by Sarah Mace
Saturday’s opening session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale at the auction company’s Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga was a strong one, posting an increase in total sales and average price over the comparable session in 2014, and improving the buyback percentage.
McMahon & Hill Bloodstock, agent, snapped up the top two lots, a pair of fillies for $350,000 and $300,000, respectively, for clients, and the top colt brought $290,000. All three top yearlings in session one out-sold the sale topper from last year, who fetched $270,000.
The 10.1% decrease in the size of the catalogue (from 316 yearlings in 2014 to 284 in 2015) seems only to have strengthened trading. Four fewer horses sold in the auction’s first session on Saturday, but total sales climbed from $6,934,000 in 2014 to $7,126,500.
The average price for the session increased 7.4% to $80,983 from $75,370. The median was down 15% to $51,000. The 88 yearlings who found new homes (including six private sales) from a total of 128 offered translated into a 31.3% buyback rate, which improved over the 36.1% figure in the session last year. There were 25 six-figure yearlings sold on Saturday, eight for $200,000 and above.
“It was another good horse sale this evening,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “It’s always nice to see the average up, the gross up and the buy-back rate down. There was a little slippage in the median, but it’s hard to compare the median from one night to another.”
The top seller of the night was Hip 416, a bay filly bred by Jeffrey Tucker’s Stone Bridge Farm in Gansevoort and foaled last March 5. Sired by Tiznow, a Horse of the Year and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, she is out of Grade 1-winning New York-bred mare Acey Deucey who is also a stakes producer. Offered in the consignment of Summerfield (Francis & Barbara Vanlangendonck), agent, she went to McMahon & Hill on behalf of Vivien Malloy and Lady Sheila Stable for $350,000.
The topper’s dam Acey Deucey is a daughter of Abaginone bred by Glen Grey Farm and campaigned by Tucker and trained by John Morrison. She won the 2005 editions of the Grade 1 Prioress and Grade 2 Comely Stakes, for which she was voted that year’s New York-bred champion 3-year-old filly and female sprinter. Acey Deucey is one of two stakes winners out of the unraced Al Nasr mare Misty Mountains and the sale filly’s third dam is Eclipse champion Cascapedia. Acey Deucey has produced two winners from three foals to start, including multiple stakes winner Preachintothedevil by Pulpit ($242,172). She currently has a weanling colt by Curlin and was bred this year to Scat Daddy. Linda Rice will train the yearling and she is a prospect for Mrs. Malloy’s broodmare band down the line.
McMahon & Hill also went to $300,000, this time on behalf of Maggie Seidman, to buy Hip 380, a daughter of To Honor and Serve whose first foals are yearlings of 2015. The filly, foaled on February 2, 2014, was bred by Rf HF Mares Rule #2 and consigned by David Reid’s Preferred Equine, agent. The filly’s dam, Tale of a Dream is a multiple stakes winner and has already produced three winners including a stakes performer. The sale filly is her dam’s first registered New York-bred foal. She was purchased earlier for $47,000 at this year’s Keeneland January sale.
Reid, a partner in Ice Wine Stable, commented, “I was really happy with the activity since she came to the sale. As the saying goes, she ticked all the right boxes. She is just a lovely filly from the time she got to the grounds–actually she’s been a lovely filly since birth. Her attitude was just terrific through the whole process. Coming into the ring, I was really confident. I thought she stood out. She didn’t have one bad show the whole time here.”
The top-selling colt of the evening and third individual to surpass last year’s sale topper was Hip 333, a dark bay or brown colt by Flatter out of River Nore, a stakes-winning Ontario-bred daughter of Archer’s Bay. Bred by Oak Bluff Stables LLC, and offered by Don Robinson’s Winter Quarter Farm, agent, he was purchased by LRK Stable, Inc. for $290,000, and Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables signed the ticket. The colt’s third dam is stakes winner Fat Emma and he issues from the family of graded winner and $806,291-earner Dat You Miz Blue.
Browning concluded, “There was a very solid marketplace. There was very, very competitive bidding, especially for those offerings who were perceived to have good conformation and pedigree and vetted well. The horses that didn’t tick the boxes–there is still selectivity in the marketplace. There is not a buyer for every horse unless every horse is of sufficient quality. But all in all, it was a very solid sale, a very good start to the New York-bred sale. It’s remarkable when you consider the growth and the progress that has been achieved in this marketplace over the last five years. It was a great start and we hope to follow it up with a strong finish tomorrow.”
Click here for full opening session results.
Sunday’s second session of the two-day auction begins at 7 p.m.
