Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December mixed sale posts big gains

Fasig-Tipton wrapped its 2017 auction calendar on a high note Tuesday with a strong edition of the Midlantic December mixed sale, led by the $105,000 purchase of the stakes-placed colt Carradine.

The auction returned to its normal place on the schedule, after the past two renewals were held in January, meaning the most recent edition of the auction company’s Midlantic winter mixed sale in Timonium, Md., took place during the first month of this year.

A total of 221 horses changed hands Tuesday for revenues of $2,448,200, making for a 170 percent increase from the auction’s most recent edition in January, when 141 entries sold for $906,400.

The average sale price rose 72 percent to $11,078 from $6,428, while the median grew 43 percent to $5,000 from $3,500. Tuesday’s buyback rate finished at 21 percent, compared with 30 percent in January.

The sale-topper came from the dispersal of the late Harry Weisleder’s DASL Stable, with trainer Linda Rice securing stakes-placed Carradine as agent for $105,000, keeping the colt in her barn.

Carradine is the first six-figure transaction in the Midlantic winter mixed sale marketplace since 2013, when Greenmount Farm bought the stakes-winning Not For Love filly Mystic Love for $100,000.

Carradine, a 3-year-old son of Grasshopper, has won 3 of 8 starts for earnings of $156,100. He finished third in the Damon Runyon Stakes as a 2-year-old and second in the Gander Stakes at 3, both at Aqueduct, and most recently finished fourth in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park in April.

Bred in New York by W.S. Farish, Carradine is out of the unraced Maria's Mon mare Summer Moon, whose three foals to race are all winners. He is from the family of Grade 1 winner Videogenic and Grade 3 winners Street Babe and Richwoman.

Carradine is the first six-figure auction graduate of any age out of Summer Moon. He was offered at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale, but finished under his reserve with a final bid of $39,000.

The colt was offered as part of Weisleder's 34-horse dispersal at the sale, which was handled as agent by longtime business partner Clovis Crane's Crane Thoroughbreds. Weisleder, a Pennsylvania-based horseman, died in November.

The Weisleder dispersal was one of the auction’s major drawing points, offering a mix of weanlings, broodmares, and horses of racing age. The dispersal finished with revenues of $649,500 and an average price of $19,103.

The auction’s most expensive weanling, and its second-most expensive overall offering, was a City Zip filly who went to Douglas Arnold of Buck Pond Farm, as agent, for $80,000.

The chestnut filly is the second foal out of the stakes-winning Devil His Due mare Geeky Gorgeous, whose first foal is a yearling Hey Chub filly named Hey Ugorgeousdevil that sold for $4,500 at this year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale.

Gracie Bloodstock consigned the Pennsylvania-bred filly as agent for breeder Joe-Dan Farm. She is from the family of Grade 3 winners Texas Glitter and Mr. John, as well as stakes winners Chubble Maker, Lookinforchange, Just Allen, and Hello Texas.

Geeky Gorgeous, who was named New Jersey-bred horse of the year in 2013, sold earlier in the day, going to Aaron Sones $39,000. She was offered in-foal to Hey Chub.

The broodmare portion of the catalog, which led off the sale, was topped by Nakano Takeko, a First Samurai filly who sold to Repole Stable for $70,000.

The 3-year-old filly was offered as an unraced broodmare prospect. She is the first foal out of the winning Street Cry mare Mythical Bride, whose second foal is the debut-winning juvenile colt Vino Rosso, by Curlin, co-owned by Repole and St. Elias Stable.

Bred in Kentucky by John Gunther, Nakano Takeko is from the family of Grade 1 winner I'm the Tiger, Grade 2 winner Commissioner, and Grade 3 winners Laugh Track, Medicine Woman, Blumin Affair, and Great Minds.

Becky Davis consigned Nakano Takeko as agent for Sycamore Racing.

To view the sale’s full results, click here.