Fasig-Tipton Hopes to Build on 2016 Winter Mixed Sale

When Bonus Points finished second in the Jerome Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack Jan. 2, the timing could not have been better for Bill Reightler, who has the 3-year-old colt's dam for sale at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Midlantic winter mixed sale.

The auction at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Md., will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, beginning at 11 a.m. ET.

Bonus Points, a son of Majestic Warrior who has two additional stakes placings to his credit, is one of four foals out of Baby Love to have earned more than $100,000. The 14-year-old mare is consigned by Reightler to dissolve a partnership between Country Life Farm and New Day and is in foal to Super Ninety Nine  , who stands at Country Life in partnership with Spendthrift Farm. Reightler also has a 2016 filly by Super Ninety Nine out of Baby Love entered in the sale.

"I think she ticks a lot of boxes," Reightler said of the off-stated phrase for the sale offerings most desired by buyers. "She is a nice mare who has four foals that have earned more than ($100,000)."

A daughter of the Maryland stalwart Not For Love, the deceased stallion who stood at Country Life and is an established broodmare sire, Baby Love traces back to a strong group of mares and runners from the Meyerhoff family that was one of the most successful racing and breeding entities in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Included in Baby Love's female family are her second dam, the grade 3-winning Stop the Music mare Illeria, whose 10 winners include grade 1 winner and sire Include. Although he is not a stakes horse, another of Baby Love's offspring to experience a catalog improvement is Candid Desire, a Yes It's True gelding whose earnings are nearing $250,000.

Reightler, who also has the only short yearling in the catalog by Dialed In  , last year's leading freshman sire, is among the Maryland horsemen who hope this year's auction can build on the 2016 auction.

The first Midlantic winter mixed sale since it was relocated on the calendar from December to January, the 2016 version resulted in an 8% decline in gross receipts to $878,100, with the 104 horses sold representing 45 fewer offered than when it was last held in December 2014. The average dropped 2.7% to $8,443, but the median inched up to $4,350 from $4,000.

Reightler was leading consignor, with 36 sold from 40 offered, for total receipts of $364,700.

One of the most promising features of last year's sale was a decline in the buyback rate to 13% from more than 30% from December 2014.

Emboldened by the results of that sale as well as a reinvigorated Maryland breeding and racing program, this year's main catalog of 229 entries represents a 37% spike over the number cataloged for the 2016 sale. The mixed sale also includes a supplemental group of entries.

"We have a lot of interest in the catalog," said Paget Bennett, Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sales director. "The buybacks going way down last year was encouraging and we hope for more of the same this year."

In addition to proven broodmares in foal to national sires and those with regional success and short yearlings that are always in demand, the sale features fillies and mares recently off the track and ready for the traditional mid-February start of the breeding season and short yearlings.

"We have a lot of fillies that have come off the racetrack and have had time to let down and are being readied for their next job in the breeding shed," Bennett said. "They can buy something and go right to the breeding shed with them.

"With the short yearlings, (buyers) get a clearer picture of what they are going to turn into than when they were weanlings. A couple of months (between November mixed sales and the January auction) can make a difference."

Reightler said he is hopefully optimistic about the upcoming sale, but is realistic enough to know that recent mixed sales have had tough sledding.

"I have no illusions about it," he said.  "It will be like all the other sales. It will be polarized between the haves and have-nots. But with all the positive things going on in Maryland right now with our breeding program and our racing program, I think we could see what we saw last year.

"As an agent, I look at the glass as half-full and hopefully people will come in here and buy these mares like they did last year."

The sale begins with presentation of broodmares, racing and broodmares prospects (Hips 1-108), followed by yearlings (Hips 109-196), horses of racing age (Hips 197-229), and supplemental entries (203-236, as of Jan. 27).