By Sarah Mace
The 2023 edition of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale got off to a solid start as the first third of the catalogue (Hips 301-400) passed through the ring in an evening session on Sunday, August 13 at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs. The group posted improved average and median prices over the comparable session last year, and prospective buyers will vie over the remaining two-thirds of the catalogue in Monday’s daytime Session 2, which begins at 12:00 noon (Hips 401-664).
Of 81 yearlings offered Sunday night, 54 successfully changed hands (including one post-sale transaction, which was added to the tally on Monday morning) for total sales of $6,013,000. More than half of the individuals sold for $100,000 and up (29 total). Eight yearlings brought $200,000 and up, and two topped the $300,000 threshold. Both average and median prices hit six figures, with the average price coming in at $111,352 and the median at $100,000 even. The top New York-sired yearling was a colt from the first crop of Honest Mischief who sold for a robust $120,000 price tag (see further below). The RNA percentage was 33.3%, a figure that Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. hopes will moderate in the second session.
Browning commented, “It was a very good opening session… It seemed a tiny bit sticky at the beginning, with a little higher RNA rate that kind of smoothed out as the sale progressed. But it was a solid sale, a good sale. Last year was essentially a record-breaking sale and to be statistically improved in two key categories is a really good start.”
With a view to the second session, Browning added, “We have got a full day tomorrow, so we won’t be making any bold proclamations or assertions,” Browning said. “We will have a better ability to assess the overall market tomorrow. But it was certainly a good start and we are looking forward to another good day tomorrow.”
The trading Sunday night was upbeat right out of the blocks, when the session topper emerged just four horses in. Hip 306, a bay colt by Violence and the first foal out of multiple winner Liam’s Lookout, sold on a winning bid of $380,000. (Virtual inspection)
Bred by Fred W. Hertrich lll and foaled on March 10, 2022 at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, the colt was well-received when unveiled as a short yearling at the 2023 Keeneland January sale, where he brought $175,000 from SKPJ Stables. Consigned at Saratoga by Hill ‘N’ Dale at Xalapa, he was purchased by Baccari Bloodstock on behalf of a partnership led by country music star Toby Keith of Dream Walkin Farms. Magdalena Racing’s Kenny McPeek, who was on hand for the bidding, is also involved.
Baccari told the Blood-Horse, “To me, he looked extremely sound and he had a lot of good qualities about him that were unique for his pedigree. That’s why I told Kenny and Toby that this one we would have to stretch on. To me, he’s a very solid horse.”
To the TDN, McPeek commented, “[Chris Baccari and I] both liked the horse. We are putting a group together to race in New York. We will probably have Magdalena as some sort of share in him. He’s a lovely horse. I thought he was a real standout. You have to pay for the good ones and he was a good one.”
First dam Liam’s Lookout, who sold most recently to Nanticoke Sables at the 2021 Keeneland January sale for $65,000, is a half-sister to Grade 2 Fountain of Youth S. winner Itsaknockout (Lemon Drop Kid), stakes winner Storm Power (Tiz Wonderful) and graded stakes performer Hot Sean. The colt’s third dam produced stakes winner Rush Bay. Liam’s Lookout foaled a filly by Twirling Candy on March 7, 2023 and has been bred to Nyquist.
China Horse Club, Siena Farm and Elliot Walden’s Maverick Racing partnered to scoop up the second most popular colt of the session, going to $300,000 to acquire Hip 372, a youngster from the first crop of champion Improbable who was bred in partnership by Spruce Lane Farm, William R. Conley Jr. Thoroughbreds, Becker Bloodstock, et al. A graduate of last year’s Keeneland November sale, he brought $110,000 as a weanling. (Virtual inspection)
Walden told the Blood-Horse, “We’re excited to get him. We all liked him. We raced Improbable with China Horse Club, and we’re excited to get one of his very nice offspring.” Walden continued, “He was a great mover, just like his daddy. We saw some of the same characteristics in him that we saw in Improbable.”
Foaled on April 18, 2022 at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, the colt is out of Perazzi, an unraced daughter of Curlin who has produced three winners from three foals to race. Purchased by McMahon and Hill Bloodstock at the 2020 Keeneland November sale for $65,000, the Kentucky-bred mare is a half-sister to stakes winner Striking Tomisue and graded stakes performer Palace Avenger. The colt’s third dam is stakes winner Tomisue’s Indy. Fourth dam Chimes of Freedom is a Group 1 winner and the dam of champion, millionaire and sire Aldebaran. Perazzi was represented this year by a Caravaggio filly foaled on May 5.
Richard Nicolai bred Sunday’s top filly, a bay by Gun Runner and the second foal out of graded winner Pantsonfire (IRE). Offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency as Hip 369, she was purchased by Tom D’Ambra of Trade Winds Farm in Rexford for $290,000. The filly, for whom this was a maiden voyage through the sales ring, was foaled on March 26, 2022 at Anne Morgan’s Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater. (Virtual inspection)
“We really wanted her,” D’Ambra told the TDN. “She’s a filly, she has residual value. If she doesn’t run, it’s a great family. We hope she will have a good racing career, but even after that there is more in the tank.”
The filly’s dam Pantsonfire (IRE), by Sir Percy, is a graded stakes winner in her own right and a full-sister to Bomar, a multiple stakes winner in Sweden. Half-sister Liar Liar is stakes-placed in the United States.
Pantsonfire, who last changed hands when purchased by Nicolai’s Fortune Farms for $70,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November sale, foaled a filly by Not This Time on March 28, 2023 and has been bred this year to Epicenter.
New York-based sire Honest Mischief, whose first foals are yearlings of 2023, got a nice result in Sunday’s session, topping the offspring of state-based sires with Hip 340, a bay colt bred by Mark A. Toothaker & Allen Poindexter who sold to Tom McCrocklin, Agent, for $120,000. Honest Mischief stands at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson for a 2023 stud fee of $6,500. (Virtual inspection)
Consigned by Sequel New York, Agent, the Honest Mischief colt is out of Miss Malibu Style, a winner by Malibu Moon whose lone foal to start, Virtual Reality by Cloud Computing, broke her maiden at first asking this year at Belmont Park.
The colt’s second though fourth dams are all stakes winners. Second Dam Stylish is a multiple graded winner and produced four winners, two of whom produced stakes horses. Third dam Miss Lenora is a graded winner and producer, and the resume of fourth dam L’Attrayante (FR) is topped by her victory in the Group I One Thousand Guineas. First dam Miss Malibu Style was bred this year to Yaupon.
