Getting Physical at The Saratoga Sale

The 223 horses cataloged for The Saratoga Sale share a commonality—being sired by some of America's leading sires or promising first-crop sires, many having deep female families—but there is one trait that sets the better ones apart: their physical presence.

Consignors of the yearlings selected by Fasig-Tipton for inclusion in the Aug. 5-6 auction said that based on what has proven successful in the past, buyers are willing to pay a premium for the individuals that have the "wow factor."

"It's hard to totally quantify, but you know it when you see it," Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency said of the importance placed on looks. "If you don't have a good physical, that's where the marketplace starts to get shaky, no matter the level you're at. They have to be reasonably correct and a really good mover so that when they step out, they look like a runner and you don't have to use your imagination a whole lot. You just go, 'Wow, that's a nice looking horse.'

"I don't think you have to come here with a high-powered sire," Taylor continued. "We're not afraid to think outside the box on pedigree. We've sold horses up here for a lot of money that were good physicals but by sires that stood for $10,000. If you have an exceptional individual, they are well-received. They want something they don't have to talk themselves into buying."

"It's a hugely physical sale," said Brian Graves of Gainesway. "The physical horse is what's most important. People want the individual, and they would like as much pedigree as possible to go with it.

"And I'm not sure these horses know how much pedigree they have," Graves quipped.

Reiley McDonald of Eaton Sales said physical attractiveness is a necessity to get the top dollar at Saratoga. Beyond that, being by a fashionable sire or having depth within the female line are important as well.

"You have to have two of three things at Saratoga, but a physical (is important) no matter what," he said. "Then you have to have the right sire line or at least be strong on the dam side to back up the physical. People have a lot of time to look at yearlings, and if you don't have a physical horse that can jump through the hoops and with a clean vet report, it's not a Saratoga yearling."

Some consignors have tweaked their Saratoga sale offerings to emphasize the physicality in deciding what to send to upstate New York.

"You have to bring the right physicals, and you learn by your mistakes," said Derek MacKenzie of Vinery Sales. "I've brought some before that shouldn't have been here."

Francis Vanlangendonck, who with his wife, Barbara, operates Summerfield, said having a yearling that passes strict veterinary scrutiny is also important because buyers have a lot of opportunities down the road.

"You have to have a horse that has some quality, and you have to pass the vet inspection," Vanlangendonck said. "You lose more to vetting here than anywhere else. There are nice horses that don't get sold because they have issues. I am not blaming the vets, but some of these owners don't want to buy anything with issues. They know they have 3,000 more horses to go (through the fall yearling sales)."

Based on the activity level in Fasig-Tipton's barn area over the weekend, all signs are pointing toward an auction comparable with last year's sale, when 170 horses sold for record gross receipts of $62,794,000, a second-highest average of $369,376, and a co-highest median price of $300,000.

According to BloodHorse MarketWatch, The Saratoga Sale is the top-ranked North American yearling sale by percentage of grade 1 winners and graded stakes winners produced from horses sold.

This year's catalog cover features Saratoga's most recent collection of grade 1 winners: Rushing Fall, Sippican Harbor, and Stormy Liberal.  

Four of North America's top five leading sires are well represented by yearlings in the sale, with 16 for Into Mischief , nine for Quality Road , seven for Tapit , and 11 for Curlin . (The other sire in the top five is the late Giant's Causeway).

This year's catalog reflects a 12.5% decline from the 255 cataloged last year, and as of early Sunday, 25 yearlings had been withdrawn.

"I think it's a typical Saratoga catalog from our standpoint as far as consistency of the quality and conformation, and I've been hearing generally good things about all the horses on the sale grounds," Taylor said. "This sale is insulated from a lot of the turbulence going on in other places, and you have a small catalog and a lot of big buyers."

"We're optimistic it will be much like last year and the year before," McDonald said. "I don't see any real reason anything would have changed that much. It looks like most of the same players are here. I haven't seen many new faces yet, but that doesn't mean there won't be some. Status quo is a great thing right now, but we won't know until we have the sale."

Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said there is little reason to believe the market will fluctuate much, one way or another, based on factors that include a vibrant 2-year-old sale market earlier in the year.

"We've had very positive feedback from lookers on the overall quality," Browning said. "We're all optimistic, and you always hope for bigger and better. The marketplace has been very consistent for the past several years. People have confidence in the economy around the world and confidence in the horse business, especially at the upper end."

Mike Ryan, an agent who purchased Rushing Fall on behalf of e Five Racing Thoroughbreds at the 2016 edition of the Saratoga sale, said this year's offerings are in line with recent catalogs.

"It's pretty consistent with last year and the year before," Ryan said. "There is no huge breakout horse but quite a few in the $400,000-$800,000 price range. I think there are some nice horses on the grounds, and it will be like other sales over the past couple of years where the quality will do very well."