Fasig-Tipton sale posts gains

Fasig-Tipton's October yearling sale ended Tuesday evening with sharp gains across the board, despite offering a smaller catalog than in 2006.

The 2007 auction, at Fasig-Tipton's headquarters in Lexington, Ky., was just two days as compared with three last year, but attendance by well-heeled buyers and a selection of desirable pedigrees helped lift the 2007 figures. After a final session that featured eight yearlings sold for $100,000 or more, the auction concluded with 566 horses sold for $10,595,700, a 9 percent increase over last year's aggregate for 635 horses. The average jumped 22 percent to $18,720, and the $10,000 median was up 33 percent from last year. Buy-backs also improved, from 31 percent in 2006 to just 20 percent this season.

The sale-topper was a $320,000 son of Empire Maker out of Grade 1 winner Nonsuch Bay that Warrendale Sales, agent, sold to Preston Madden. That colt, the first for his dam, was sold Monday.