One-day Fasig-Tipton California yearling sale back at Pomona

The yearling sale market shifts ever so briefly to Southern California on Tuesday for the one-day Fasig-Tipton California yearling sale that will be conducted at Fairplex in Pomona for the first time since 2019.

The 2020 sale was moved to Los Alamitos because of pandemic restrictions in place last October, limiting crowds in Los Angeles County.

Tuesday’s sale, which begins at noon Pacific, will offer a gauge on the West Coast market after recent auctions ranging from the prestigious Keeneland September sale in Kentucky to the minor Northern California yearling sale in Pleasanton last month produced higher prices compared to 2020.

Last year at the Fasig-Tipton California yearling sale, 166 horses sold for $3,735,700, an average of $22,504. The average fell 18.9 percent from the 2019 sale that saw 137 horses sell for $3,667,800.

Tuesday’s sale includes a small number of broodmares, horses of racing age, and weanlings, but consists primarily of California-bred yearlings.

Of the 10 leading stallions in the state by progeny earnings, nine are represented – Stay Thirsty, I’ll Have Another, Grazen, Square Eddie, Vronsky, Smiling Tiger, Ministers Wild Cat, Clubhouse Ride, and Mr. Big.

The first-crop stallions represented are Army Mule, Cloud Computing, Collected, Conquest Farenheit, Good Magic, Mo Town, Point Piper, Prospect Park, Sharp Azteca, Smokem, and West Coast.

Last year, the most expensive hip was Finneus, a Stay Thirsty colt listed as sold for $200,000 to Naseer Fusihuddin from the consignment of Terry Lovingier’s Lovacres Farm. Finneus was second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 6 and is currently listed as owned by Fusihuddin, Lovingier, and Amanda Navarro.

Lovacres Farm has a sizable consignment in Tuesday’s sale, including Hip No. 21, a full-brother to Finneus.

Other notable yearlings are Hip No. 30, a Square Eddie colt who is a full brother to Square Deal, a Del Mar stakes winner in 2019 who sold for $230,000 at the 2018 Barretts yearling sale at Del Mar; Hip No. 77, a Grazen colt who is a half-brother to the multiple graded stakes winner Queen Bee to You; and Hip No. 85, a California Chrome colt who is a half-brother to Smokey Image, a multiple stakes winner against California-breds.

Horses were scheduled to begin arriving Friday for pre-sale inspection.

“It’s a strong catalog, page-wise,” said Fasig-Tipton California representative Mike Machowsky, a former trainer. “I’ve seen a lot of nice yearlings at farms in the last few months.

“We’ll have to see what they look like when they get here. Hopefully, we get a bunch of participation.”