Fasig-Tipton California Fall yearling sale features larger catalog, new incentives

Wednesday’s Fasig-Tipton California Fall yearling sale, the state’s only such auction, has a larger catalog than in recent years, and a newly-created bonus tied to possible Grade 1 wins in 2027 and 2028.

This year, Fasig-Tipton and the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association are co-sponsoring a $500,000 bonus if a yearling purchased at the sale wins a Grade 1 race in 2027 or 2028. Horses listed as bought back at Wednesday’s auction will be eligible for the bonus.

The bonus, announced last month, will be divided between the owner of the horse at the time of the Grade 1 win and the owner of the horse as of the sale. The bonus will be paid only to the first winner of such a race in 2027 or 2028.

The one-day auction, which will be held at Fairplex in Pomona, has a catalog of 289 prospects before late withdrawals.

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The sale follows a more expensive auction in 2025.

According to Fasig-Tipton, 143 horses were sold for $4,617,900, or an average of $32,293 last year. The average price was 12.4 higher than the 2024 auction at which 163 horses sold for an average price of $29,334. The 2023 sale had an average of $31,089.

The 2025 sale had a catalog of 266 horses, down from 277 in 2024. This year’s catalog is close to the highmark from this decade of 298 in 2020.

The 2024 sale produced the two California-bred juvenile champions of 2025 – the filly Mohaven and male Ocean Bear.

This year’s catalog is dominated by California-breds, with eight Kentucky-breds and a colt bred in Arizona.

With widespread races offered for statebred runners at Del Mar, Los Alamitos and Santa Anita, there is expected to be a robust market for California-breds, according to Mike Machowsky, Fasig-Tipton’s California representative.

Owner and trainers “realize we need those California-breds,” Machowsky said over the weekend. “It’s an important horse to have in your barn.

“It’s a strong catalog with more entries than the past few years. It seems we have a positive vibe from sellers and buyers.”

Of the state’s top 10 stallions in progeny earnings through Saturday, eight have yearlings in the sale – Clubhouse Ride, Grazen, Om, Pavel, Sir Prancealot, Smiling Tiger, Stanford, and Stay Thirsty.

Collected, who currently leads the list, stood his first season at stud in the state this year, having previously stood in Kentucky. Catholic Boy, who ranks ninth, was moved from Kentucky to California in advance of the 2025 breeding season. His first crop of California-breds are weanlings.

Smiling Tiger, who ranks sixth, died in the summer of 2024. This is his last group of yearlings. There are four colts and six fillies by Smiling Tiger offered on Wednesday.

The auction includes foals by first-year stallions Annapolis, Arabian Lion, Arcangelo, Bolden, Dr. Schivel, Finneus, Pappacap, Shaaz, Spun Intended, and Taiba.

Mo Forza, whose oldest foals are 3-year-olds this year, has 28 yearlings in the sale, the most of any stallion. There are 23 yearlings by Stay Thirsty, and 17 by Shaaz and Sir Prancealot.

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