A $1.8 million Snitzel colt became the highest-priced horse ever sold in an online auction as the high-profile Inglis Easter yearling sale in Australia, conducted digitally due to the global coronavirus pandemic, recorded relatively solid results as it was keenly watched by the global bloodstock community.

Quality Road, a rising star in the stallion ranks for Lane’s End Farm over the last several years, will again see his stud fee spike in 2020, with his advertised fee of $200,000 placing him among the most expensive sires in North America.

Quality Road, a multiple Grade 1 winner by Elusive Quality, stood for an advertised fee of $70,000 in 2018 – up from $35,000 the prior year – after a career season in which he was represented by champions Abel Tasman and Caledonia Road.

Medaglia d’Oro competed with distinction in the Travers at Saratoga and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. He will now have the chance to take down both in the same season as a sire.

Medaglia d’Oro’s nine Grade 1 or Group 1 wins or placings included a triumph in the 2002 Travers Stakes at Saratoga. The following season, after winning the Whitney Handicap at the Spa, he headed cross-country for a runner-up finish in the Pacific Classic behind Candy Ride at Del Mar.

On Monday, Claiborne Farm opens the doors to its historic breeding shed, where six Triple Crown winners, among dozens of other classic winners, have been conceived. War Front will walk into that breeding shed as the most expensive stallion in North America for this breeding season.

The steady development of late-blooming yearlings and the buying bench’s sense of urgency converge as a robust market ends at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall sale on Monday through Thursday in Lexington, Ky. The auction, the last on the yearling calendar, has 1,499 yearlings cataloged.

Medaglia d'Oro, in the midst of a career run on the racetrack and in the commercial arena, will stand for $200,000 to lead Darley's American roster in 2019.

Medaglia d'Oro, by El Prado, sired seven Grade 1 winners in North America last year - including Breeders' Cup winners Bar of Gold and Talismanic - putting him in an elite club with Danzig, Mr. Prospector, and Storm Cat as the only American stallions to have as many in a single year.

A staggering number of high-ticket offerings propelled the revised Book 1 of the Keeneland September yearling sale to positive economic indicators as the marquee portion of the sale concluded Thursday night.

At the top of the market, a total of 26 yearlings surpassed the seven-figure threshold during Book 1, doubling the 13 yearlings to do so during the entire sale last year.

The Thoroughbred bloodstock industry has weathered major changes over the years, from the shifting foal crop, to the advent of stallion shuttling, to a major recession and recovery. But one constant has been the Keeneland September yearling sale, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary renewal from Sept. 10-23.

Medaglia d’Oro, who is enjoying a major run of success on the racetrack and in the auction ring, stole the show at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale. Now, heading into the Keeneland September yearling sale, he is set with a star contingent of yearlings ready to take their place at center stage.

Queen’s Plate heroine Wonder Gadot added another feather to sire Medaglia d’Oro’s cap, and her Plate victory on Saturday did so in fitting style. Not only is she the latest standout filly for the Darley stallion, but she also displays his hallmark versatility.