Mixed results at Fasig-Tipton California fall sale

Average prices rose while gross revenue and the median price showed declines at Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton California fall yearlings and horses of racing age sale at Fairpex in Pomona, Calif.

The sale is the leading yearling auction in the state.

According to sale company statistics, 185 horses were sold for $5,751,500. The sale had an average price of $31,089 and a median of $15,000.

The gross declined 8 percent from the 2022 sale when 205 horses sold for $6,257,100. The average increased 1.8 percent from the 2022 figure of $30,522, while the median price fell 11 percent from $17,000 in 2022.

There were 96 horses listed as not sold Tuesday, compared to 71 in 2022.

The most expensive hip of Tuesday’s sale was a California-bred yearling colt by Vronsky bought for $250,000 by West Point Thoroughbreds. The colt is a half-brother to the multiple stakes winner Kings River Knight, who is in the midst of the best season of his career.

Trained by John Sadler, Kings River Knight has won three stakes this year, including the E.B. Johnston Stakes at a mile for California-breds on Sept. 16 at Los Alamitos. Sadler will train the Vronsky colt, who was consigned by Harris Farms.

“I think he’s a little leggier than his brother,” Sadler said of the yearling. “There are a lot of similarities.”

Sadler said Wednesday that the owners of Kings River Knight – Integrity Thoroughbreds, the estate of the late Bud Johnston, and Ken Tevelde – bred the Vronsky colt and plan to retain a 25 percent share.

The colt is out of Seasontoperfection, by Poteen, and is a half-brother to Irrefutable, a stakes-placed gelding at Golden Gate Fields.

The $250,000 price for the Vronsky colt equaled the high price at the 2022 auction, a yearling filly by Big Slew who has yet to race.

On Tuesday, 12 horses sold for $100,000 or more, compared to 17 in 2021 and 14 last year.

The leading filly on Tuesday, a Kentucky-bred by Improbable, was purchased for $200,000 by Eric and Sharon Waller, who are well-acquainted with the yearling’s family. The Wallers raced her half-sister, Spectator, who won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar in 2017 and was later second to Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in 2018.

The yearling filly, consigned by Barton Thoroughbreds is out of Diva’s Tribute, by Henny Hughes.

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