Fasig-Tipton has announced the dates for its Midlantic 2-year-old in training sales, which are likely to be major events this season, in response to the evolving coronavirus pandemic.
The show goes on at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s March sale of 2-year-olds in training this week, as the two-day auction was poised to open the juvenile auction season in North America that will have a massively changed landscape due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The annual CTHS horses of racing age sale will be held in the paddock at Hastings on Saturday. Of the 22 horses up for auction, 21 are 2-year-olds.
New York Central, a Grade 3 winner in Maryland last year, was purchased by Khalid bin Mishref out of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale’s selection of racing and stallion prospects last fall specifically to target the inaugural running of a major-money event in Saudi Arabia. The $240,000 purchase price looks like a relative bargain after that plan came to fruition, with New York Central scoring a dramatic late-running victory in the $1.5 million Saudia Sprint on Saturday at King Abdulaziz Racetrack, on the undercard of the $20 million Saudi Cup. With Mishref’s purchase paying off, New York Central’s success could continue to pay dividends for U.S. sellers, Middle Eastern buyers, and for Keeneland, which is set to showcase horses of racing age to the world market at both its April and November sales.
Eclipse Award champion Runhappy won the 2015 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. Five years later, the freshman stallion's first crop is set to hit the racetrack – perhaps at Keeneland, which cards the season's first prominent maiden special weight races for juveniles.
Exaggerator, who counted the 2016 Preakness Stakes among his multiple Grade 1 victories, quietly garnered an outstanding first book of mares when he entered stud at WinStar Farm. The young stallion's resulting first foals are now juveniles who will be seen in the commercial arena and on the racetrack.
Uncle Mo’s first sons at stud will have their first juveniles in the sales ring and on the track this year, looking to continue on the family pattern of a fast start at stud. They’ll have to contend on the freshman list with some of the latest sons of Tapit, who also has emerged as a sire of sires. Those two storylines collide this year for the international Darley operation’s stallion roster, which has multiple Grade 1-winning sons of both stallions in Nyquist and Frosted in this freshman class.
In advance of the 2020 juvenile sale season, Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, and the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. have jointly announced changes to medication policies and the use of riding crops for under-tack preview shows.
After a season of change in 2019, the calendar for this year's North American juvenile sales season, running from March until June, remains stable, with the continent's major auction companies looking to build on their recent results.
The young broodmare Flashly sold for $310,000 to Sallusto and Albina, agent, at the Fasig-Tipton February sale, highlighting a half-dozen offerings from Zayat Stables. The horses were supplemental entries into the sale after the embattled stable was placed under receivership, with a third-party manager taking the wheel on the operation as it attempts to settle a long line of debt following a recent lawsuit.
