First-crop Authentic filly goes for $475K at Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A filly from the first crop of champion Authentic sold for $475,000 to lead the way as the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale kicked off this season in North America.

Fasig-Tipton reported that 207 yearlings sold during Tuesday's single-session sale at its Newtown Paddocks headquarters, which came in with a catalog 23 percent bigger than the prior year. That resulted in gross receipts of $20,507,000. At last year's sale, 189 horses sold for $21,763,500.

The average price was $99,068, declining 14 percent from $115,151 last year. The median dropped 14 percent, to $77,000 from last year's sale record-tying $90,000. The buyback rate was 32 percent in what is still being described as a polarized marketplace, compared to 24 percent last year.

Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said the figures were "a little bit of a reality adjustment" seen in the current marketplace following a bullish 2022 sale season for both yearlings and 2-year-olds.

"I think, frankly, those were probably the expectations that most of us probably had going into the marketplace," Browning said. "It's not easy, but it's not hard. The buyers were all saying that it was hard to buy what they wanted to buy, and they had to pay too much for the ones that they bought. The sellers are saying that it was hard to get horses sold, and they should have brought more money. That means it's a fair and balanced marketplace in that situation. … I don’t think anybody’s euphoric, and I don’t think anybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, the market’s terrible.’ ”

Early-developing yearlings with strong physicals are best suited to stand out in this season opener.

"If you have a nice physical, you're getting respect all the way around," said Allaire Ryan, director of sales for Lane's End. "If you bring a quality individual, you're going to be well supported."

The sale-topping filly combined an attractive pedigree with a strong physical, selling to Alex and Jo Ann Lieblong. The April foal was consigned by Taylor Made Sales, as agent for her breeder, Spendthrift Farm. That outfit stands Authentic alongside his sire, four-time reigning leading sire and emerging sire of sires Into Mischief. Authentic won the pandemic-delayed 2020 Kentucky Derby and later the Breeders' Cup Classic, signature wins among four Grade 1 triumphs that season that made him Horse of the Year. The young stallion led his first-crop class by weanling average price last year. This filly was his only offering at the first yearling sale of the season.

Authentic's sale-topping filly is out of the Rock Hard Ten mare Scent of Summer, a winner in England. She is the dam of two winners from three starters.

Scent of Summer is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods, as well as to stakes winner Forest Chatter and stakes-placed Broken Bridle. Kentucky Derby winner and champion Street Sense appears on the catalog page, as do prominent sire Mr. Greeley and Grade 1 winners Mona de Momma and Vekoma.

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The next two highest prices were fetched by colts by Good Magic, who sired this year's Kentucky Derby winner Mage in his first crop. A colt who is the first foal out of the winning Carpe Diem mare Scolding was purchased for $370,000 by Boardshorts Stables from the consignment of Padraig Campion's Blandford Stud, as agent.

Later in the day, a Good Magic who is a half-brother to Grade 3-placed Gaston, with several European Group 1 winners appearing on the page, was purchased by trainer Wesley Ward for $330,000. He was consigned by Cara Bloodstock, as agent for Jay and Christine Hayden's Saintsbury Farms.

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