Maryland Futurity winner Laddie Liam tops Fasig-Tipton winter mixed sale at $450,000 as part of Besecker dispersal

Strong activity at the top of the market, led by the $450,000 sale of stakes-winning juvenile Laddie Liam, led to double-digit gains across the board at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic winter mixed sale on Tuesday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.

The single-session sale finished with 249 horses sold for gross receipts of $4,383,700, compared to 201 sold for $1,911,100 last year. Leading the way were seven horses sold for six figures; last year's auction produced a high price of $87,000.

Buoyed by that group, the average price soared 85 percent, to $17,605 from $9,508. The median jumped 60 percent, to $8,000 from $5,000. The buyback rate was 19 percent, compared to 22 percent in 2018.

Laddie Liam was purchased by Leonard Green's DJ Stable, which currently counts the likes of Eclipse Award champion Jaywalk, Saratoga Derby winner A Thread of Blue, and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint third-place finisher Another Miracle among its colorbearers. Maryland-bred Laddie Liam previously raced in the colors of prominent regional owner Joseph Besecker, who dispersed his Thoroughbred holdings at the Fasig Midlantic sale. The dispersal was handled, as agent, by Northview Stallion Station.

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Laddie Liam is from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Golden Lad, who stands at Northview. The Medaglia d'Oro horse has locked up Maryland's freshman sire title, thanks to the likes of Laddie Liam, who has won three of five starts. The colt burnished his credentials with a front-running 4 1/2-length victory in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity last Saturday at Laurel Park.

Laddie Liam is out of the Quiet American mare Buffgirl, a half-sister to stakes winners Sizzlin South and Sparklin Lil, as well as stakes-placed Garrettslilnora and Icyman. Sparklin Lil is the dam of Grade 2 winner Prayer for Relief, who earned more than $2.2 million, while another half-sister, Tuscan Sunset, produced Grade 2 winner Miss Sunset.

The Besecker dispersal also accounted for the second and third-highest priced horses of the sale, as Mine Not Mine sold to Charles Zacney for $210,000 and Panthera Onca sold to Lane's End Bloodstock for $175,000.

Maryland-bred Mine Not Mine, who also is by Golden Lad, won his debut at Laurel before finishing fourth in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity. The colt is out of the Grade 2-winning Unbridled mare Belterra, making him a half-brother to stakes winner Taketheodds. He also is a half-brother to Sheave, dam of Zacney's Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia.

Panthera Onca, a 2-year-old filly by Super Saver, has one win from three starts to date. She is out of the graded stakes-winning Carson City mare Molto Vita, dam of stakes winners Jaguar Paw and Venetian Mask, and the second dam of Grade 1 winner Mo Town.

For hip-by-hip sale results, click here.