The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale might not feature the largest catalog of the major North American auctions, but for weanling-to-yearling pinhookers, making the book in upstate New York can mean a big payday.
The fireworks in Saratoga led to some major shifts in the Pinhook Power Rankings, including a new sire occupying the top spot after a near seven-figure return on investment.
Stallions in the pinhook power rankings will be measured by two factors:
1) Gross revenue from every pinhooked yearling by a sire during the 2023 major sale season over the combined purchase price of those horses during the weanling/short yearling season of fall 2022/winter 2023. Because pinhooks comprise a smaller percentage of the yearling market's total offerings, compared with yearling-to-juvenile pinhooks, there is no minimum number of horses sold to qualify for the list.
2) Percent change of gross yearling sales over combined weanling/short yearling purchase price. If a horse sells for $10,000 as a weanling and brings $200,000 as a yearling, that's a 1,900 percent improvement. If a $200,000 yearling goes on to sell for $390,000, that's a 95 percent improvement. Both net you $190,000, but the entry point and expectations are very different.
Stallions are ranked in each category, and their combined ranks are totaled into a combined score. The lower the score, the better the horse is performing.
Let's get a look at those rankings…
#1 – Tapit, Gainesway
A seven figure horse can do a lot for a stallion in these rankings, and Tapit proved that with authority during the second session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale when a colt purchased as a weanling for $275,000 sold to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $1.2 million.
You can read more about that transaction, and the weanling-to-yearling pinhook operation of Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds here.
The transaction marked a gross revenue of $925,000, which by itself put Tapit on top among sires with pinhooks in that category. It also marked a 336.36 percent increase, which put him third.
The colt, offered as Hip 129 from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, is out of the winning Tiznow mare Plenty O'Toole, whose three winners from five foals to race include multiple Grade 3 winner Mr. Money and stakes-placed Tiz Plenty. He hails from the family of Grade 1 winners Well Armed, American Patriot, and Cyberknife.
Tapit has been a pantheon-level commercial sire for a decade, and the Saratoga sale has been his playground for just as long. This colt was one of his two seven-figure yearlings at this year's renewal, and his notable Saratoga sale alumni include Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit, who sold for $1.2 million in 2015.
#2 – Authentic, Spendthrift Farm
Expectations were sky-high for Authentic's debut yearlings after buyers made him last year's leading first-crop sire of weanlings by both average ($242,692) and median sale prices ($230,000). Both figures put him in the top 10 among all North American weanling sires in those respective categories last season.
Pinhook buyers have been rewarded nicely for investing early in the 2020 Horse of the Year, with two offerings selling as weanlings for a combined $410,000, then selling as yearlings for $1,125,000. The difference of $715,000 was third-best among pinhook sires, while the 174.39 percent rise was 12th highest in the class.
Both of Authentic's pinhooked yearlings thus far came at the Saratoga sale, led by Hip 139, a filly who commanded $260,000 from Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds as a weanling, then sold to BC Stables for $800,000 in Saratoga.
Consigned by Summerfield, agent, the filly is out of the placed Hard Spun mare Rebelle, from the family of Broodmare of the Year Stage Magic, who produced Triple Crown winner Justify and Grade 3 winner The Lieutenant.
Support our journalism
If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.#3 (tie) – Thousand Words, Spendthrift Farm
The Fasig-Tipton July sale is a big momentum-setter for first-crop sires, and rookie Thousand Words was one of the early standouts at this year's renewal.
Thousand Words' lone pinhooked yearling started as a $65,000 weanling purchase by Stella Stables at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale, and he sold to Stanley Stables for $250,000 at this year's July sale. He ranked 15th by gross and fourth by percent gains, at $185,000 and 284.62 percent, respectively.
Offered as Hip 351, the filly is out of Grade 3-placed Maria's Mon mare Izshelegal, and she was consigned at the July Sale by Gainesway, agent.
Thousand Words, a Grade 2-winning son of Pioneerof the Nile, was himself a $1-million yearling during his own time in the sales ring, offering a positive bit of past performance when projecting the fortunes of his foals at auction.
#3 (tie) – Omaha Beach – Spendthrift Farm
After finishing as the highest-ranking freshman sire on this year's 2-Year-Old Sale Sire Power Rankings, Omaha Beach's follow-up crop is showing early signs that the momentum was more than just first-year buzz.
He's had two pinhooked yearlings change hands this season, with gross gains of $280,000 (13th place) and percentage gains of 214.43 percent (sixth)
Among them was a colt who was a $20,000 short yearling secured by Cece Stables at this year's Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, before selling to Legion Bloodstock, agent, for $130,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale.
Consigned by Gainesway, agent, the colt offered as Hip 149 is the first foal out of the unraced Giant's Causeway mare Pipistrella, from the family of champion High Chaparral.
Omaha Beach has proven a versatile sire with his first crop of runners in the early months of their juvenile season, getting stakes-placed runners on both dirt and turf. His runners figure to get better as time rolls on, and it appears he has managed to maintain the attention of the marketplace while those early runners do the work to prove out their sire.
#5 – Good Magic, Hill 'n' Dale Farms
What a 2023 it's been for Good Magic, who was represented by a Kentucky Derby winner from his first crop in Mage before nearly taking the Preakness Stakes with Blazing Sevens. It was a near-certainty that buyers would pounce on the Good Magics when the yearling season came around, and investors in his young stock would be rewarded for their perfect timing.
Good Magic has had five pinhooked yearlings through the first two major North American sales for a total of $1.97 million off an initial investment of $659,000. The gross increase of $1,311,000 was the greatest season-to-season jump by any qualifying stallion thus far, and he had the ninth-highest gain by percentage at 198.94 percent.
The most dramatic jump among the pinhooked Good Magics came from Hip 175 of the July sale, a colt who sold as a weanling to Three Counties Bloodstock for $49,000 at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and later sold to Boardshorts Stables for $370,000. The first foal out of the winning Carpe Diem mare Scolding, the colt was consigned at the July Sale by Blandford Stud, agent.
The post Pinhook Power Rankings: Tapit Vaults The Field After Fasig-Tipton Saratoga appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
