LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s the first live sale of the calendar year for Fasig-Tipton, but it’s actually the end of a season. Monday’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter sale is the final public auction of the mixed sale season, which began in October. This single-session sale – down from two last year – conducted at Fasig-Tipton’s Newtown Paddocks facility in Lexington, is the final chance to pick up a broodmare or broodmare prospect at public auction before North American breeding sheds open on or around Feb. 10. The final mixed sales of the season give stallion owners the opportunity to buy mares to breed to late additions to the stallion ranks. Last year, Ramona Bass spent more than $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton February sale as part of a strong buying effort to support her homebred Annapolis, whose retirement to Claiborne Farm was announced in early January – some two months after the unveiling of most stallion rosters. Similarly, in the lead up to this breeding season, owner-breeder Joe Peacock Jr. has been acquiring mares to support Senor Buscador, a homebred of his who arrived at Lane’s End Farm in late January. Peacock’s recent purchases included sale-topping Last Leaf for $140,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s winter mixed sale on Jan. 28. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. The final sale of the mixed season also marks the last opportunity to pick up recently turned yearlings, either by end users who want to get ahead of what has been a strong traditional yearling market in the summer and fall, or by pinhookers seeking to develop young stock to capitalize on that market later in the year. The recent OBS January sale showed the appetite for young horses. After Last Leaf, the top 30 prices were all yearlings. “Kentucky winter mixed offers an important marketplace for buyers at all levels before the breeding sheds open,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. “There is good quality and variety among the racing and breeding stock this year, as well as a large group of short yearlings that will be a popular draw.” The catalog for the Fasig February sale numbered 414 hips, including supplemental entries, as of Friday morning. Plenty of interest will be drawn by the supplemental entries, which include Grade 1 winners Unbridled Mo and Diplomat Lady, as well as Athenian Beauty, dam of recent Grade 3 Southwest winner Speed King. Unbridled Mo, who is not in foal, and her newly turned yearling colt by Curlin, are both offered as part of the dispersal of Red Oak Stable. Millionaire Unbridled Mo, by emerging broodmare sire Uncle Mo, won seven of 12 career starts, including the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks and Remington Park Oaks at 3, and the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic at 4. Her signature win came in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at 5, defeating champion Unique Bella by 2 1/4 lengths. Diplomat Lady, winner of the Grade 1 Starlet at 2 and the Grade 2 Beaumont at 3, is the dam of seven winners from nine starters. The mare, in foal to young stallion Keepmeinmind, a grandson of Uncle Mo, could get a nice update before sale time. Her daughter, Moonlit Lady, won three races in 2024 and is entered in the American Beauty on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. Athenian Beauty is also riding a recent update from Oaklawn, as her two winners from four starters are led by Speed King, who won the Southwest by a length on the front end Jan. 25 after being stakes-placed last fall. The Corinthian mare, a winner herself, is offered in foal to Caracaro, a son of Uncle Mo. She hails from strong stock, as Grade 1 winners Great Hunter and Mor Spirit appear on her catalog page, and this is also the family of champion Stellar Wind. Monday’s renewal of the Fasig mixed sale will be chasing the high bar set by last year’s record-setting edition. Zetta Z, supplemented the day before the auction after her son Nysos won the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis in exciting fashion, sold for $2 million, leading three seven-figure offerings in a sale bolstered by a dispersal from the late Robert Lothenbach. The 2024 two-day sale finished with records for gross, average, and median. While gross sales may be down on Monday as a result of the single-day sale, other figures will bear watching. Last year’s average was $58,298, spiking 66 percent from the prior year, while the median rose 13 percent to $17,000. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.