Consignors Bullish on Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale

Even though the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream 2-year-olds in training sale is still more than a week away, there is already a bevy of activity in South Florida as owners, trainers, agents, and consultants are getting a good look at many of the 160 racing prospects cataloged for the March 1 auction.

Held for the third year in the eclectic atmosphere of the Gulfstream Park paddock, the auction that begins at 4 p.m. ET is the first 2-year-olds in training sale of the year and could set the tone for the rest of the juvenile sales season.

The under tack show in which the juveniles undergo their officially timed breezes that give prospective buyers an indication of their potential is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 27, at 10 a.m. but most of the juveniles that will go through the ring are being exercised over the track this week.

“There are agents here every day watching them breeze and gallop," said J.J. Crupi, last year’s second-leading consignor with nine head bringing $2,895,000. “This is going to be a serious sale. This sale has been here for two years and a lot of good horses have come out of here.”

Crupi, who has 18 entered in the Fasig-Tipton sale, and others say there is no reason to believe this year’s sale will not be unlike the blockbuster session a year ago in which gross sales spiked 7.45% and the average and median prices rose 44.9% and 92.3%, respectively.

“This is going to be a great sale,” the optimistic Crupi said. “Last year, if you had a horse with no vet issues, they were bringing $800,000-$900,000. We had horses with vet issues and they bought them anyway.”

Crupi, who like most of the other Fasig-Tipton consignors is a pinhooker who buys yearlings to resell as 2-year-olds, is effusive in his praise of the group he has on offer.

“I've never had a bunch of horses that are so good,” said Crupi, a former trainer who has a reputation for having a good eye for a horse. “They are outstanding individuals. They all just came together. It’s just a good bunch.”

Consignor Cary Frommer, who hit it out of the park last year with an Uncle Mo   colt sold for $1 million, also is optimistic the sale being held at Gulfstream Park for the third consecutive year after being held at several different locations will continue to build on last year’s success.

Frommer said it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the juvenile sales season based upon the mixed bloodstock market in which most sales were flat or down before ending on an uptick with a Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter sale that posted positive numbers.

“When the mixed sales are not good, people start to say 'Oh, what’s wrong with the sales’,” said Frommer. “But the mixed sales are what they are. This is the first sale to tell you what’s going on with the 2-year-old market.”

A South Carolina-based pinhooker, Frommer said she and her partners stepped up their game when buying young horses last year in anticipation of a continued polarized juvenile market in which buyers are willing to pay a premium for the horses they deem the best of the lot.

“That’s why when we bought yearlings last year, we jumped early in July when other buyers are sometimes tentative," the horsewoman said. "We bought some really nice horses and spent some money and are hoping we will be rewarded for it. Knock on wood, we also bought the right horses. You can spend a lot of money but still get the wrong horse. There are no slouches in my group.”

The 2017 edition of the sale will be the first in the past three years not to include a $1 million bonus scheme to any Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream graduate that goes on to win the following year’s Florida Derby (G1), but Frommer said she sees no impact on buyers’ decisions.

“I don’t think it will have any effect,” the consignor said. “I think people hone in on their horses, and in hindsight after buying one, they think ‘Oh, I may win a bonus’.”

Conceived by The Stronach Group, which owns Gulfstream Park, in conjunction with the sales company, the bonus was first offered for any horse that went through the ring at the 2015 Florida auction and was paid out last year after Nyquist   won the Florida Derby.

Purchased by Dennis O’Neill for $400,000 from the Niall Brennan consignment to the 2015 sale, Reddam Racing’s Nyquist used the Florida Derby as a steppingstone to victory in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1).

Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning said the bonus was conceived to instill interest in the 2-year-olds in training sale at its new location at Gulfstream Park and that it had fulfilled that goal.

“It was great to see Nyquist win the bonus and go on to win the Kentucky Derby,” Browning said.

There could still be another payout of the bonus since any horse that went through the ring last year would be rewarded if it were to win this year’s Florida Derby.