Quality Over Quantity in Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Catalog

Although the 227 head cataloged for the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale released June 26 reflects a 9.9% decline from the 252 entered last year, sales company officials said it is not lacking the quality that has become the auction's trademark.

The catalog is available online and via the Equineline sales catalogue app. Print catalogs will be available June 30.

"Our consignors have supported us with outstanding quality once again this year," said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. "It's a really good group of horses and we are very excited about the quality of horses in the sale this year."

Browning said the number cataloged fluctuates annually and the decrease this year was not by design.

"We don't establish a par or target," the executive said. "Every year is its own sale, and we don't have a pre-determined number we are trying to hit. The size of the catalog can vary somewhat in a sale of that nature. We feel really confident and comfortable in the quality and numbers of the catalog this year."

Underscoring the success of recent Saratoga sale graduates are the images on the catalog of champions Tepin, Songbird, and Stellar Wind, classic winner Tapwrit, and grade 1 winner Avenge.

With his victory in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), Tapwrit (purchased for $1.2 million) became the fourth winner of the classic in the last six years that was offered at the Saratoga sale, a group that includes 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah  .

Two-time champion turf female Tepin, who earned more than $4.4 million, cost $140,000 at the 2012 Saratoga auction. Songbird, the champion filly at ages 2 and 3 who has $4.1 million in earnings, was a $400,000 purchase in 2014. Stellar Wind, the 2015 3-year-old champion filly with more than $2 million in purses, was sold at Saratoga in 2013 for $40,000 and then re-sold a month later at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling sale for $86,000. Avenge, winner of the Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, was bought for $650,000.

"The graduates have performed at the highest levels around the world and the quality of horses inside that catalog give us a high level of confidence future catalogs are going to have tremendous horses on the cover just like this year's cover," Browning said.

According to BloodHorse MarketWatch, the Saratoga sale ranks at the top of all major North American yearling sales by grade 1 winners and graded stakes winners as a percentage of horses sold.

As usual, the catalog is steeped in sire power, including leading sire Tapit   and Curlin  , who was second on the BloodHorse's general leading sire list last year, as well as the current second-leading sire Candy Ride  .

Scat Daddy, the late Ashford Stud stallion whose progeny led the prestigious Royal Ascot meet last week, is represented by 11 yearlings from his last crop.

"It's a really good group of sires and it is balanced," Browning said. "We've got representation from the leading sires throughout the world and we've got some young horses represented, including freshman sires and those that look to be on the ascent. It is not a catalog dominated by one or two stallions, and there are some really good horses by some stallions that don't stand for really high stud fees but those horses are good-looking and they have quality."

The auction will be held Aug. 7-8 in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with sessions beginning each evening at 6:30 p.m.