LEXINGTON, Ky. – Led by Grade 1 winner Iscreamuscream, who sold for $1.5 million, the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale posted year-over-year gains Monday at the sale company’s Newtown Paddocks headquarters. The Fasig-Tipton sale was the final auction of what has generally been a strong mixed sale season since it got underway last fall. The curtain fell on the season as breeding sheds open this week around Kentucky, making it the final chance to acquire a broodmare at public auction before the start of the breeding season. Fasig-Tipton reported 266 horses – broodmares, broodmare or racing prospects, and “short” yearlings, who just officially turned 1 on Jan. 1 – sold for gross receipts of $16,646,500. In last year’s comparable single-session sale, 259 horses sold for $11,494,500. Both sets of figures represent only horses sold through the ring – not counting the four lots privately sold last year, and not yet counting any private sales that may yet occur from Monday’s trade. Three horses surpassed last year’s top price of $775,000. Fueled by that upper-market activity, the average price spiked 41 percent, finishing at $62,581 compared to $44,380 for horses sold through the ring last year. The median, considered a strong indicator of market health because it samples a wider swath of the activity, also was up, jumping 47 percent to $25,000 from $17,000. The buyback rate was 18 percent, compared to 20 percent last year. Figures under 20 percent are considered outstanding in what is generally a selective marketplace across the board. Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. gave part of the credit for what he called a “tremendous sale” to Fasig-Tipton’s facilities crew, and to the consignors at the sale, for working through the challenging aftermath of winter storms in Kentucky. Snow and ice was followed by weeks of frigid temperatures that made clearing the grounds difficult. In addition to the work of the facility’s crew, Browning said consignors also pitched in working to clear walking rings and improve conditions at their assigned barns. “It’s a lot of hard work, there’s no glamour in it – it’s like a lot of things in our industry, it’s the things people don’t see,” Browning said. “It’s easy for me to get up here and say, ‘Hey, we had a great sale!’ But that doesn’t happen without countless hours in cold and wind and snow and chiseling ice and so forth. It’s a tribute to the dedication and hard work we see happen throughout our industry.” Shingo Hashimoto, representing Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm, won a spirited bidding war for Iscreamuscream to top the sale late in the evening. The 5-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy won 4 of 5 career starts, highlighted by the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks for ownership partners Agave Racing Stable, Little Red Feather Racing, John Hundley Jr., Marsha Naify, John Snyder, and Stacey Snyder and trainer Phil D’Amato. She also won the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap, both those graded wins coming in 2024. She did not race in 2025 and was consigned as a broodmare prospect by Taylor Made Sales as agent. Hashimoto said the mare’s physical presence lived up to her race record. “I really liked how she walked,” he said. “It made me think ‘Yes, she is a Group 1 winner.’ I’m very excited that we bought her.” Iscreamuscream was offered with a pre-approved spot in the book of the Taylor Made stallion Not This Time, one of the leading sires in the United States who is standing for $250,000 in 2026. Hashimoto said that, while Iscreamuscream will eventually join the Northern Farm broodmare band in Japan, she could remain in the United States to be covered first – and, while a stallion hasn’t been determined, Not This Time remained a “really attractive” option. “We haven't decided yet,” Hashimoto said. “We might keep her in the U.S. and cover her, which we haven’t decided yet. I'm going to talk to my boss and ask what he wants to do.” Iscreamuscream is out of the Grade 3-winning Cozzene mare Silver Screamer, dam of four winners from as many starters. Those also include Tap Tap Taparoo, dam of stakes-placed Desperate Man. Flirting with the seven-figure threshold was Grade 1-placed Ava’s Grace, who brought the hammer down at $950,000. The Laoban mare, who was offered in foal to Curlin, and her Into Mischief filly were both purchased by Marc Gunderson from the consignment of Hill ‘n’ Dale, as agent. The filly, a February foal, brought $625,000, securing her the highest price among short yearlings at this auction. The 8-year-old Ava’s Grace placed in three graded stakes, highlighted by a third in the Grade 1 La Troienne in 2022. Gunderson purchased a farm in Paris, Ky., last year and is building a broodmare band for his Twin Oaks Bloodstock. He also has been active in the yearling and weanling/short yearling marketplaces and intends to both pinhook and race stock. “We’ve been active in the sales, but we also have been very selective in how we want to make all of this work for us,” Gunderson said. “This is the kind of package [a mare and yearling] that we want. This package will be a wonderful addition to what we’re trying to accomplish.” For hip-by-hip results, click here. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.