Led by a $1.5 million Uncle Mo colt and three other seven-figure horses, Fasig-Tipton opened its boutique Saratoga selected yearlings sale Monday night, the first chance to test the upper portion of the North American Thoroughbred marketplace, in smashing fashion, with double-digit gains across the board.
The North American yearling sale season is set to continue with the boutique Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale next week, an upper-market auction that has produced some of racing's elite, including newly-minted Hall of Famer Tepin. Download our special edition, available now as a PDF, to learn what goes in to preparing a yearling for the Saratoga sale and how the catalog is assembled; look at the recent success on the track and in the sales ring for the New York-bred program, which will also be highlighted in an upcoming sale; analyze this year's class of first-crop sires; and more.
Larry Best has become known as a prominent buyer at auctions across the board over the last five years. But Best, who breeds and races as OXO Equine, is now poised to make an impact as a commercial breeder as well. About one year after selling his first homebred yearling, he will bring one of the most anticipated lots in the catalog to the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale – a colt by reigning leading sire Into Mischief and out of reigning Broodmare of the Year Indian Miss.
After the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale became the first public auction to sell a Thoroughbred via cryptocurrency last year, one of the nation’s leading consignors, Taylor Made Sales, expanded the use of that medium by announcing that it has partnered this summer with Dello, a Montreal fintech company, to offer cryptocurrency payments to its customers.
After a pair of Fasig-Tipton sales at Saratoga in August, the yearling season will continue with sales hosted by a variety of companies and breeders' associations across the United States and Canada. Take a look at the calendar in these quick snapshots, in chronological order.
Every yearling sale owes its fate, at least in part, to the preceding 2-year-old sale season. This year's Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale, in particular, is riding a wave from the juvenile sale season, which showcased the quality of state breeding programs and in which pinhookers investing in New York-breds were rewarded handsomely.
Cot Campbell's vision with Dogwood Stable nearly a half century ago has given rise to the many racing partnerships that dot the sport's landscape today. Many of those outfits will be active at this year's two summer yearling sales at Saratoga.
The Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association is continuing its series of “Deal or No Deal” discussion panels for industry participants that launched last year. The series is mainly built around candid discussions of common veterinary issues that may arise in growing yearlings, and how veterinarians and buyers can work with consignors to evaluate young horses and their ability to move forward as a racing or pinhook prospect.
While the sale process seems brief on the surface, the process of preparing for the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, a boutique auction that offers some of the cream of the North American yearling crop, is a process years in the making.
Eclipse Award champions Vino Rosso and Mitole, multiple Grade 1 winner Omaha Beach, and Grade 2 winners Coal Front and Maximus Mischief gave Spendthrift Farm a formidable hand of incoming stallions two years ago. Now, that group's resulting first foals are stepping into the yearling sales arena.
