The more things change, they more they stay the same.
After COVID-19 led to the cancellation of the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, the boutique auction concluded its comeback renewal on Tuesday with figures in practical lockstep with the most recent edition in 2019.
The two-day auction closed with 135 horses sold for revenues of $55,155,000, good for the third-highest gross in the sale's history. The gross finished just behind the 2019 figure of $55,547,000, which ranked second on the all-time list.
The average sale price landed at $408,556, which again was neck-and-neck with the record $411,459 average from two years ago. The median went unchanged at $350,000, tying the all-time high, and the buyback rate for this year's auction finished at 25 percent; a solid figure for such a selective marketplace.
M.V. Magnier of the Coolmore partnership signed the ticket for the sale-topper on Tuesday: Hip 168, an Into Mischief colt, for $2.6 million.
The bay colt is the second foal out of the Grade 1-winning Flatter mare Paola Queen, from the family of Grade 1 winner Point Ashley. He was bred in Kentucky by Don Alberto Corp., and he was consigned by Gainesway, agent.
Tuesday's session also saw Hip 132, a half-brother to 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra from the first crop of Bolt d'Oro, sell to Larry Best's OXO Equine for $1.4 million.
Bred in Kentucky by Heaven Trees Farm, the colt is out of the Grade 2-placed stakes-winning Roar mare Lotta Kim, whose other runners of note include Grade 3-placed Dolphus and stakes-placed Wooderson.
To view the auction's full results, click here.
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