Fasig-Tipton photo
By Sarah Mace
The biggest fireworks for team New York at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga selected yearling sale at the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion went off in the opening session when Mrs. Joanne Nielsen’s American Pharoah-Party Silks colt brought seven figures from Baffert/Magnier. Even so, at Tuesday’s second and concluding session New York-breds continued a strong run led by a $350,000 Carpe Diem colt. Also changing hands were a pair of $250,000 youngsters by Flatter and Bayern, respectively. In the end, the New York-bred average price at the boutique sale checked in at an impressive $350,000.
Tuesday’s top-selling New York-bred was Hip 175, a chestnut colt from the first crop of Carpe Diem bred by Tom Ryan’s SF Bloodstock LLC and foaled on March 13. Consigned by St George Sales, Agent III, Thomas Haughey signed the $350,000 ticket for PTK, LLC. The colt was a pinhooking success, purchased previously by Brookstone Farm at the 2017 Keeneland November sale for $215,000.
The Carpe Diem colt’s winning dam is Florida-bred Betty’s Solutions by Eltish who was purchased by SF Bloodstock at the 2015 Keeneland November sale for $300,000 in foal to Proud Citizen. The first two generations of the family are rich in black type.
Betty’s Solutions has produced eight foals to race, all winners, led by multiple graded stakes winner Include Betty (Include), winner of the 2015 Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes and earner of nearly $800,000. The colt has two more stakes performing half-siblings, including his dam’s first foal, juvenile winner Francesca d’Gorgio who produced Irish-bred stakes winner Amazonas.
The colt’s second dam is multiple graded stakes winner Betty Lobelia by Assert (IRE) who is a half-sister to graded winner Best of Luck. Her stakes-performing daughter Entrusted is the dam of multiple graded stakes winner My Trusty Cat (Tale of the Cat), who annexed the Grade 1 Humana Distaff in 2015. Betty’s Solutions produced a colt by Exaggerator this year and was bred to Pioneerofthe Nile in the spring.
Hips 197 and 242 and each brought $250,000. Hip 197 by Flatter was bred by Newtown Anner Stud and foaled on March 1, 2017. The dark bay is out of the stakes-performing Florida-bred mare Cold Awakening by Dehere and was consigned by Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services LLC. Sallusto and Albina purchased the mare for $50,000 at the 2011 Keeneland November sale. Solis and Litt teamed up on Tuesday to sign the ticket on behalf of Jaime Roth’s LNJ Foxwoods.
The Flatter colt sports a pair of stars in his immediate family. His half-brother is Illinois Derby winner Recapturetheglory. Half-sister Sweet Awakening is the dam of millionaire and two-time winner Sovereign Award winner Are You Kidding Me. Cold Awakening foaled a Shanghai Bobby filly on April 8 and was bred to Kantharos this spring.
Hip 242, a grey/roan colt from the first crop of Beyern was bred by Hunter Valley Farm. He went to Sam Herzberg/Sterling Racing from the Paramount consignment. The grey is the second foal out of winner and stakes performer Holy Dazzle by Holy Bull, a Washington-bred half-sister to multiple stakes winner Stormy Temper. Hunter Valley Farm purchased the mare with the sale colt in utero for $37,000 at the 2016 Fasig Tipton New York fall mixed sale. As a weanling Hip 242 brought $180,000 at the Keeneland November sale. His dam foaled a colt by Speightster on March 30 and was bred this spring to Runhappy.
Of 12 New York-breds offered at the Fasig-Tipton selected sale, eight sold for an average price of $350,000. The median price for a New York-bred came in at $257,500.
Overall, the boutique auction had a highly successful two-day run, posting a record gross ($62,794,000, improving on the previous record of $62,412,000 set in 2001). The average yearling price of $369,376 was the second-highest in the sale’s history and increased 8.7% from 2017. The $300,000 median tied a record established last year.
Fasig-Tipton’s yearling trading resumes at the same venue Saturday and Sunday, August 11 and 12 for the most important auction of the year for the New York program: the New York-bred preferred yearling sale. Sessions begin at 6:30 p.m.
