By Richard Zwirn
“It was another successful edition of the New York-Bred Sale,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning, Jr. “There was a continuation of what we saw all week. There was very active bidding and there was real demand for quality horses.”
Speaking of quality horses, trainer Chad Brown, bidding on behalf of Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stable, purchased Monday’s sale topper for $370,000. Born on May 8th, the yearling colt by Quality Road (Hip 595), from the Winter Quarter Farm consignment and bred by Waterville Lake Stable, is out of graded stakes-placed Portmagee (Hard Spun) and is a full brother to the multiple stakes-placed Derrynane. The mare has a More Than Ready two-year-old named Rossbeigh and a Medaglia d’Oro filly born this year.
“At this sale, we always try to identify New York-bred horses that look like we should buy them if they were not New York-breds. They could take us to open-company races… but still have that option of running for their New York-bred conditions,” said Brown.
A dark bay filly (Hip 486) by Connect joined the well-stocked barn of Mike Repole after Jacob West signed the $300,000 ticket. Out of GSW Georgie’s Angel (Bellamy Road), she is a half-sister to multiple G1 winner Cave Rock (Arrogate). The filly was consigned by Eaton Sales and bred by Kathleen Burke Schweizer and Daniel J. Burke. The dam also has a multiple-winning son of Arrogate in Japan named Assurbanipal, a two-year-old filly by Improbable named Lakeside, and a 2024 filly by Flightline. She was bred back to Good Magic.
Rounding out the trio of sales yearlings by the leading New York sire of this sale, Galilean, who stands at Hidden Lake Farm in Stillwater, NY, was Hip 511. The colt, out of It’s Timeless (Mineshaft), was purchased for $95,000 by Bronco Bloodstock from the McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbred consignment. He was bred by Andy and Susan Beadnell. The average for Galilean’s first-year progeny over the two-day sale was $158,300 – an eye-popping figure considering the stallion’s $3,500 stud fee.
This year’s catalogue was significantly smaller than in 2023, when record gross sales reached $20,929,000. Through the two-day 2024 edition, 182 yearlings sold for a total of $19,095,500. Figures for both average and median, however, were up from 2023 ($104,920 and a record $86,500, respectively).
“The sale reflects the overall quality of the New York breeding program for both breeders and racers,” Browning, Jr. concluded. “I think NYRA certainly recognizes the importance of the program for their overall year-round racing calendar, and it’s nice to see the groups, everybody kind of working together to continue to move it forward. We’re thankful to be a part of it.” With the ongoing upgrades towards purse enhancements and incentives for owners and breeders of New York breds… the sky is the limit.
