Fasig-Tipton Offers More Diverse HORA Catalog

Visitors to the Fasig-Tipton headquarters and sale grounds near Lexington are routed to a checkpoint so their temperatures can be checked and are subjected to a short list of questions before being given a wristband signifying they are OK to be on the premises. 

The health and safety procedures are all part of the COVID-19 pandemic protocols put in place by the sale company for the July Horses of Racing Age Sale that begins July 13 at 4 p.m. ET. The protocols that include mandatory face masks can be found on the Fasig-Tipton website.

Health checks for the coronavirus are not the only changes for this year's HORA sale that first took place in 2013. In 2020, the auction is not being held in conjunction with The July Sale, the selected yearling sale that has been consolidated with The Saratoga Sale and the New York-Bred Yearling Sale into one selected auction called the Selected Yearlings Showcase that will be held in Lexington Sept. 9-10. 

"Ideally, we would have liked to have the sale in conjunction with the yearling sale," Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. "When we developed the concept of the Horses of Racing Age Sale, it was with the idea there is some benefit of having more activity at this time of the year. After we had already made the decision to consolidate the yearling sales, both buyers and sellers alike said there was still tremendous interest in having a HORA sale. While you don't have as many people on the grounds physically as you would if there were 300-400 yearlings here, interest in the sale has been very strong, and I think we'll have a solid sale."

With Fasig-Tipton continuing to add selected horses to the auction until sale time, as of Sunday the catalog consisted of 182 entries, with 58 having been withdrawn.

"Not having the yearlings in here cuts down on the foot traffic a lot," said Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency. "To me, there was a lot of crossover. I thought it helped the yearling sale more because it got more trainers here. Even if they didn't work the entire yearling catalog, they might hear of something or see something and then make a call. Every little bit helps. (Having the yearling sale in conjunction with the HORA sale) might have moved the needle 10-15%."

Buyers and sellers have viewed the midyear HORA venue as an opportunity to replenish their racing stock at a time on the racing calendar leading up to the boutique race meets at Saratoga Race Course and Del Mar. The status of those two meets was uncertain at one point, given the disruptions posed by COVID-19, but they have subsequently been given the green light to race, albeit without spectators.

"The placement of this sale is ideal, especially now that we know Saratoga and Del Mar will be racing," Browning said. "There is a solid group of proven horses on the sale grounds and many others with great potential and their best days ahead of them. Many horses will suit the needs of owners and trainers at various levels around the country and internationally."

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will offer an additional $2,000 to their "Ship & Win" program for any horse purchased at the HORA sale that makes a start at the 2020 Del Mar summer meet.

Consignor James Keogh of Grovendale said the two horses he has cataloged on behalf of Stonestreet Stables typify the kind of stock in demand at the sale.

"Stonestreet uses this sale every year to effectively take their numbers down," he said. "Several people have bought nice horses from them here and gone and done very well with them. It fulfills a need. Now that we have been doing this a number of years, people have confidence they are not just culls. They are horses that can go on and perform on a different circuit or at a different level and be very beneficial to that person."

According to Fasig-Tipton statistics, through June 19 of this year HORA sale graduates (consisting of those that changed hands and were bought back) had accumulated more than $43 million in earnings, produced 28% stakes horses that won 83 stakes, and made nearly 8,000 starts since going through the ring. Topped by Jalen Journey, sold for $510,000, last year's sale saw 95 horses gross $6,548,500, with an average price of $68,932 and a $45,000 median. The RNA rate was 30.1%.

Fasig-Tipton has opened this year's sale to a more diverse group of offerings to benefit buyers and sellers.

"We have changed our selection criteria and opened it up a little more because of the need for people to move horses," Browning said. "There are some horses in the sale that probably wouldn't have been in the past. We removed the word 'selected' from the title this year because we recognize the need for people to move some horses that probably wouldn't have fit in previous years."

Browning hopes the revamped catalog will result in more broad-based action, similar to that seen during Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.

"Hopefully, we will see a continuation of what we saw in Maryland," he said. "We expected the top to be fine, but the strength of the $20,000-$75,000 range was remarkable. We have a lot of horses here that fit that same bill."

"I've heard several buyers say there is better quality in the midtier," Taylor said. "You might not have a horse that's the super elite filly, but as far as the midrange horses, I've heard there are a lot of nice horses. We've got some nice horses and live prospects for people to take and run in high-quality races the rest of the year."

The Midlantic sale was the first in which Fasig-Tipton offered online bidding in conjunction with the live auction, as well as telephone bidding, and Browning said he believes the platform will likely be more popular for the HORA sale.

"I would think we'd sell a higher percentage of racehorses online than we did in the 2-year-olds in training sale because there is more information available to the prospective buyers of racehorses," he said. "I would expect it works for the HORA sale because it gives people an opportunity to obtain more information."