Practical Joke's Progeny Shine at Saratoga Fall Sale

Foals from the first crop of Practical Joke  were in demand during Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Fall Sale, as the two top-priced offerings were weanlings sired by the Ashford Stud-based stallion.

A son of leading sire Into Mischief , Practical Joke was a grade 1 winner at ages 2 and 3 and earned more than $1.7 million before being retired to Ashford, where his fee has been $30,000 since entering stud last year.

The sale's top price of $160,000 was paid by Steve Weston for Hip 238, a Practical Joke colt that is a half brother to multiple stakes winner and multiple grade 3-placed Pain and Misery. Produced from the Running Stag mare Singing Doe, the colt was bred in New York by Hidden Lake Farm, 3C Thoroughbreds, and West Point Thoroughbreds. He was consigned by RFHF Bloodstock, agent.

Weston, who was shopping for weanlings for the first time as an owner, said the colt will be sent to Taylor Made Farm and will eventually join the Parkland Thoroughbreds banner that he and his wife Debbie race under. Weston said one factor in their desire to acquire a Practical Joke weanling is the success of the stallion's sire, Into Mischief. The colt eventually will be sent to one of the Westons' trainers, Jorge Abreu or George Weaver.

"My wife and I talked about the colt as the sale was going on and we said if we really like him, and he's as nice as everyone says he is, we'll get him," Weston said. "She said we would probably have to pay $300,000 for him next year. Being a first-year sire, we think maybe Practical Joke is the next Into Mischief, who's just amazing with what he's been producing."

Weston said Parkland Thoroughbreds has "been struggling for several years," but is hopeful the Practical Joke colt could be the one to turn it around.

"He looks like he is going to have some speed and be a good dirt horse," Weston said, adding that the couple also liked the colt's demeanor leading up to the sale. "He is pretty calm. He was quiet."

The couple have other omens portending for success with the colt, including that one of their better runners so far had been Hip 238 when bought at auction, and that Debbie Weston grew up on 238th Street in Bronx, N.Y.

As the first mixed sale of the season and the first opportunity for buyers to see foals by stallions that entered stud a year ago, the auction at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., produced a record gross $3,384,700—up slightly from last year's record gross.

From 271 cataloged this year, Fasig-Tipton reported 134 horses sold for an average of $25,259 and a $15,000 median down from last year's record average of $29,402 and record median of $20,000. The 82 horses that went unsold represented an RNA rate of 38%. (RNA rates tend to be higher at sales in regions with strong state-bred programs.)

Included among the three Practical Joke weanlings sold Tuesday for a total of $385,000, an average price of $128,333, was Hip 260, a Practical Joke filly who is a half sister to Pure Lemon, the champion imported older mare in Puerto Rico, and to stakes winner Crafty Unicorn.

Bred in New York by her consignor The New Hill Farm, the filly produced from the Lemon Drop Kid  mare Unicorn Kid was purchased by Exclusive Equine Investments for $150,000.

Top price for a mare and third-highest price of the sale was the $140,000 paid by Gabriel Duignan's Springhouse Farm for Spa Treatment (Hip 59), a daughter of prominent broodmare sire Bernardini  in foal to Maclean's Music . She was consigned by Becky Thomas' Sequel New York as agent for breeders Chester and Mary Broman. A 5-year-old mare who earned $94,520, Spa Treatment was produced from Silver Knockers, a stakes winning and grade 1-placed daughter of Silver Deputy who has also produced stakes winner Manipulated.

"I like Maclean's Music, the mare ran a 6 on the sheets, and I love Bernardini as a broodmare sire," Duignan said of the stallion to whom Spa Treatment was bred and her numbers while racing. "She is a very good-looking mare."

Duignan also went to $100,000 for a colt by Constitution , the WinStar stallion who is off to a fast start with his first foals racing this year. Consigned by Vinery Sales, agent, the colt (Hip 112) was bred in New York by Rockridge Stud and the Constitution Syndicate.

Out of the unraced Cozzene mare Diplomacy, the colt is a half brother to multiple stakes winner and grade 3-placed Special Envoy.

"I think Constitution is for real and is going to be a top-class sire," Duignan said. "I thought he was quite a nice foal who will improve."