Fasig-Tipton sale numbers way up

Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's fall yearling sale ended Wednesday with strong gains across the board.

Expanded this year from two days to three, the auction at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Ky., had a flashy $600,000 sale-topper, a Distorted Humor colt that Jess Jackson purchased from James Keogh's Grovendale agency. The colt is out of Happy Nation, a Lear Fan mare who also is the dam of the winner Noshameinmygame.

Together, the sale's three sessions sold 610 yearlings for $11,099,100, sharply up from the total of $8,317,200 that 511 lots realized last year. The average price jumped 12 percent, from $16,276 to $18,195, and the median rose 6 percent, from $8,000 to $8,500.

The buy-back rate was 29 percent, up slightly from last season's 28 percent.