent from $77,797 last year, when the height of the pandemic led to market restraint. The previous sale record was $90,104, also established in 2019. The median jumped 25 percent, to $50,000 from $40,000, and also smashed the record in that category, $45,000 from the 2015 edition.

“It was huge," Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic sales director Paget Bennett told the Thoroughbred Daily News. "It was crazy good. People wanted horses, and they fought to the end to get them."

The buyback rate was 16 percent, which Fasig-Tipton cited as the third-lowest in sale history. That was improved from the 19 percent posted last year, as well as the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 23 percent from the last time the sale was held in May.

The sale-leading Quality Road colt was purchased during Monday's opening session by West Point Thoroughbreds, via L.E.B., agent. The colt gave the Midlantic auction, which has steadily grown from a solid regional marketplace into a nationally prominent sale that has produced champions, a seven-figure horse for the seventh consecutive year. He tied multiple stakes winner Curlin's Honor, sold for $1.5 million in 2017, as the sale's highest-priced colt of all time, and the second-highest price overall. The sale record is held by Eclipse Award champion Gamine, sold for $1.8 million at the 2019 renewal.

The Quality Road colt, who was consigned by Eddie Woods, as agent, announced himself by breezing a furlong in 10 seconds flat during last week's under-tack preview, making him one of 11 juveniles tied for the bullet at that distance. Jeff Lifson, head of the Midwest division for West Point, posted on his Twitter account that he felt the colt was "easily the best in this sale," and that opinion showed in the competition in the sales ring.

Amr Zedan, the owner of Medina Spirit and the buyer of last year's most expensive juvenile, Princess Noor, was an immediate underbidder. Meanwhile, prominent bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe called the topper "the most gorgeous colt I have seen all year."

The colt is out of the unraced Storm Cat mare Stormy Welcome, dam of three winners from six starters, including stakes-placed Welcoming. Out of Grade 3 winner Welcome Surprise, Stormy Welcome is a half-sister to Guest House, dam of Grade 3 winner Guest Suite, by Quality Road. Welcome Surprise is a half-sister to Hall of Famer A.P. Indy and to Summer Squall, both classic winners who went on to become classic sires. This also is the family of champion and successful sire Lemon Drop Kid.

West Point later announced that the sale-topper would be trained by Dallas Stewart on the racetrack.

The second-highest price of the sale was a $700,000 Malibu Moon colt, also among the furlong bullet workers, and also consigned by Woods, as agent. The colt, who was purchased by bloodstock agents Alex Elliott and Ben McElroy, is out of the unraced Seeking the Gold mare Seeking Atlantic, dam of Grade 3-placed Seeking Her Glory and stakes-placed Castellani.

A filly by perennial leading sire Tapit and out of Grade 1 winner Gomo sold for $625,000 to Xtreme Racing Stables to lead Tuesday's second session of the sale, and to be the auction's highest-priced filly overall.

Rounding out the top five prices overall were juveniles by a pair of freshman sires. A filly by champion Classic Empire was purchased by West Bloodstock, as agent for Robert and Lawana Low, for $550,000, and a colt by multiple Grade 1 winner Practical Joke was purchased by Spendthrift Farm for $490,000.

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