Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale: Awesome Slew colt breezes 10-second furlong

An Awesome Slew colt breezed a furlong in 10 seconds flat to establish the benchmark as the under-tack preview show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-year-olds in training sale began a three-day run Tuesday.

This is the first of two juvenile sales Fasig-Tipton will hold at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. After next week’s sale, with sessions on Monday and Tuesday, the auction company will host a sale in late June. Both sales, which offer 2-year-olds the opportunity to breeze over the dirt track at Timonium, will likely receive some added interest due to the hiatus this year of Fasig-Tipton’s Gulfstream sale.

The Midlantic May sale, which has grown in prominence in recent years, gets added luster from the preceding Preakness Stakes at nearby Pimlico, and this year got some extra sparkle. Kentucky Derby winner Mage is a graduate of last year’s sale – as is unbeaten Faiza, the favorite for Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan.

The Florida-bred colt who worked the bullet in Tuesday’s opening session is from the second crop of millionaire and multiple graded stakes winner Awesome Slew, who stands in Florida.

The son of Awesome Again was the runner-up on Florida’s 2022 freshman sire list, behind only breakout success Girvin, the sire of Faiza who has since moved to Kentucky. Awesome Slew recorded a solid 14 winners from 24 starters in 2022, a 58 percent strike rate. He checked in 12th on the North American freshman sire earnings list, a creditable accomplishment considering that the fewest starters of any stallion above him was Kentucky-based City of Light, with 27, in 10th.

The colt, consigned by Tom McCrocklin, as agent, is out of the winning Distorted Humor mare Cash Reserve, dam of stakes-placed Campy Cash and Reckling. Out of Grade 2 winner Private Treasure, Cash Reserve is a half-sister to stakes winners Golden Locket and Sam Lord's Castle.

For hip-by-hip breeze show results, click here.