by Sarah Mace
A colt by red-hot sire Kitten’s Joy, who currently leads North American sires in earnings, Grade 1 Stakes winners and stakes winners, sold as the top weanling at Monday’s single-session Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December mixed sale when purchased by Highclere Inc. for $92,000.
Bred and consigned by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, LLC, the January colt (Hip 206) is out of Right On It, a winning daughter of E Dubai who sold from the Ramsey Farm consignment at the 2012 Keeneland November sale for $17,000. Right On It’s first foal, a placed 3-year-old gelding, is by Catienus. Her three subsequent offspring, two fillies and the sale colt, are all by Kitten’s Joy. She was bred this year to McMahon stallion Here Comes Ben, who entered stud in 2012.
The colt’s second dam, Shoot the Moon (Seattle Slew), did not place in her single start, but belongs to a productive family. Out of Grade 1 Beldame winner Weber City Miss, Shoot the Moon is a full sister to multiple Grade 1 winner and millionaire Slew City Slew and to City Dance, a stakes winner, multiple graded stakes-placed runner and multiple stakes producer. Another sibling Dream Touch (Riverman) is a stakes winner. Shoot the Moon’s daughter Moonsong is a stakes producer.
Despite a catalogue that was eleven percent smaller than last year, Fasig-Tipton’s December sale showed an increase in all the major indicators, including total sales, with 133 horses bringing $1,516,700 compared to $1,150,200 for 140 lots last year. The average price this year of $11,404 was 38.8 percent higher than 2012 ($8,216) and the median price increased 25 percent from $3,000 to $4,000.
Last year’s sale topper was a New York-bred weanling half-sister to Grade 1 winner Unbridled Command by Read the Footnotes, who sold to Edition Farm for $100,000.
