Upward Momentum Continues Day 1 of F-T Midlantic Sale

Oracle Bloodstock's Conor Foley went to $230,000 to buy a Kentucky bred, Delaware-certified colt from the first crop of Mendelssohn   Oct. 4 to lead the first day of selling at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Md. 

From 200 head cataloged for the session, Fasig-Tipton reported 149 horses sold for gross receipts of $4,577,300, an average price of $30,720, and a $20,000 median. The 29 yearlings that went unsold represented an RNA rate of 16.3%. 

All figures have continued the momentum seen in previous sales this year across the country with a positive increase of receipts across the board, impressively posting an uptick in gross sales of $1,593,700 and a $5,000 jump up in median price from the first session in 2020, while the average price shows an increase of $6,264.

The first day of the 2020 edition saw 122 yearlings sold of the 200 cataloged for gross receipts of $2,983,600, an average price of $24,456, and a median of $15,000. Forty yearlings did not meet their reserve to represent an RNA rate of 24.7%. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the sale accommodated New York-bred yearlings in the beginning section of the first day. This year New York-breds are offered throughout both days of selling. 

The session topper, consigned by Dreamtime Stables, agent, as Hip 189, came towards the close of the first day. The colt was bred by Classic Thoroughbred XXIX out of the 8-year-old Malibu Moon mare Tasha's Moon, who has three progeny on the ground and lots of untapped promise for the future. Her first foal, Juror Number Four , a filly by popular stallion Into Mischief  , earned black type at 2 when second in last year's Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Stakes. Candyland consigned Juror Number Four at this same sale in 2019 and Cary Frommer, agent, purchased her for $100,000. 

Tasha's Moon is a half sister to stakes winner Esmeraldina, a daughter of Harlan's Holiday  who won the 2015 Ttukseom Cup in Korea and the 2014 Kanto Oaks in Japan. The third dam, Ms. Cuvee Napa, by Relaunch , produced multiple grade 3 winner, grade 1-placed Tasha's Miracle  (by Harlan's Holiday), who won the 2007 Sorrento Stakes (G3). Ms. Cuvee Napa is also the granddam of 2016 Mother Goose Stakes (G1) winner Off the Tracks  and 2010 West Virginia Derby (G2) winner and sire Concord Point .

Mendelssohn, by Scat Daddy , is a half brother to prominent sire Into Mischief and stands at Ashford Stud in Kentucky. His 2021 fee was advertised at $35,000. Mendelssohn's first crop of yearlings have proven to be sought after at the yearling sales, at which 79 of 98 offered have sold for a total of $12,770,000 and an average price of $161,646.

One other colt punched above the $200,000 price point Monday, a classic stamp of Union Rags  , consigned as Hip 113 by Dark Hollow, who also bred the colt in Maryland. The colt sold for $220,000 to Mac Robertson, agent for Novogratz Racing Stables.

He is out of the Flatter   mare Safe Journey, whose first foal, Joy  (Pure Prize ), became a stakes winner on the turf at 3 in the 2013 Christiana Stakes. The following year Joy took the Perfect Sting Stakes and in 2015 she won the All Brandy Stakes. Safe Journey's 2012 son of Line of David , Combat Diver , was second in the 2015 Miracle Wood Stakes, and the mare struck again with O Dionysus , a 2014 son of Bodemeister  . O Dionysus won the Christopher Elser Memorial Stakes at 2, the Miracle Wood at 3, the Cape Henlopen Stakes at 4 when switched to the turf, and the Japan Turf Cup Stakes at 5.

Union Rags stands at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky. His 2021 fee was advertised at $30,000. The stallion's 2-year-old son Commandperformance  was second in the Oct. 2 Champagne Stakes (G1).

The sale concludes Tuesday, beginning at 10 a.m. ET, with Hips 201-514 set to go through the ring.