Six-figure FTK lots continue

A day after producing a $600,000 session-topper, Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky fall yearling sale continued its series of six-figure horses at its final session Wednesday, when a $200,000 Giant's Causeway colt helped maintain the upper market's strength.

The British Bloodstock Agency (Ireland) purchased the $200,000 colt from the Hill 'n' Dale agency. Sold as Hip No. 749, he is out of the Grade 2-winning Mining mare Prospectress and is her second foal.

The Giant's Causeway colt was one of three to sell for six figures, and the session's most expensive lot, as of 5 p.m.

On Tuesday, at the three-day auction's next-to-last session, Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stable lit up the price board by paying $600,000 for a Distorted Humor colt out of Happy Nation that James Keogh's Grovendale agency consigned. That sale contributed to double-digit gains in the average and median prices through the second session.

In its first two days, this year's auction sold 403 lots for $7,723,100, down from last year's two-day gross of $8,317,200 for 511 lots; last year's auction was conducted over two days and expanded to three in 2005. The average price this year climbed 18 percent, however, from $16,276 to $19,164, and the median price gained 13 percent, rising from $8,000 to $9,000. Buy-backs were at 29 percent, up slightly from last year's 28 percent for both days.