Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale Offers Opportunity

It's all about opportunity.

The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale, held Feb. 4-5 in Lexington, provides the last chance for breeders to acquire mares or broodmare prospects prior to the start of the Northern Hemisphere breeding season.

For sellers, the auction affords the option to put stock on the market—including short yearlings—and generate cash flow, sometimes making up for financial shortcomings from last year's sales.

Following the latest supplemental entries, there are 531 head entered for the auction that begins at 10 a.m. ET daily. The catalog consists of a diverse group, ranging from yearlings, broodmares, and broodmare prospects to horses suitable to continue to race.

Topped by the $310,000 Medaglia d'Oro  stakes-placed mare Girl Talk, last year's sale saw 364 horses sell for gross receipts of $10,436,800, with an average price of $28,673 and a median of $10,500, representing gains of 9.8%, 5.9%, and 16.7%, respectively, from the previous year. From 574 cataloged, the 107 head that went unsold were 22.7% of the 471 through the ring.

Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency said the early February sale illustrates how Thoroughbred auctions have changed from the time in which there were not many chances to sell or buy the type stock being offered at a Fasig-Tipton sale.

"My brother Duncan says the the modern way business is being done is that people are wanting as many opportunities they can find to turn assets into cash," Taylor said. "Unlike the old days of only having several sales a year, and you had to wait and wait and wait, now it's more of a chance to jump in a bunch of times."

Taylor said the unique nature of a mixed sale early in the year can yield itself to a catalog in which the quality of the offerings can vary widely from year to year.

"We've had some good luck here, but it's not consistent. Some years you can have several that will bring a half million dollars, and some years you don't even get close to that," Taylor said. "A lot of times you will get fillies coming off the track that missed the November and January sales, or their owners said they weren't going to November or January sales in order to give them a chance to race a couple of more times. This is a good spot for people who for whatever circumstances decide they want to sell a yearling. They may have had horses entered in November or January that didn't bring as much as they wanted, and they put one in the February sale to help cover the bills until next September's yearling sale."

"Those looking to fill their orders before the start of breeding season will find a number of interesting opportunities once again," said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. "This year's catalog features graded stakes-performing racing and broodmare prospects, proven producers in foal to exciting sires, and a large group of short yearlings with good sire power."

Among the proven broodmares in the sale is Homesteader (Hip 156), a stakes-placed daughter of Pioneering who is the only mare in the sale offered in foal to Horse of the Year Gun Runner . The 16-year-old mare has produced 10 foals, including grade 2 winner and grade 1-placed Conquest Two Step and stakes winners Homemade Salsa and Sheikh of Sheiks.

Another mare on offer, It's the Cats Meow (Hip 175), is a daughter of Stormy Atlantic  who produced Canadian champion Atlantic Hurricane (she is being offered in foal to Strong Mandate ). 

Class Included (Hip 64) earned $635,526 while winning 11 stakes, including the Ballerina Stakes (G3) at Hastings Racecourse, and is being sold in foal to Star Guitar .

Other stakes winners entered in the sale include Come to Mischief (Hip 67), a stakes-winning daughter of Into Mischief  who is the only mare cataloged who is in foal to two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome , and Five Star Momma (Hip 123), a multiple stakes-winning and multiple graded-placed daughter of Five Star Day who has produced three foals.

Not unlike other recent auctions, buyers at the winter mixed sale will be focusing on the quality horses, Browning said, and those breeders that want to succeed at public auction in the future will have to step up.

"If you're going to be competitive in the marketplace, you have to strive to improve your quality," Browning said. "If you're going to sell commercially, the emphasis is totally on quality."

The winter mixed sale is the first of the year for Fasig-Tipton, which is coming off another successful auction season in 2018 and is expanding into the California market in 2019.

"We had a good year in 2018," Browning said. "November was great. We had a very strong Saratoga sale. The July sale was very strong, as well as the Gulfstream Park sale. We think California is an important marketplace for our industry. There is a lot of money there for people who have invested in racing and quality."

Fasig-Tipton is filling the void left by the closing of Barretts, which conducted the Southern California auctions for 20 years, and has scheduled a 2-year-olds in training sale for June 5 and a fall yearling sale Sept. 25. Both auctions will be held at Santa Anita Park.