Fasig-Tipton sale at Santa Anita closes out juvenile season

Two years after its launch, the Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita 2-year-olds in-training sale will be conducted for the second time on Wednesday, the nation’s final auction of the year devoted to juveniles.

Fasig-Tipton did not hold a 2-year-olds in-training sale in California in 2020 because of the pandemic. This will be the company’s first auction in California since a yearling sale at Los Alamitos last fall.

Wednesday’s sale, which begins at 1 p.m., was preceded by several sales in Florida and Maryland in recent weeks and months that had higher prices than pre-pandemic auctions, leading organizers of Wednesday’s sale to predict a robust market.

“It’s amazing how resilient the business has been this year,” said Mike Machowsky, the former Southern California trainer who is Fasig-Tipton’s representative in California.

“I expect the exchange to be good.”

Wednesday’s sale has a catalog of 114 prospects, including a small number of supplemental entries, but will have fewer than 100 horses go through the ring after withdrawals.

“We don’t have the number we expected to have,” Machowsky said. “The quality is better than 2019. On the whole, it’s a solid group.”

The 2019 sale had a catalog of 168 horses, with 69 listed as sold for $3,769,500, according to Fasig-Tipton data. The sale averaged $54,630, while the median was $30,000. There were 39 horses listed as not sold and 60 withdrawn.

The most expensive hip of the sale was Eclair, a filly by Bernardini bought for $420,000 by Sarah Kelly. Trained by Bob Baffert, Eclair has won 2 of 8 starts and earned $76,141. She won the Golden Gate Fields Debutante in 2019 and has not raced since she finished last of eight in an allowance race at Del Mar last August. Eclair was sold last November at Keeneland for $200,000.

Many prospects for Wednesday’s sale will have important workouts at Santa Anita beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday. Others were to race this weekend, notably Bochombo (Hip No. 20) and Royal O’Haigain (Hip No. 79).

Bochombo, by Street Boss, won a maiden special weight at 4 1/2 furlongs by 2 1/4 lengths in his second start on May 23 for trainer Luis Mendez, and starts in Sunday’s $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Juvenile at five furlongs.

Royal O’Haigain, a filly by the Munnings stallion El Deal, won a maiden special weight for Mendez on May 21 and has the outside post in a field of five fillies in Sunday’s $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Debutante at five furlongs.

Ko Olina (Hip No. 17) was third and second in maiden special weight races at 4 1/2 furlongs on May 21 and May 28 for Mendez, whose stable specializes in early season 2-year-old races. Ko Olina, a California-bred filly by the Malibu Moon stallion Stanford, was entered in a maiden special weight on Saturday.

There are notable pinhooks throughout the auction.

Al Pike, agent, has consigned the three most expensive hips from the Texas Thoroughbred Association yearling sale at Lone Star Park last August. Pike is offering Hip No. 13, a colt by Klimt, bought for $120,000; Hip No. 30, a colt by Lemon Drop Kid, purchased for $70,000; and Hip No. 98, a filly by Classic Empire, sold for $100,000.

Spendthrift Farm paid $100,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September yearling sale for a filly by Constitution who sells as Hip No. 96. Consigned by Kings Equine, agent, the filly is a half-sister to Carrick, who won the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park in a 38-1 upset in 2018.