Medaglia d'Oro seven-figure trio help F-T yearling sale sizzle
It was Medaglia d'Oro's world, and everyone else was just living in it Tuesday night at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale.
Nicole RussoAug 07, 2018
It was Medaglia d'Oro's world, and everyone else was just living in it Tuesday night at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale.
Eighty-one yearlings from the commercially popular first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and a colt who is a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify will be among the highlights as the Keeneland September yearling sale celebrates its 75th anniversary next month.
Family was the prevailing theme of the opening night at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale. Two yearlings who are well-related, to say the least, being from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, fetched seven figures to help boost the average price on a night when memories of the late Fasig-Tipton executive William E. Graves were everywhere.
As the nascent North American yearling sales season travels to Saratoga Springs this month, Daily Racing Form brings you a special section, presented by Stonestreet Farm, providing an in-depth look at the market.
The New York-bred program is experiencing another strong year on the racetrack worldwide, led by Grade 1 winners Audible, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby, and Mind Your Biscuits, who made another successful trip to Dubai. Recent success of sale graduates such as these helped the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale catalog grow to 327 entries this year for the auction set for Aug. 11 and 12. But a dozen standout New York-breds aren’t among those entries, choosing instead to go in the open, select sale earlier in the week.
Breeders often return to successful crosses or patterns in hope of striking with another stakes performer – and the yearlings representing Into Mischief, who is in career form, in the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling catalog are no exception.
Flatter was a hit at the first major-market yearling sale of the season in North America, as he topped the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale with a $520,000 colt. The season now moves on to Saratoga – where Flatter’s son West Coast rose toward the 3-year-old championship with a Travers Stakes victory last year – and the stallion is ready.
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah's first crop is a major storyline this yearling sale season, but his sire, Pioneerof the Nile, and grandsire, Empire Maker, also figure to play a role at the top end of the market this year.
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, who sold five years ago at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, is represented by 15 yearlings from his first crop at the boutique auction this summer.
Joe McMahon has seen it all at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale. Actually, 30 years ago he practically had to oversee it all. That's because McMahon, patriarch of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was the founder of the sale, and because of his vision, the sale has grown into one of the strongest yearling sales in the country.