Numbers Affirm Horses of Racing Age Sale Success

Numbers don't lie.

And for Fasig-Tipton's July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, the numbers show that in a short period of time, the auction initiated in 2013 has proven to be a source of equine athletes that generate positive results for their new owners.

According to Fasig-Tipton, through April of this year HRA sale grads scored 69 stakes wins, had a cumulative 6,200-plus starts, and amassed earnings of nearly $35 million, figures that likely have improved over the past two months.

While many were already accomplished runners at the time of purchase, their subsequent success include grade 1 wins by Bullards Alley and Wavell Avenue, along with graded stakes wins by War Story, Ivy Bell, Fear the Cowboy, Squadron A, Go Noni Go, Dramedy , Point Piper, Fioretti, Insta Erma, Hillaby, Candyman E, Do Share, Belle Hill, and Nicodemus.

Topped by stakes winner My Miss Tapit, purchased by Breeze Easy from ELiTE Sales, agent, for $700,000, last year's HRA sale saw 100 horses change hands for gross receipts of $9.318 million. 

Including supplemental entries, through July 5 there were 204 horses cataloged in the sale that begins at 4 p.m. ET July 8. As of July 7, there were 58 withdrawals, a reflection of the ebb and flow seen in horses of racing age sales.

Designed to fill a midyear void within the racehorse market, ostensibly with the boutique summer race meets at Del Mar and Saratoga Race Course in mind, the auction has carved out a viable niche, according to Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr.

"I think it's the perfect time to sell horses of racing age and the perfect time to buy horses of racing age," Browning said. "The private marketplace is always going to be active, but it's difficult for folks within the private marketplace at times to assess what a horse is worth. This provides an open and competitive atmosphere for people to bid on horses. It's a very efficient process for buyers and sellers to get together and see if they meet each other's expectations."

Browning said the HRA sale has a historically low buyback rate because the sellers are committed to finding new homes for their stock.

"If they come to this sale, we encourage them to have realistic expectations, to be sellers rather than have pie-in-the-sky hopes to have a miraculous hit. It's been a great fit," Browning said. "And it also provides a great platform to provide veterinary information with regards to X-ray and scoping for people to evaluate the racehorse with complete open discussion and analysis."

ELiTE Sales—which in 2017 had the second-highest-priced HRA horse with Adorable Miss, sold for $585,000—likely will not have this year's sale topper, according to Bradley Weisbord, partner in the agency with Liz Crow.

"I don't think we have a superstar this year, but we have a solid group of six-figure racehorses," said Weisbord, who through the BSW Thoroughbreds operation in which Crow is also involved manages the racing careers for several hundred horses.

In an effort to achieve the maximum value for its clients, last year ELiTE instituted a protocol in which horses entered in the sale are subjected to radiograph exams before even shipping to Fasig-Tipton. Those deemed to have perceived issues that might diminish their eventual purchase price are withdrawn from the sale, meaning ELiTE will have far fewer through the ring than cataloged.

"Our draft is shrinking," Weisbord said. "We do presale veterinary X-rays at their respective barns. We found it's really beneficial to our owners. We don't want to interrupt their racing campaigns if they were to have a chip in an ankle that lots of racehorses have but would be severely discounted at auction. We're selling for some of the biggest owners in the game, and there is no sense for them getting less than market-plus money.

"We entered a lot of horses to give us nucleus, kind of like a trainer nominating a lot of horses to a stakes race," Weisbord continued. "We're not trying to sell the most horses. We try to enter a good nucleus of horses, and they need to perform well before the sale and vet perfect. We're looking for great form with whistle-clean X-rays, and that's going to provide sellers being happy with the prices those horses attain and buyers feeling comfortable with our consignment."

Mark Taylor, whose family's Taylor Made Sales Agency sold the $600,000 sale topper in 2017, said the HRA sale provides an opportunity for clients with large stables to trim stock that don't fit programs that evolve around competing at the highest level.

"We have quite a few horses from big owners that don't fit their criteria," he said. "They either want stallion prospects or graded stakes fillies, and they need to control their numbers. These are nice horses by a lot of people's standards, but they just are not quite where they want to be with their programs."

Taylor said the agency's clients are motivated to set reasonable reserves because of their desire to move the horses.

"With a lot of these horses that are maidens or have some conditions left, they are here to sell," he said. "They are not here to generate income but to eliminate expense and to shrink the herd for their owners. By and large, they are here with very reasonable or no reserves. On the top end, people are going to protect them (with reserve prices)," he said.