New York-Breds on Display at F-T Saratoga Fall Sale

There are close to 300 horses cataloged for the Oct. 18 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale, with the majority of them being weanlings representing both established stallions and horses whose first crop have hit the ground this year. The sale kicks off at 10 a.m. ET at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. As of Sunday afternoon, there were 53 horses reported withdrawn from the sale.

Among the new stallions represented at the sale are New York-bred grade 1 winner Audible  ; Vino Rosso  , winner of the 2019 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1); and 2018 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) winner Leofric  , who stands in New York at Rockridge Stud. 

Other New York stallions with weanlings at the sale are Laoban (who stood at Sequel Stallions New York through 2020), Bustin Stones   (Waldorf Farm), and Central Banker   and Solomini   (both at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds). 

"As we all know, there was no group hit harder during the pandemic than New York breeders," said Bayne Welker, executive vice president at Fasig-Tipton. "All of our New York-bred sales had to be canceled or morphed into mid-Atlantic venues. The breeders are very excited to offer horses back in their area."

"It's a great book, with a wide variety of quality weanlings and broodmares," said Najja Thompson, executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders. "With all the incentives we have in New York, we're excited for another opportunity for people to get more involved in the program, and it all starts with sales like this."  

At the 2019 edition of the sale, the last time it was held, Fasig-Tipton reported 134 horses sold for gross receipts of $3,384,700, creating an average price of $25,259 and a median of $15,000. Eighty-two horses failed to meet their reserve price to represent an RNA rate of 38%. A total of 271 horses were cataloged in 2019.

Lili Kobielski's The New Hill Farm is bringing a consignment of 14 horses to the sale, a combination of horses that she owns or bred and clients' horses. The Freud  -Dakota Kid colt that Kobielski sold for $83,000 two years ago to Reeves Thoroughbred Racing at this sale, now named Dakota Gold , won the $500,000 Nownownow Stakes on the turf at Monmouth Park last month and is being pointed to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) Nov. 5 at Del Mar. 

"The sales have been really, really strong this year," said Kobielski. "People are making money, pinhookers are optimistic. I'm as optimistic as I can be.

"Every year I see people here that had never come before. In 2019, people came in from Kentucky trying to swoop in and grab something at the last second. I was surprised at how much the babies were going for."  

In 2019, a Kobielski weanling filly from the first crop of Practical Joke   brought the second-highest price at the sale, going to James and Torie Gladwell's Exclusively Equine Investments for $150,000. 

"We've done well at this sale in the past," said James Gladwell. "We go up there with a budget and a plan to spend some money. It's the biggest group of New York-bred weanlings in one spot, and we love buying them to sell them in Saratoga in August at the Fasig-Tipton sale of preferred New York-bred yearlings.

"We've got a couple of racing clients that love racing in New York," he continued, "and they've started buying some weanlings to race. You can find athletes early on and save a little money, rather than buying as yearlings or 2-year-olds."  

A Practical Joke colt out of Singing Doe brought the top price of $160,000 at the 2019 sale, selling to Steven Weston, who lives in Saratoga Springs for part of the year, not far from the sales grounds, and he plans to be back looking this year. 

"It's a great sale," Weston said. "I find there's an advantage in that if you buy a weanling, you're usually buying at a reduced price. We purchased that Practical Joke colt for $160,000, and a few weeks later I went to the Keeneland November sale to look at weanlings and Practical Jokes were going for more money than that. Obviously buying him at the price was a pretty good idea.

"The challenge is having to outbid the pinhookers. Usually, the offspring of first-year stallions go for a little bit more."

That's good news for Kobielski, whose consignment includes seven broodmares, six of which are carrying the first foals by Gunnevera  ; and seven weanlings, of which four are by Mitole  , Vino Rosso, Audible, and Maximus Mischief  —all sires with their first foals on the ground this year. Hip 173 is a Mitole half sister to the $150,000 Practical Joke filly sold two years ago. 

"Our consignment is a showcase for new stallions," she said. "I've seen only good things from them. It's a reasonably small sample, but the weanlings are all really pretty horses, good moving, and athletic. I wouldn't put them in the sale if that weren't the case."

Kobielski also attends the sale as a buyer.

"I tend not to buy foals because there's a premium on them, but I do think you can get fabulous deals on mares in this sale. I have bought several mares over the years and done really well with them," she said. "People think I'm crazy, but I love buying mid-teenage mares with big pedigrees that have produced stakes horses."  

Hip 245, a chestnut colt by Malibu Moon, is the first foal from multiple stakes winner and New York-bred Frostie Anne  (by Frost Giant ). A graduate of this sale in 2014, selling for $18,000, Frostie Anne won $584,443 in a 40-race career, including wins in the 2018 Saratoga Dew Stakes and 2019 Biogio's Rose Stakes. The colt was bred in New York by Rockridge Stud, Saratoga Glen Farm, and Spendthrift Farm and is offered by Vinery Sales, agent.  

The only weanling offered in the sale by Bustin Stones is Hip 251, a full sister to Tribecca , a multiple stakes-winning gelding whose career spanned six seasons. Tribecca's record of 13-5-6 from 41 starts brought him earnings of $619,214. Consigned by Foggy Bottom Farm, agent, the filly out of Heck was bred by Laurel Least and Tulip Two Racing. 

"This has always been a popular sale, especially on the weanling side," said Welker. "A lot of buyers, from Kentucky to Florida to the Midlantic, always want to get in here and see what's being offered, and New York breeders like to sell in their home state, in the hope that the horses will come back to the state and run because the incentive program is so strong. The New York program has such strength and drawing power, and the weanlings that sell here, when they're registered New York-breds, have a little bit of additional value. It's a bonus."