Fasig-Tipton February Sale Sees Realistic Marketplace

The last chance to pick up breeding stock and short yearlings at live auction concluded Feb. 7 with steady results at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale. The Nyquist   mare Lemieux  claimed top honors Tuesday after realizing $400,000 from agent John Williams for Nice Guys Stables to top both days of the sale.

Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned the gray 4-year-old filly as a broodmare prospect (Hip 588) to the addenda catalog. A stakes winner in the 2021 Brethren Juvenile Fillies Stakes for owner D. J. Stables and Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, she sold Tuesday with a record of 2-2-0 in 10 starts and earnings of $140,989. Her half sister by Speightstown  , Brilliant Cut , was grade 1-placed in the La Brea Stakes (G1) in 2021 before being supplemented to the 2022 February Sale and topping the sale at $750,000, selling to Japan's Katsumi Yoshida.

"She's a lovely mare and a standout in this catalog," John Williams said. "Nice Guys Stables is continually trying to improve their broodmare band. This is the kind of filly that could do that, with her dam being young and her half sister being bred to Gun Runner  , and her dam just had an Essential Quality   this past week. And the second dam is still active, and there is a pretty nice sire prospect under there. She has a lot of good things going for her." 

Both fillies out of Polish a Diamond , by The Factor  , are from the impressive family of Tap Your Feet , dam of grade 1 winner Diamondrella , grade 2-placed Highest Honors , grade 1-placed Bonnie Blue Flag , and dam of up-and-coming grade 1-winning sire Life Is Good  .

When asked if the $400,000 price tag was a surprise, Williams said: "I thought we would have to spend that kind of money to get her. The market says what quality costs now. I'm so old school I can't get my head around these numbers, but that's the market, and you have to adjust to it. I think Nice Guys Stables has a terrific future if they keep buying this kind of mare."

With its single purchase Nice Guys Stables was the leading buyer of the second session.

"In this particular sale, the supplements are a huge component of what we're doing here. It's the nature of creating, buying, and selling opportunities," Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning Jr. said. "As you look at a global or big-picture standpoint, the ability to create liquidity helps every marketplace and allows people to reinvest a turn to convert assets into dollars and then hopefully reinvest those dollars into similar or a like kind of asset along the way."

Similar to last year, the supplemental entries accounted for the sale-topping price and multiple other six-figure tags. 

"Another solid day; I think that we saw a continuation of the marketplace that we experienced yesterday and in January, and last year," Browning said. "I think it's a very fair marketplace, you can buy horses that you want to buy, but you generally have to pay more than you wanted to.

"When you're selling horses, if you've got quality, you probably get around what you thought, maybe a little more, but there's no euphoria. If you're trying to sell on the lower end, it's tough. It's been tough the last 10 years, and the reality is that's just the marketplace." 

The second and final session concluded with 211 horses selling of the 238 through the ring for gross receipts of $8,444,900 (down 20.7% year-on-year). It produced an average price of $40,023 (down 12.4%) and a median of $20,000 (up 11.1%). Twenty-seven horses failed to attain their reserve prices to represent an RNA rate of 11.3%.

"It's been a typical February Sale. It's a sale at the end of the calendar year for people to pick up a few mares," Four Star Sales managing partner Kerry Cauthen said. "The good ones, like at every sale (ever), are selling great. It's a little tough on the lower end of the market, but if it's reasonably reserved, it sells, making happy customers."

The top 10 horses were sold to 10 distinct buyers during the second session, and there were 22 horses sold for $100,000 or more.

After the 2022 second session, Fasig-Tipton reported 233 horses of the 251 on offer sold for gross figures of $10,646,700, an average price of $45,694, and a median of $18,000. Eighteen horses failed to meet their reserves, representing an RNA rate of 7.2%.

Cumulatively over the past two days, 402 horses changed hands of the 467 under the hammer for final figures of $14,105,200 (down 18.2% over 2022), at an average price of $35,088 (down 12.3%), and a median of $15,000 (down 6.3%). Sixty-five horses failed to sell, representing an RNA rate of 13.9%. Over both days, the top 10 horses were all sold to separate buyers for $210,000 or more.

At the conclusion of last year's sale, 431 horses were sold of the 487 to go through the ring for a gross of $17,245,500, suitable for an average price of $40,013 and a median of $16,000. Fifty-six horses failed to attain their reserves to represent an RNA rate of 11.5%.

"The nature of our industry is pretty amazing. If we had 50 more good horses to lead through here right now, buyers would be lined up to bid on them," Browning said. "I think the psychological aspect of the attitude of most Thoroughbred industry participants today, whether at sales or racetrack, is overall positive. It doesn't mean we don't all have issues, and we've got some things that we're all trying to work through, but I think there's a sense of confidence." 

Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt purchased three horses for gross receipts of $580,000 to be the leading cumulative buyer for the sale.

"I think it's more of the same in the market," Taylor Made Sales CEO Mark Taylor said. "We had a mixed bag on the quality spectrum, but anything sound and ready to go to the races brings fair money and sometimes a premium, depending on the X-rays. The yearlings are selling well; there is a little shortage of quality this year. I have heard many weanling pinhookers say there isn't a ton of quality in the pedigrees or the whole package deals. I think for what's here, it's pretty strong, and it's selling well.

"We bought one mare back yesterday that was a bit of a disappointment. She was in foal to Justify  , which was a bit of a head-scratcher, but beyond that, everything has been very fair. From what we appraised things at coming in, they are generally bringing more." 

Perennial leading consignor Taylor Made Sales Agency sold 51 head over the past two days for final figures of $2,007,2000 at an average of $39,357 per horse to be the leading consignor. On Tuesday, Taylor Made sold 25 horses for a gross of $1,385,200, at an average of $55,408, to be the session's leading consignor.

"It's been a good sale. All our horses and students did well," Dr. Laurie Lawrence of Maine Chance Farm said. "It's a great opportunity for our University of Kentucky students to come out and experience working a sale." 

Browning added: "I think participants in our business are, by nature, eternal optimists in terms of hope springs eternal; we're all looking for the big horse. Whether you're looking to buy one to win grade 1s or trying to breed one that goes on to win grade 1s, we're trying to create the magic, and the beautiful thing is that none of us knows."