Fasig-Tipton: Two $135K juveniles pace Texas auction

The Fasig-Tipton Texas auction of 2-year-olds in training at Lone Star Park on Tuesday heated up in the late stages, with the top four sellers emerging in the final hour of the auction, including a Harlan’s Holiday colt and a Munnings filly who each brought a sales-topping $135,000. The auction also featured a handful of horses of racing age.

Fasig-Tipton reported 80 horses sold for $1,818,700, a 4 percent increase compared with last year’s auction, when 74 horses sold for $1,743,750. The average price on Tuesday of $22,734 dropped 4 percent compared with $23,564 in 2013, while the $15,000 median fell 25 percent from $20,000 last year. The buyback rate on Tuesday was 35 percent, compared with 30 percent at last year’s auction.

The sales-topper last year was a 3-year-old multiple stakes winner, Worldventurer, who brought $150,000, while the top 2-year-old, a Kitten’s Joy filly, brought $130,000.

Tim Boyce, sales director for Fasig-Tipton Texas, was pleased with the auction Tuesday.

“It was a very healthy marketplace,” he said. “The gross is a little higher than last year and the average is about the same as last year, but the median is down. That was surprising a little bit. But if you take the sale from the back to the front, it was so end-loaded. When that happens, people go home with money. People tend to sit on money to the end of the sale.

“We did a lot of good business on private sales. I was happy with that aspect, too.”

The Harlan’s Holiday colt (Hip No. 110) turned in the co-fastest furlong time during Fasig-Tipton’s breeze show Sunday, getting the distance in 10.20 seconds. Dennis Foster purchased the unnamed bay colt from the consignment of Wolf Creek Farm, agent. The Kentucky-bred is from the placed Smart Strike mare Smart Music, who is a half-sister to the Grade 1-winning stallion Include. (An Indiana-bred filly who also worked in 10.20 seconds brought $28,000.)

The Munnings filly (Hip No. 133) is a Louisiana-bred who was purchased by Carrol Castille. She is from the winning Cobra King mare Viva Vega, who has produced four winners from five foals to race including Southern Dude, a stakes winner of 302,457. The unnamed bay filly is related through her third dam to Hallowed Dreams, the Louisiana-bred sensation who won 25 races and $740,144. The consignor was Inside Move, Inc., agent.

Inside Move also consigned the next highest seller, an unnamed Pomeroy filly (Hip No. 123) who brought $100,000 from Charles Castille, Jr. The Louisiana-bred is out of the Grade 3 winning mare Theresa’s Tizzy, who overall won 15 races and $660,271 and has produced a pair of stakes winners in Got the Last Laugh ($249,277) and Puddifoot ($96,600).

A colt by Songandaprayer (Hip No. 134) was the last 2-year-old to sell, and he brought the auction’s fourth-highest price, $90,000, from Bradley Raney. He’s out of the Grade 2-placed winner Vivid Sunset, who is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Wanderin Boy ($1,213,759) and multiple Grade 3 winner Early Warning ($550,255). The consignor was Wolf Creek Farm.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.

Fasig-Tipton Texas 2-year-olds in training sale, final results:

Year	Sold	Gross	Average	Median	Buyback
2014	80	$1,818,700 (+4%)	$22,734 (-4%)	$15,000 (-25%)	35%
2013	74	$1,743,750	$23,564	$20,000	30%