Quality on Offer at Horses of Racing Age Sale

The Fasig-Tipton selected horses of racing age sale that will be held for the fourth year July 11 has carved out a valuable niche within the equine sales marketplace in a short period of time.

The 55 horses sold in the first sale in 2013 grossed $5,819,000 and was topped by Starship Truffles, bought by Castleton Lyons for $1 million. A year later Three Chimneys Farm, agent, bought Bedford Lane for $1,075,000 to top the auction when 109 horses grossed $8,426,000 in a sale highlighted by the dispersal of horses owned by prominent owner/breeder Eugene Melnyk.

The 2015 topper was Temper Mint Patty, purchased by Mike Repole for $350,000, as the average price fell from $77,303 in 2014 to $61,477; the median, however, rose 31.1% from $35,000 to $48,000.

This year, with more than 100 horses cataloged, the  auction gets its own stage, beginning at 5 p.m. EDT at the Fasig-Tipton headquarters in Lexington. From 2013-15, it followed the yearling auction on the same day.

Considering its placement on the sales calendar between the spring 2-year-olds in training sales and summer and fall yearling sales, the horses of racing age sale fills a void in the marketplace.

"It gives an efficient way for people in the middle of the year to move product to generate cash flow," said Frank Taylor, sales director for Taylor Made Sales Agency, which has the largest consignment. “The public market is so much more efficient than the private market, so having a point mid-year where people can buy and sell horses of that quality is a very useful tool.

“It also stimulates for the yearling sale because it gets more people on the grounds. It also gets the trainers here, who Fasig used to have a hard time getting here since it is such a busy time of the year. A lot of them have horses from their barns that are selling so they need to be here to represent their owners, and some of them would like to have the horse back in their barn so they are also hustling potential owners.”

Taylor Made consigns several of the top prospects, including Stormy Lucy, a grade I-winning daughter of Stormy Atlantic   cataloged as Hip 430. The 6-year-old mare won three graded stakes, including the Matriarch (gr. IT), and placed in nine graded stakes.

Taylor said initial plans were to sell the mare last November or in January of this year, but owner Ed Moger wanted to keep running Stormy Lucy as long as she remained sound.

“They are not breeders and they wanted to have as much fun with her as they could,” Taylor said. “She is a helluva race mare. She is sound and a beautiful mover. She has what everybody wants in a horse.”

With Fasig-Tipton also allowing supplemental entries, another niche for the sales company, among the late entries was grade III winner Donegal Moon, consigned by Taylor Made as Hip 508.

Taylor Made also has 23 horses—consisting of mares and foals, yearlings, 2-year-olds, and horses of racing age—from the dispersal of Elisabeth “Betty” Alexander’s Eutrophia Farm selling at the horses of racing age sale.

"Regardless of how the industry is going right now, they are still running races and people still want racehorses," said Mike Recio, a partner in South Point Sales who has two-time stakes winner Fear the Cowboy (Hip 468) among its Fasig-Tipton group. “This is an opportunity to get them a little bit of instant action. There are some really nice horses here you can tell and run at all levels, from $20,000 claimers up to stakes horses. Fasig does a really good job of letting you present that.”

Among the more intriguing entrants are two well-bred War Front   colts campaigned by the Coolmore Stud connections of Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier. They are being offered through the Kingswood Farm consignment of Roderick Wachman.

War Envoy, consigned as Hip 441, is a multiple group-placed colt out of the stakes-winning Elusive Quality   mare La Conseillante; his third dam is champion Winning Colors. The Great War, Hip 435, is a stakes winner in Ireland and the United States and is from the female family of grade I winner Zensational.

“They are horses with a great racing future and stallion potential,” Wachman said. “They are beautiful horses with plenty of racing upside.”

HIPS TO WATCH FOR THE FASIG-TIPTON JULY SELECTED HORSES OF RACING AGE SALE

Hip—Name, Description/Consignor

430—Stormy Lucy, mare, 2009, Stormy Atlantic  —Here Comes Lucinda/Taylor Made Sales Agency, agt.

435—The Great War, colt, 2012, War Front  —Guide/Kingswood Farm, agt.

441—War Envoy, colt, 2012, War Front  —La Conseillante/Kingswood Farm, agt.

442—Wild Chatter, filly, 2012, Wildcat Heir—She Did Tell /Denali Stud, agt.

458—Conquest Harlequin, colt, 2013, Harlan's Holiday—Time for a Crown/Lane’s End, agt.

468—Fear the Cowboy, colt, 2012, Cowboy Cal  —Whom Shall I Fear/South Point Sales, agt.

471—Green Mask, gelding, 2011, Mizzen Mast  —Bonsai Beauty/Lane’s End, agt.

499—Best Behavior, mare, 2010, Into Mischief  —Queenship/Taylor Made Sales Agency, agt.

505--Screaming Skylar, filly, 2012, Smart Strike—Awe That/Taylor Made Sales Agency, agt.

507—Preppy, filly, 2013, Curlin  —Bread ‘n Water/Bluewater Sales, agt.