Hip 1558, a colt by Practical Joke bred by Empire Equines, was one of two New York-breds to sell for $120,000 during the October sale’s final session Thursday. Photo courtesy of Bluewater Sales.
By Tom Law
A pair of New York-bred yearling colts sold for $120,000 apiece Thursday to highlight the final day of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucy October sale in Lexington.
Hip 1516, a colt from the first crop of 2017 Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing, went through the ring first and was purchased by Jacob West’s West Bloodstock. Bred by and foaled at Milfer Farm Inc. in Unadilla and consigned by Legacy Bloodstock, agent, the colt is the third foal out of the winning Street Cry mare Lapinski.
Milfer purchased Lapinski in foal to Hard Spun for $82,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The resulting foal, the filly Spun for Lu Lu later sold as a yearling for $60,000 through Legacy Bloodstock at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale and then for $170,000 at the 2020 OBS March sale of selected 2-year-olds in training. Lapinski’s second foal, the unraced New York-bred Laoban gelding George’s Gambit, sold for $50,000 as a short yearling at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.
Hip 1558, a colt by top freshman sire Practical Joke, also elicited a $120,000 bid from Calumet Farm. Bred by John and Sandy Crowe’s Empire Equines LLC, foaled at River Valley Farm in Gansevoort and consigned by Bluewater Sales LLC, agent, the colt is the sixth foal out of the stakes-placed Arch mare Lisvernane.
Fourth in the Shady Well Stakes in her debut and later second in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes – both at Woodbine – Lisvernane is the dam of New York-bred winners Gilda Marie (by Shackleford) and Lem Me Have It (by Frost Giant), both bred by Empire Equines. She’s also the dam of the 2-year-old Summer Front filly Samhradh, third in her debut for Empire Equines and trainer Tom Bush going 1 1/16 miles on the turf Oct. 8 at Belmont Park.
The two $120,000 yearlings Thursday brought the total of New York-breds that drew six-figure bids to seven for the entire sale.
The final session was the most productive for New York-breds with 20 of the 21 through the ring reported sold for $797,500, an average price of $39,875 and median of $25,000. Overall, Fasig-Tipton reported sales on 82 of the 90 New York-breds – a clearance rate of 91.1 percent – for $2,530,200. The average price came in at $30,856 while the median price was $20,000.
The most expensive New York-bred at the sale was Hip 1086, a daughter of champion and second-crop sire Nyquist who brought $135,000 on Day 3 from Nick Hines, agent for International Equine LLC. Bred by Wildwood Farm, foaled at Stone Bridge Farm in Gansevoort and consigned by Indian Creek, agent, the bay filly is out of the unraced Speightstown mare Court Dress. A half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner and $5,179,803-earner Well Armed and Grade 3 winner and stakes producer Witty, Court Dress is the dam of four winners led by the stakes-placed $236,314-earner Estilo Femenino. She’s also the dam of the New York-bred 3-year-old Palace Malice gelding Masked Marauder, who won at the 2021 Saratoga meet; and the 5-year-old Street Sense gelding Runnin’ Ray, who won and placed this past summer at Saratoga along with a runner-up finish in an allowance race at Churchill Downs Oct. 2.
