SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Every sale takes a while to find its legs, as bidders, with plenty of time to fill their orders, feel out the market ceiling. That was the case as the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale opened on Monday evening. Four of the first five yearlings through the ring did not meet their reserves, and it took close to an hour before a horse sold for half a million. With that momentum established and the catalog dwindling, there was an increased sense of urgency in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion on Tuesday night. Two of the first three horses through the ring sold for prices in excess of $700,000, it took less than an hour for a yearling to break the seven-figure ceiling, and the activity continued. A blockbuster $2.6 million colt by leading sire Into Mischief sold to the Coolmore group led a quartet of seven-figure horses as the 100th edition of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale took its place in history with a record-tying median and its second-best average all-time. "It's always stronger the second night," breeder and bloodstock agent Mike Ryan said. "People are wanting quality, and they'll pay for quality. It's very, very strong here tonight, which is not a surprise to me. Last night there was some good value to be bought, and as the sale goes on, it always gets stronger." Fasig-Tipton reported shortly after the close of Tuesday's session that 135 yearlings had changed hands at the auction, including some private transactions, for gross receipts of $55,155,000. When this sale was most recently held in 2019 -- the 2020 edition was canceled by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic -- the sale finished with 135 yearlings sold for a gross of $55,547,000, the auction's third-highest all-time. According to Fasig-Tipton statistics, this sale finished as the fourth-highest. This week's average and median prices finished at $408,556 and $350,000, respectively. The average just missed -- by less than 1 percent -- the record figure of $411,459 established in 2019, and is easily the sale's second highest. The median tied the record figure established in 2019. "We witnessed the magic of Saratoga tonight," Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. "Whatever adjectives you want to use -- fantastic, vibrant, energetic, dramatic -- I think were all applicable tonight. ... To accomplish that coming off of a disruption in 2020 I think is frankly remarkable. Couldn't be any prouder of our organization, couldn't be any prouder of our team. They bust their tails year-round. ... It takes the support of the buyers, it takes the support of the sellers. It starts with the sellers ... The success of a sale starts with the consignors giving you the opportunity to offer quality." The sale's overall buyback rate finished at 25 percent, improving a tick from 26 percent in 2019. "As is often the case, you kind of observe the first night, and then adjust reserves accordingly," said Price Bell, general manager for consignor Mill Ridge Farm. "I thought the market was very fair. There was tremendous breadth of the market -- we saw a lot of activity from a lot of different people who want to be racing, and it felt really good." This is the first sale at which Fasig-Tipton will accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment by buyers; all proceeds will still be paid out to the seller by the sale company in U.S. dollars, and all sales will still be recorded in U.S. dollars. Since buyers have a time frame in which to settle up after the fall of the hammer, Browning did not yet have statistics on how widespread the use cryptocurrency was, but he did say that "there's been a lot of interest, there's been a lot of discussions with our staff about that." M.V. Magnier of the Coolmore group was on hand to sign the sales ticket for the blockbuster son of two-time reigning leading sire and classic sire Into Mischief, who sold as Hip No. 168. The colt became the most expensive foal sold thus far for his sire, who stands at Spendthrift Farm. The colt was also the highest-priced horse sold at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga in the last decade. Just once in recent years, when a Tapit colt sold for $2 million in 2015, had the sale-topper reached that $2 million mark. Into Mischief made a strong start as a sire of sires with his leading young son Goldencents at Spendthrift. Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky stands multiple Grade 1 winner Practical Joke, who counts Grade 3 Sanford Stakes winner Wit among several winners from his first crop already this season. "The way Practical Joke and everything is going at the moment, it looks like Into Mischief is a sire of sires," Magnier said. "Let's hope [this colt] is anywhere as good." The colt is the second foal out of the Flatter mare Paola Queen, upset winner of the Grade 1 Test Stakes in 2016 at Saratoga. She had previously been second in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. Don Alberto Corp. purchased the mare for $1.7 million at the 2017 Keeneland November. This colt was consigned for that breeder by Gainesway, as agent. "He's a very nice horse," Magnier said. "He's by a very good sire, he's out of a very good racemare. ... He has a lot of credentials." Paola Queen is out of the Grade 3-placed stakes winner Kadira. Grade 1 winner Point Ashley and graded stakes winners Ravi and Raw Gold appear on the catalog page. Magnier said that the Into Mischief colt would remain with Coolmore's American division. He said future plans, including a trainer, would be determined at a later date. The second-highest price of the sale had been achieved during Monday's opening session, as bloodstock agent Jacob West went to $1.6 million for a son of young classic sire Uncle Mo on behalf of Robert and Lawana Low. "I had seen this horse about six months ago out at Stone Farm, and I told Mr. and Mrs. Low about him," West said. "So the second he came up for auction and we knew he was in the catalog, we turned down the page on him, and we're just excited to get him. He's just grown up. He's a May foal, he's got a lot more growing to do, and we just hope he fills more into his frame. . . . We're hopeful that we just bought a good one." The colt is out of five-time stakes winner Dame Dorothy, who took the Grade 1 Humana Distaff Stakes over Eclipse Award winner Judy the Beauty. The mare is a daughter of the late Bernardini, who has emerged as a stellar broodmare sire, and she has continued to boost his reputation in that regard. Her first foal is the Curlin filly Spice Is Nice, winner of the Grade 3 Allaire duPont Distaff Stakes in May at Pimlico. Spice Is Nice was a $1.05 million Keeneland September yearling purchase by the Lows and is trained by Todd Pletcher. The Lows' new purchase also will go to Pletcher, who also trained Uncle Mo and Dame Dorothy to their successes. Dame Dorothy was campaigned by Bobby Flay, who purchased her as a yearling. The breeder boards his broodmares at Arthur Hancock's Stone Farm in Paris, Ky., and that outfit consigned this colt, as agent. On Tuesday night, Larry Best outslugged the competition by going to $1.4 million for a half-brother to Hall of Fame racemare Rachel Alexandra. The colt, who was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency on behalf of breeder Dede McGehee, is from the first crop of multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro. Like 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, that stallion is a son of Medaglia d'Oro. "A special horse, a special opportunity," said Best, who breeds and races as OXO Equine. "Obviously no guarantee, but the horse is just beautiful. And then you look at the page, with Rachel Alexandra on it -- that helps, [but] it's frankly 90 percent physical." A blue-blooded Quality Road filly also lit up the bid board at $1 million on Tuesday night, going to Jeff Drown's Kindred Stables with co-breeder Mike Ryan as a partner. Indian Creek consigned, as agent. The filly, who is out of Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Above Perfection, is a half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, Grade 1 winner and multiple stakes producer Hot Dixie Chick, and stakes winner Inject. She was bred by the Santa Rosa Stables of Ryan and the late Gerry Dilger. With the filly going through the public auction ring, Drown bought out the Dilger family's share, with Ryan previously having arranged to partner with him. "These kind, they're collector's items," Ryan said. "You don't find them very often. ... There's very little downside on her. She'll always have residual value, and if she happens to win a stakes, the value multiplies. The page'll never disappear." For hip-by-hip results, click here.