Weanlings by Practical Joke top Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall sale

By Sarah Mace

A pair of weanlings — a colt and a filly — from the first crop of Practical Joke, each out of a stakes producer, topped the offerings at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall sale at the Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion Tuesday. The top-selling mare was Spa Treatment, a Chester and Mary Broman homebred. The annual auction, inaugurated in 2012, was well-attended and grossed a shade above last year’s total sale receipts. In 2018 the sale had a breakout year, setting records in all categories. The 2019 major indicators were more in line with (and even outperformed) the 2017 results.

The sale topper, the weanling colt by Practical Joke, sold as Hip 238[1] to Steven Weston for $160,000 from the consignment of RFHF Bloodstock LLC, agent. Bred by Hidden Lake Farm LLC in partnership with 3C Thoroughbreds and West Point Thoroughbreds and foaled on February 12, the bay youngster is out of stakes producer Singing Doe, a placed Florida-bred daughter of Running Stag. Hidden Lake purchased the mare for $35,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.

The top colt is a half-brother to three winners, topped by Pain and Misery by Bob and John, a multiple stakes winner and multiple graded stakes performer on dirt with earnings of over $550,000. His dam Singing Doe is a half sister to Awesome I Am, a multiple stakes winner at Aqueduct trained by John Terranova. The colt’s third dam is Grade 2 Schuylerville winner Distinct Habit, who went on to become a stakes producer. Singing Doe has been bred back to Practical Joke.

The weanling filly by Practical Joke, Hip 260[2], came in a close second behind the top-seller, fetching $150,000 when hammered down to Exclusive Equine Investments. She was consigned by her breeder, The New Hill Farm LLC.

A chestnut foaled on April 9, the filly is out of Unicorn Kid (Lemon Drop Kid) and a half-sister to four winners, including by a pair of stakes winners. Pure Lemon, a mare by Eskendereya, is a multiple graded stakes winner in Puerto Rico and champion imported mare. Unicorn Kid’s Crafty Unicorn by Friends Lake won an OBS Championship Stakes. The female family through the fourth dam is peppered with additional black type. Unicorn Kid has been bred to Cairo Prince this year.

The top mare at the sale was Spa Treatment (Hip 59[3]), a homebred winner by Bernardini for Chester and Mary Broman who was consigned on couple’s behalf by Sequel New York. Coming in as the third top-seller overall, she was purchased by Springhouse Farm for $140,000 in foal to Maclean’s Music on a February 15 cover.

Spa Treatment is out of Silver Knockers (Silver Deputy), a Maryland-bred stakes winner and Grade 1 stakes performer purchased by Chester Broman for $320,000 at the 2009 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She is a half-sister to three winners, led by juvenile stakes winner Manipulated by Malibu Moon, who won the Funny Cide stakes on Saratoga Showcase Day in 2015. The Maclean’s Music foal in utero will be her first.

In all 134 lots of 216 offered changed hands at Tuesday’s sale (including 15 private sales) for a 38% RNA percentage, up from last year’s 32.4% buyback rate. The sales total of $3,384,700 was a few ticks above last year’s receipts of $3,381,200, but with a larger catalogue and more horses sold, the average and median dipped from year to year. The $25,259 average was off 14.1% from $29,402 last year. The 2019 $15,000 median dipped 25% from $20,000 last year.

Against the backdrop of the record-setting 2018 edition of the Saratoga fall sale, the 2017 results put 2019 in a more realistic context. In 2017, 144 head sold with a 39.0% buyback percentage, the sale grossed $3,265,000, and posted an average and median price of $22,674 and $12,000, both below this year’s indicators.

Endnotes:
  1. Hip 238: http://www.fasigtipton.com/catalogs/2019/1015/238.pdf
  2. Hip 260: http://www.fasigtipton.com/catalogs/2019/1015/260.pdf
  3. Hip 59: http://www.fasigtipton.com/catalogs/2019/1015/59.pdf

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2019/10/16/fasig-tipton-saratoga-fall-mixed-2019/