The sales grounds were packed Friday in advance of this weekend’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred sale. Fasig-Tipton Photo.
By Tom Law
No offense to our friends from Kentucky and Maryland – and they probably wouldn’t be all that offended anyway since many are here for more than sightseeing and socializing – but there’s nothing like Saratoga.
Especially when it comes to selling New York-breds.
“Those yearlings were the most compromised group of horses from the pandemic last year, without any question,” said Boyd Browning Jr., Fasig-Tipton’s president and chief executive officer two days out from the start of the Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. “It’s a unique setting here with the New York-breds, there are 300 New York-breds, in Saratoga in the middle of the race meet, with New York-bred owners and New York-bred trainers all around.
“There was no way you could replicate that environment in Kentucky, Maryland or anywhere else and we just couldn’t get to Saratoga last year. So, they were the most impacted group.”
The New York-bred sale returns – just like its big brother, the Saratoga select sale – to the docket for 2021 after being shelved due to the coronavirus pandemic last year.
Fasig-Tipton did its best to accommodate sellers at both Saratoga sales, and its July sale, with the Select Yearling Showcase. The New York-bred portion of that sale saw 20 yearlings sell for six figures with three bringing $200,000 or more. Fasig-Tipton reported sales on 73 New York-breds for $5,572,000, an average price of $76,329 and median of $70,000.
The Midlantic Eastern fall sale in early October also featured a dedicated portion to New York-breds and 88 yearlings sold for $2,279,600, an average price of $25,905 and median of $19,000.
Those statistics don’t come close to the numbers realized in recent editions of the Saratoga New York-bred sale, which saw 186 yearlings sell for $16,2000,000 million in 2019 and 172 yearlings sell for $18,492,000. The sale’s averages those years came in at $87,097 and $107,512 respectively.
Everyone – horses and humans – is ready for the return of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga NY-bred sale. Fasig-Tipton Photo.
“The atmosphere here has a big presence,” said Najja Thompson, executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. “Of course you have Saratoga Race Course right next door, the premier meet in the country throughout the summer. You have New York trainers right here, so many farms right here in the Saratoga region.
“We were kind of at a disadvantage having to be in Kentucky and in Maryland with no sale in New York. Plus, all the restrictions due to Covid at the time. To have the sale return is going to be a phenomenal feeling. From everything I’ve heard they love the book and everything they’re seeing, it’s quality across the board.”
Potential buyers hit the sales grounds hard Saturday morning in search of that quality. The sales grounds were packed despite the steamy conditions. By the afternoon foot traffic slowed a bit and yearlings enjoyed being hosed down between shows.
Fasig-Tipton cataloged 307 yearlings for the two-session sale, with the first 100 set to go through the ring starting at 7 p.m. Sunday. The second session coincides with the dark day at Saratoga Race Course and the final 207 yearlings cataloged will sell starting at noon.
That format was introduced for the 2019 sale, which saw six of the top eight most expensive yearlings sell the second day. The 2019 topper, a filly by Malibu Moon out of the winning Street Sense mare Savvy Sassy, sold to Larry Best’s OXO Equine for $775,000. Named Brattle House, the broke her maiden in her debut last November and finished second in the Maddie May Stakes, both at Aqueduct, for Best and trainer Christophe Clement.
Don Robinson’s Winter Quarter Farm consigned Brattle House and offers her half sister, Hip 551, a daughter of Flatter, on Day 2 this year for co-breeders Clement and Oak Bluff Stables.
The second highest-priced horse in 2019 also sold on Day 2, a filly by Outwork out of the unraced Tiznow mare Light And Variable, purchased by Travis Durr, agent for All About The Girls, Jeremiah Englehart’s JCE Racing and Travis Durr. Named Samborella, she finished third in her debut last July at Saratoga before a victory in the Seeking the Ante Stakes on Saratoga Showcase Day late in the meet.
The action in the ring should be as heated as the sales grounds this week for the Saratoga New York-bred sale Sunday and Monday. Fasig-Tipton Photo.
New York-breds were well received at this week’s 100th Saratoga select sale. Five of the six through the ring sold for $2 million – an average price of $400,000 and median of $300,000. That average jumped 26.7 percent from $315,625 for the eight sold at the 2019 sale, while median rose slightly from $292,500.
“Phenomenal numbers,” Thompson said. “Looking forward it gives you the momentum heading into the New York-bred sale that everybody sees the value in New York-breds and what they can bring to the track.”
Browning agreed that the continued strength of the New York-bred breeding and racing program adds to the appeal of the second sale on the Saratoga calendar.
“The program continues to be unbelievable for owners, trainers and breeders,” Browning said. “My expectation is, based on everything we’ve seen at the yearling sales to date, the 2-year-old sales in the spring, and the general atmosphere here in Saratoga, it should be really strong.
“It was mobbed out here today. Mobbed. Every indication is it will be an upbeat, enthusiastic sale. The quality of horses continues to improve every year. The New York breeders keep doing a better job, the program has gained in popularity and recognition throughout the United States.”
