Fasig-Tipton Buzzing Over Breeders' Cup Friday Results

It was a crisp, foggy autumn morning Nov. 4 on the Fasig-Tipton sale grounds near Lexington as buyers and consignors went about the business of inspecting and showing horses that will be offered at the Fasig-Tipton November sale.

As the activity picked up, there was quite a buzz over the events of Friday at Del Mar during the first day of the Breeders' Cup World Championships.

General consensus said the horse industry was presented in the best light possible, and connections of some of the day's biggest winners would be active at the Fasig-Tipton sale Nov. 6 and the following Keeneland November mixed sale that begins Nov. 7.

Among those prospecting for future Breeders' Cup winners were representatives of the Coolmore Stud team responsible for Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) winner Mendelssohn, a half brother to four-time champion mare Beholder and grade 1 winner Into Mischief , who is off to a good start at stud at Spendthrift Farm.

A son of Coolmore's late stallion Scat Daddy, Mendelssohn topped the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale when he was purchased by M.V. Magnier for $3 million from breeder Clarkland Farm.

"We're trying to find another one," Magnier said of Mendelssohn, who is trained by Aidan O'Brien for Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier, and Michael Tabor. "He has a great pedigree and he is by Scat Daddy, whom we really miss. (Mendelssohn) is a very good horse. He was a bit of a baby there at the early start of the year. They are talking about the Kentucky Derby (Presented by Woodford Reserve, G1) for him so it should be an exciting year next year."

Although Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning, who was at Del Mar throughout Breeders' Cup week and returned to Lexington Friday, would have preferred for Mendelssohn to have been sold by his sales company, he said Friday's outcome "was great for the industry. He's a fantastic horse and they put their money up and they got rewarded yesterday. They had as big of a win as you could expect on the biggest stage and what are they doing today? They are out here looking at horses.

"These people have made a genuine commitment to the industry and have a passion for it," Browning said of the other connections of Friday's Breeders' Cup winners. "The people who won yesterday, it meant a lot to them."

Browning and the Fasig-Tipton management team were rewarded Friday with two winners on the Breeders' Cup card highlighted by the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) victory of Charles Fipke's homebred Forever Unbridled.

Rushing Fall, the More Than Ready  filly who won the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), was acquired by eFive Racing Thoroughbreds for $320,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga August yearling sale. Finishing second in that race was Best Performance, a Broken Vow  filly who was a $185,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase that was subsequently sold for $300,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Florida select 2-year-olds in training sale in March.

Battle of Midway , winner of the Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) for Don Alberto Stable and WinStar Farm, was a $410,000 purchase from the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale.

Fred Mitchell, who with his wife Nancy bred and sold Mendelssohn, was also at Fasig-Tipton Saturday, primarily inspecting weanlings by first-crop sires to evaluate which stallions to whom Clarkland's mares should be mated.

"It was great," said Clarkland's Marty Buckner, adding that she was not tempted to go to the Breeders' Cup. "We had to stay home and take care of everything at home. It's fabulous that a sale-topper did it. I think it helps the market. It gives buyers confidence to keep bidding on those well-bred colts.

"We can't wait to send a mare to him. You would hope he can go on to stud and pass (talent) along. He is a phenomenal horse. He had a lot of poise at the sale."

"After we saw his last race, we knew he had some talent but we didn't know how much," Mitchell said of Mendelssohn, who finished second to stablemate U S Navy Flag in the Oct. 14 Darley Dewhurst Stakes (G1).  

Randy Gullatt, whose Twin Creeks Racing Stable was represented in the Del Mar undercard winner's circle as co-owner with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners of the grade 2 Marathon Stakes Presented by TAA winner Destin, was also shopping at Fasig-Tipton after forgoing a trip to the West Coast.

"I wish I were at the races and I had my own jet to fly over here," Gullatt said jokingly of trying to balance being in California for the victory and working the sale. "Absolutely, it was exciting."

Although his Hill 'n' Dale Farm's Breeders' Cup connections this year included Lady Eli, the five-time grade 1 winner who is being offered at the Keeneland sale after finishing seventh in Saturday's Filly and Mare Turf (G1T), John Sikura also eschewed the event in California in favor of the sales.

"This is my Breeders' Cup," Sikura said, echoing the sentiment of many breeders and consignors.