Fasig-Tipton October sale to close out record year for yearling sales
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – This week’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale brings the curtain down on what has been a strong North American yearling season while looking for an encore to its own star turn last year.
The Fasig-Tipton October sale runs over four sessions, Monday to Thursday, at the company’s Newtown Paddocks headquarters in Lexington. There are 1,601 yearlings cataloged for this year’s renewal, which follows a record edition in 2024. Last year’s October auction finished with sale records for gross and average, the fourth-best median in its history, and its lowest buyback rate since 2013.
This year’s sale follows a number of record figures in 2025 for the nation’s major auction houses. Fasig-Tipton kicked the season off with its July sale in Kentucky, which tied its record median. The company then proceeded to smash its records for gross, average, and median at its boutique Saratoga selected yearling sale. Fasig-Tipton also has seen strength in regional marketplaces, with records across the board at its New York-bred yearling sale and its Midlantic fall yearling sale.
Meanwhile, the Keeneland September sale, which tests the market at a number of levels across a roughly two-week run, demolished its records for gross, average, and median. Not to be outdone, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s fall yearling sale finished with double-digit gains across the board.
Cited as reasons for the gains have been changes to the tax code that favor many Thoroughbred owners, strong purse structures in many jurisdictions, and an increased interest in horse ownership – particularly in partnerships – due to media coverage, celebrity involvement, and other factors.
The Fasig-Tipton October sale also will be bolstered by its strong record of high-performing graduates. Chief among those has been 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, who was purchased for $40,000 here in 2022. According to Fasig-Tipton’s records, the October sale has produced 17 graded stakes-winning graduates thus far in 2025, including the popular Chunk of Gold, just a $2,500 purchase who is a graded stakes winner this year and has earned $755,218.
“Kentucky October is one of the most important yearling sales in the nation,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. “The quality on offer continues to rise each year, as evidenced by the sire power and strength of pedigree in this year’s catalog.”
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The nation’s current three leading sires – Into Mischief, Not This Time, and Gun Runner – are all well-represented. Into Mischief and Gun Runner combined for all of the $2 million-plus lots at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.
Into Mischief, who is on his way to leading the national sire list for the seventh straight year, has 10 yearlings set to go through the ring, accounting for outs through Oct. 15. Those include a full sister to his graded stakes-winning millionaire Fulsome and a full brother to his Grade 1-placed stakes winner Shoplifted. His representatives also include a colt out of Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Shared Account, dam of BC Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Sharing, and a filly out of graded stakes-winning millionaire Keertana, dam of graded stakes winner Ticonderoga.
Gun Runner, who led the Keeneland September yearling sale by average price, has seven representatives at the October sale after yearling outs. Not This Time, who bested Gun Runner for gross sales at Keeneland, has six on offer over these four days.
Unbeaten Horse of the Year Flightline, with multiple seven-figure lots at various sales, leads his first-crop sire class by average price. He has three set to go through the ring at Fasig-Tipton October.
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