Hip 170 (Fasig-Tipton photo)
by Sarah Mace
For the second straight day a New York-bred filly topped the distaff side of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale offerings. The top filly of the opening session was Hip 104 by War Front, bred by Gallagher’s Stud and purchased by Glen Hill Farm for $570,000. On Tuesday bloodstock agent Steven Young signed a ticket for $800,000 on behalf of an undisclosed client for Hip 170, a New York-bred filly by Malibu Moon, who became the best-selling filly of the prestigious auction.
The bay topper was bred by Newtown Anner Stud, foaled at their Millbrook farm on March 16, 2014 and offered by Hill ‘N’ Dale Sales Agency. Her dam Red Hot Bertie, a winning Kentucky-bred daughter of Tabasco Cat, has produced five winners, including multiple stakes winner and $234,401-earner Red Hot Buddha (Buddha), multiple graded stakes performer Cue the Moon, a full-sister to the sale filly, and her first foal, graded stakes performer, Knockout Bertie, by Distorted Humor.
Red Hot Bertie is also a half-sister to headliner fillies Allamerican Bertie, by Quiet American, a multiple graded stakes winner and stakes producer, and Hurricane Bertie, by Storm Boot, a multiple graded stakes winner and earner of nearly $1 million. There is more star power under the third dam, including Avenging Gossip, Cool Perfection, Sun King and Peeping Tom and Traitor.
Steve Young (Fasig-Tipton photo)
Steve Young, who purchased four horses for gross sales of $1,565,000 and a $391,250 average over the two sessions and indicated that his client bought the filly to race, told the Blood-Horse, “She was at the top of our list. She basically sold herself every time I went and saw her. She’s smart, she’s a very good mover, and I couldn’t be happier with her.”
Young continued, “I probably went to see her four times, but I look at horses more than some people do. Some people look at horses multiple times to knock them or to get off of them. When I go back to look, I’m trying to figure out what I think they’re worth.”
Young added to the TDN, “She is a full-sister to a horse [Cue the Moon] who could really run. And, on her own merit, we think she is as nice a filly as there is. Malibu Moon has thrown some very good fillies in his own right. And we didn’t think it was a hard decision. She is a terrific filly.”
Zayat Stables, of American Pharoah fame, went to $300,000 to snap up the top-selling New York-bred colt on Tuesday, a chestnut with striking facial markings by Lemon Drop Kid, from Select Sales, agent. Hip 209, who was bred by Blue Star Stable in partnership with Mike Ferraro and foaled at Waldorf Farm in N. Chatham, is the second foal from the sturdy New York-bred mare Sweet Lorena, by Langfuhr. Bred by Stonewall farm and campaigned for five seasons by Michael S. Ferraro, Sweet Lorena placed twice in the Grade 3 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes, placed in five more stakes at Finger Lakes, and earned nearly $500,000 from 41 career starts. Stakes winners Traffic Chief and Savannah Canon appear under the colt’s third dam.
Over the course of two sessions of trading at the sales grounds in Saratoga, 12 New York-bred yearlings of 16 offered found new homes, selling for a heady average price of $302,083 and $220,000 median. All but one Empire-bred brought six figures and three sold for $500,000 and up.
The sale overall posted a 10.4% increase in average to $322,448 and a 5.3% increase in median to $250,000. The 15% buyback rate improved 3.9% over last year.
