Fasig-Tipton Kicks Off Yearling Sale Season

When Fasig-Tipton kicks off the yearling sale season in Kentucky July 10 with The July Sale, buyers will be vying in a venue with a reputation for well-conformed and athletic-looking individuals.

While the auction lacks the cachet that comes with Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale, its selected yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., or the critical mass of horseflesh offered by Keeneland's September Yearling Sale, it has been a viable market, especially for well-conformed yearlings that are more developed and those sired by young, unproven stallions.

This year's catalog of 349 yearlings represents 16.3% more than last year's 300 entrants, a spike in interest that Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. attributes to last year's successful auction.

Topped by a Medaglia d'Oro  filly purchased by Larry Best's OXO Equine for $1 million from Bluewater Sales, agent for Southern Equine Stables, the 2017 sale saw 172 head gross $16,107,000, for an average price of $93,645 and a $70,000 median, all improved over the previous year's metrics. Named Brill, last year's topper is unraced.

"July was a very healthy market last year, and as a result, consignors have responded with increased quality and quantity," Browning said. "This year's catalog is our largest for July in nearly a decade, and boasts a significant uptick in sire power, as well."

Browning said that in late winter when consignors and the Fasig-Tipton selection team are making decisions about which horses to point toward the July sale, they look for precocious individuals likely to run as 2-year-olds but also with qualities that would indicate competitiveness in distance races.

"If you're asked what term would you apply to the July sale horse, you would say 'athlete'," Browning said. "We're looking for an elite horse, a horse that looks like it can be run as a 2-year-old. But not just be a good 2-year-old. It's got to have some size and some maturity. The whole marketplace is looking for the more classic-type horses and just because you're early, doesn't mean you can't be a classic-type horse."

On-track success of the sale's graduates indicates the venue attracts athletes.

A BloodHorse MarketWatch analysis of North American yearling sales by race results of horses offered during 2013-15 shows the Fasig-Tipton July sale led in six categories of auctions that offered 500 or more horses during that period. Most significantly, Fasig-Tipton July was the leading sale by percentage of black-type winners from horses sold. During the three-year period, the sale accounted for 8.3% stakes winners (44) from 530 yearlings sold. The sale also is the leader by percentage of stakes horses with 14% (75) having won or placed in a black-type stakes.

The other statistics where the July sale ranked at the top are percent of repeat winners (70% from all winners), percent of 2-year-old winners (22%), percent of winners (63%), and percent of runners who earned $150,000 or more (12%) from horses sold.

Mark Taylor, of Taylor Made Sales Agency, said the sale's perennial leading consignor reduced the number of horses sent to this year's sale, with a focus on horses with more sire power.

"We have cut out a half dozen of what we would perceive to be our worst horses, based on the past," Taylor said. "We've only taken one or two horses by really solid proven sires each year to July and they've always sold well. So we're taking horses by more proven sires and a more consistent physical in our consignment. We didn't really want to use the sale to market middle-of-the-road conformation horses that might bring $20,000-$30,000. It is an inefficient place to sell those horses."

Carrie Brogden, a partner in Select Sales, said its consignment also has enhanced the quality of the breeding of its July yearlings, which this year includes the sale's lone horse (after one withdrawal) from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah .

"Why not be one of the few instead of one of the many?" Brogden said of the decision to place the filly in the July sale. "We have had really good July sales in the past. We try to get a good-moving horse, but we have some really well-bred horses this year."

Brogden said Select Sales tries not only to send athletic individuals to the July sale, but also those with the temperament to withstand the sale routine that can be stressful, especially with the heat and humidity associated with a summer auction.

"As consignors we hand-pick these horses not only for their maturity as a physical, but also the maturity in their minds," she said. "I think it's a really good place to buy an athlete with a good mind."

Brogden said July yearlings with good temperaments generally perform and sell well when sent into 2-year-old sales the following year. For example, of the 13 July yearlings sold by Select Sales last year that were re-sold as 2-year-olds, the group that had been acquired for an aggregate $919,000 grossed a total $2.799 million as juveniles.

"If they hold up for July, they have that mentality to go with the flow," she said.

Bill Witman, who buys weanlings to pinhook into yearling sales and has four cataloged through Bluewater Sales, said one reason he sells in July is because the horses have a chance to stand out in a smaller group than would be found in September.

"It is a great place to sell a horse," said Witman, who operates under the Canaan Creek Stables nom de plume. "I love being a big fish in a little pond. When people go to Fasig-Tipton July they expect to see a very attractive horse that looks like an athlete. It was always thought of as a sale for pinhookers, but there are a lot of end-users who shop there. It takes a very attractive horse to do well there."