NEWS: SALES

$250,000 Harlan’s Holiday colt tops first session of F-T October Fall Yearlings Sale

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013
Fasig-Tipton photo

Fasig-Tipton photo

by Sarah Mace

A session-topping New York-bred colt provided the star power Monday on the opening day of Fasig-Tipton’s October Fall Yearlings Sale at the sales grounds in Lexington, purchased by Nick De Meric on behalf of Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables for $250,000 from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, Agent XXXIX.

One of five yearlings in the session (Hips 1-376) to top the $200,000 threshold, the bay Harlan’s Holiday colt (Hip 278), who was born April 15, 2012 and is Breeders’ Cup nominated, was bred by WinStar Farm, LLC and foaled at Vinery New York at Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag.

The colt’s dam Unbridled Melody, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Unbridled’s Song, was purchased by WinStar Farm at the 2007 Keeneland November sale for $325,000. Winner of a trio of sprint races and earner of $64,586, Unbridled Melody has two starters to date and one winner: Michael With Us, a 3-year-old colt by Bluegrass Cat who is a stakes winner going long on synthetic and graded stakes-placed routing on turf ($170,698).

Unbridled Melody is a full-sister to Unbridled Express, Grade 1-placed as a juvenile, and a half-sister to stakes-placed More of the Best (Langfuhr). She issues from the family of two-time Japanese champion Hishi Akebono and Group 1 winners Agnes World, Librettist and Dubai Destination.

Nick De Meric and (son) Tristan

Nick De Meric and (son) Tristan

“He’s a beautiful colt,” de Meric told the DRF. “He’s a New York-bred who’s by a top stallion, and he’s about as nice a walker as you’d ever see in a yearling. We’re excited to have him.” Added de Meric, “We spent a lot to get him, but that’s what you’ve got to do to buy one that looks like him. When you’re buying for an end user, you can be a little more elastic [compared to a pinhook]. But that’s the kind of horse you’re just glad to have in the barn, no matter which way he ends up.”

Mark Taylor, vice president of marketing and public sales operations at Taylor Made, commented to the TDN, “He was a horse that just stood out. Harlan’s Holiday keeps on rolling, and this was a correct, sound horse. Everybody who came to our consignment short-listed him. WinStar actually targeted this horse to this sale. Some of the horses end up here because they got hurt or whatever, but I give the WinStar team credit—they targeted this sale, thinking time would help the horse. It was good judgment and I think it paid off.”

Of the 37 New York-bred yearlings offered in the first session of the three-day sale, 29 changed hands (including two private sales) for an average price of $29,569 and median of $15,000, outperforming the overall session average of $28,519 and a shade below the session median of $16,500.

The sale runs through Wednesday, with sessions starting daily at 10:00 a.m.

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