Speightstown Colt Tops Fasig-Tipton Winter Sale Opener

The Feb. 8 opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale saw overall numbers slightly up over last year's opening session as 207 horses from 264 offered changed hands on the grounds of the Lexington, Ky., sale. 

Gross receipts for the day came to $3,956,300. The average was $19,113 and the median was $8,000. The 57 horses that went unsold represented and RNA rate of 21.6%. During the 2020 opening session, 180 horses grossed $3,369,200. The average was $18,718 and the median was the same at $8,000.  

"I thought the activity today was very encouraging," said Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning. "Lots of horses got moved at fair prices. There was good activity at all price ranges from the less expensive horses to the better offerings today. I thought it was a very legitimate market. Certainly the RNA rate was acceptable and the average is hard to tell from year to year with a mixed sale. I would say it was a fairly consistent marketplace—no real surprises. 

"We had good pre-sale activity on the grounds Saturday and Sunday and that translated to bidding today. The good news is we've got a really, really nice group of horses to sell tomorrow as well. A lot of the higher-quality offerings came in the supplement. I think we will have some fireworks tomorrow." 

Top price for the day went to Hip 128, a colt by WinStar Farm's Speightstown  consigned by Stuart Morris, agent. The chestnut was purchased by Calumet Farm early in Monday's session for $165,000. 

"He was just a lovely example of his sire and his pedigree," said Morris, whose father, Jeff Morris, bred the colt in the name of his Highclere Farm. "He's a beautiful colt with a lot of future. He's a late April baby, had all the right parts and pieces and great motion, and a simple and uncomplicated horse. We're very flattered and happy to have a great operation like Calumet buy him.

"He was in great hands with my dad. He owns the mare at the farm and we're hoping to keep one of her daughters in the future. A friend of mine actually bought another one of her daughters in the November sale. Very happy for the result. We kind of hoped and expected that coming out here and think it's a very fair market and a fair price. I'm very happy and flattered with Calumet buying him from us and to have him in those hands."

Hip 128 is out of the Distorted Humor  mare Royal Ancestry, who is a full sister to grade 1 winner Awesome Humor. The colt's extended female family includes Forgeo Stakes (G1) winner Emcee as well as graded stakes-placed mare Baffled, who is the dam of WinStar Farm stallion Constitution . 

"He's a Speightstown and he has all the credentials and a great pedigree and a lot of future in his time to come," said Morris. "I don't think it was crazy expensive and I don't think it was cheap. It was right at a fair price where I kind of valued him at that $150,000-200,000 range. We were very happy with that result. Again, I think my father is very happy with the result and I think Calumet is happy to own him for that price. Everybody's a winner all the way around and I'm super happy to have him over there with Eddie (Kane) and the team at Calumet. He's got a great shot and we're super happy to have him in that program." 

Two of the top five broodmares or broodmare prospects to sell through the ring on Monday came from the draft of Taylor Made Sales, agent. The first to hit the six-figure mark was Hip 62, Pahket, who was purchased by Peachtree Racing Stable for $100,000. 

"She was a good 2-year-old. She was an attractive physical. She had the graded stakes placing at Keeneland at 2, which I think carried a lot of clout with people," said Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales. "We had sold her at November in 2019 as a racing or broodmare prospect. She really didn't go on to do much, so in my mind it was just a matter of how much value she would hold between racing and broodmare, and then broodmare only, and she held pretty good." 

Bred in Kentucky by Brandywine Farm out of Hunting Hill (by Hard Spun ), Pakhet made 10 starts on the racetrack, her best effort coming in 2018 when she ran second to Concrete Rose in the JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (G2T). The 5-year-old mare is a daughter of Airdrie Stud's Cairo Prince  and was offered as a racing or broodmare prospect. 

"It was just one of those mares that had graded racing quality at 2, good physical, and I think Cairo Prince is a horse that a lot of people still believe in," said Taylor. "He's having another little resurgence now. He's been knocking on the door for a long time, but he's a horse that people still respect. For this market, she stood out and I think that helped her." 

Later in Monday's session, Taylor Made sold Shippy, a 4-year-old daughter of Darley's Midshipman , to St. Elias Stables for $130,000. Bred by Morris Floyd and Chuck Givens out of Lead Me Not (Speightstown), the filly placed third in the Schuylerville Stakes (G3) at 2, won the Blue Sparkler Stakes at 3, and then switched to the turf where she placed third in the Coronation Cup Stakes. 

Consigned as Hip 166, she was offered as a racing or broodmare prospect. 

"That's about what I thought she would bring," said Taylor. "She was a beautiful physical. You could see why she could run. Midshipman is doing sneaky good as a broodmare sire. He had a Breeders' Cup winner as a broodmare sire and that mare, who has that kind of shape and that kind of athleticism and who was a stakes winner at 2, That set her up to sell well in the market." 

While the overall numbers experienced a slight decline, Taylor said he was generally pleased with how horses from his consignment had sold and was looking forward to the second session which he felt could show considerable strength.

"We've done OK," said Taylor. "We bought one back that I thought would get sold. Everything else has been what we expected or a little bit better. The quality at the top is bringing arguably as much or more as it would have a year ago. You're treading water in the middle and at the bottom you're getting "whack-a-moled," per se. We've got some nice stuff going tomorrow that I think will sell really well. 

"If you've got a nice foal by a reasonable sire that vets good—it looks good to me. The quality maidens look good, but it's the same thing. It's a flight to quality. Wherever you are in the market you're trying to get two rungs higher on the quality ladder. The people who want to absorb the very bottom end are few and far between."