Sons of Peaks and Valleys top N.Y. sale
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Two New York-bred sons of Peaks and Valleys brought the two highest bids at Sunday's Fasig-Tipton preferred sale of yearlings in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Both the average and gross surpassed last year's sale, but the buy-back rate increased.
All but a handful of the yearlings in the sale were New York-breds. The 82 to fall under the hammer brought $3,557,000, compared to $3,420,700 for the same number sold in 2000. This year's average rose four percent to $43,378 over last year's $41,716. The buy-back rate for horses that did not meet their reserve was 36 percent, a jump from 34 percent in 2000.
The sales topper of the four-hour auction was Fearless Legacy, a son of Canadian champion Peaks and Valleys, who was bought for $180,000 by Ernie Paragallo of Paraneck Stables, with Buzz Chace acting as agent on the purchase. Chace, who signed the sale's slip for last year's highest priced yearling at the preferred sale, a Saint Ballado colt for $240,000 for Paragallo, acted as the buying agent on five horses who sold for a total of $505,000.
A $150,000 Peaks and Valleys colt was bought by agent Ben Glass for Gary and Mary West, the owners of graded stakes winner Dollar Bill, who is from Peaks and Valleys's first crop of 3-year-olds.
Becky Thomas, one of the country's top pinhookers, spent a total of $171,000 for five yearlings.
Although the preferred sale's numbers didn't reflect the hand-over-fist spending at last week's record-setting select sale, Fasig-Tipton officials were pleased with the results.
"It was a productive sale," Boyd T. Browning Jr., Fasig-Tipton's executive vice president, said. "Clearly, from what we have seen at the early [yearling] sales, the top end of the market has not affected all levels of the sales."