Second-chance gems up for grabs at Fasig-Tipton October, OBS digital sale

Second chances are a theme as the last chances for the North American yearling marketplace come up this week. Fasig-Tipton will host the traditional final in-person auction of the yearling season, with its Kentucky October yearling sale from Oct. 21-24. Then, running Oct. 24-30, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. enters the digital marketplace, with its October digital yearling sale offering its own twist on the platform.

Fasig-Tipton October

Fasig-Tipton expanded its October sale to four sessions from three in recent years to meet market demand, fueled by the sale’s premium results on the racetrack. Goodnight Olive sold for $170,000 at this sale in 2019. She went on to win two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint to earn a pair of Eclipse Award titles. Two years ago, Thorpedo Anna brought $40,000 at Fasig-Tipton October. She has won four Grade 1 races this season, highlighted by the Kentucky Oaks, and finished second to champion Fierceness in the Travers Stakes to build a case toward divisional honors.

“The strength of our sales graduates makes October one of the most important auctions in the nation,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said in a press release. “If you are a major player in our game, you cannot afford to miss it.”

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

Fasig-Tipton has cataloged 1,614 horses for this year’s sale – some of whom are already accustomed to the auction process. Because young horses can change rapidly, a horse who did not meet their reserve previously has a chance to come back in a later sale – where the additional time could make them a prospect to be reckoned with.

Looking at one sample set for Fasig-Tipton October, perennial leading sire Curlin, who sired the sale-topper at last month’s Keeneland September yearling sale and led stallions by average price at that bellwether auction, has seven well-bred yearlings cataloged for this sale. All were previously entered in other sales and either did not meet their reserve or were withdrawn. A filly out of Achayla – making her a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Casa Creed – was a $475,000 buyback at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, while a filly out of Kateri, dam of graded stakes winner Souper Sensational, and a colt out of Sass and Class, dam of graded stakes winner Royal Charlotte, were outs from that catalog.

At Keeneland September, a Curlin colt out of Grade 1 winner A Z Warrior, dam of two stakes winners, was a buyback at $575,000, not reaching the heights desired after he was a $375,000 Keeneland January short yearling purchase. Another pinhook prospect was a Curlin filly out of Grade 3 winner Tin Type Gal, who had been a $550,000 Keeneland November weanling; she was a $425,000 buyback in September. Meanwhile, the colt out of Sass and Class, and fillies out of Grade 3 winner Mufajaah and Song of Mine were outs.

Last year’s October sale finished with 1,064 yearlings sold for gross receipts of $51,120,000 and appeared to find a stable market plateau after the 2022 edition of this sale set records across the board for gross, average, and median. The 2023 cumulative average price was $48,045, dipping just 5 percent from the record, while the median was $24,000, dropping 4 percent.

OBS October online

In addition to traditional remote phone bidding activity, online bidding platforms became a part of the major auction houses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and have continued to find a foothold as their own component of the industry. Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. will launch OBSOnline, its new digital platform, with a twist on the concept. The platform’s first sale will be a yearling auction for horses who failed to meet their reserve or who were withdrawn from the company’s weather-affected October yearling sale earlier this month.

Bidding for the sale will open Oct. 24 and close on Oct. 30. The catalog has not yet been released as entries closed Friday.

The October yearling sale was originally scheduled to run from Oct. 8-9. Due to the impending threat of Hurricane Milton, OBS officials made the decision to move the start date of the sale up one day. The auction ultimately finished with 298 horses sold, and 168 not sold through the ring; there were 117 outs.

“We felt providing this opportunity to the horses that were either bought back or scratched from our yearling sale was important,” OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski said in a press release. “I think it is obvious that Hurricane Milton impacted the travel of buyers to the sale. By placing these horses in the online sale format, it will give buyers a second chance.”

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.