The opening session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale posted gains in average and median sale price on Sunday evening, highlighted by the $380,000 sale of a Violence colt.
The session, which featured less than a third of the catalog's total offerings ahead of Monday's longer day of trade, saw 53 horses change hands for revenues of $5,999,000, down 13 percent from last year's opening session – featuring a similar format – when 64 horses sold for $6,900,000.
Sunday's average sale price finished at $113,189, up four percent from $107,812 in 2022, while the median rose 29 percent to $100,000 from $77,000. The buyback rate finished at 34 percent, compared with 23 percent during last year's opener.
“I thought it was very consistent,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. “It seemed a tiny bit sticky in the beginning, with a higher RNA rate that kind of smoothed out as the sale progressed. It wasn't totally unexpected. The owners have options with their horses, and I think sometimes you create a false sense of enthusiasm off the main sale (the Saratoga Select Yearling Sale), which people quickly adjust to, but it was a solid sale. Last year was a record-breaking sale, and to be statistically improved in two categories is a really good start.”
The session-topper came early in the evening when Baccari Bloodstock purchased Hip 306, a Violence colt, for $380,000.
The bay colt is the first foal out of the winning Liam's Map mare Liam's Lookout, who is herself a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Itsaknockout, stakes winner Storm Power, and Grade 3-placed Hot Sean. His extended family features Grade 1 winner Believe You Can and Grade 3 winner Rush Bay.
Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa consigned the colt, as agent.
Stallion Spotlight offers stud farm representatives a chance to address breeders and answer questions as they plan their future matings.
In this edition, John McMahon of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and bloodstock agent Chad Schumer discuss Redesdale, a son of Speightstown whose first foals are 3-year-olds of 2023.
Redesdale
B. h., 2013, Speightstown x Harpia, by Danzig Race Record: 4-3-0-0; $90,300 Advertised Fee: $2,500
Redesdale
Question: What makes Redesdale an attractive stallion for potential breeders?
John McMahon: I would just have to say the outstanding pedigree, being a son of Speightstown, and affordability. You just can't get a pedigree like that; a Juddmonte-bred stallion. That's heavy-duty.
Chad Schumer: He had speed, for sure. He was unbeaten in his first three starts, and was without a doubt graded stakes quality, but an injury prevented that from carrying that on. He has quality and speed, and obviously the strength of his pedigree and the value therein.
If I've got a mare lacking in a physical aspect, what can Redesdale best contribute to that equation?
McMahon: I would say conformation and size. His foals all have tremendous conformation, so I'd say if I had a mare that was back at the knee or maybe offset at the knee, or a sweepy hind leg, he'd be good. If you're breeding your mare and you're seeing a physical defect in her, it'd be nice to breed to a stallion that gives you solid conformation all the time, and plenty of size to boot.
Schumer: He brings speed and quality to the equation. He's got size, he's got substance to him. He's got bone, and a lot of power behind. I think some mares, if they're lighter or if they just need tidying up, he'd be ideal, physically.
What would a breeder looking to capture the magic of his sire Speightstown find familiar in Redesdale?
Schumer: When I think of Speightstown, I think a lot of tenacity. So many of his runners win photo finishes. They seem to last, even though it took Speightstown a while to get going, and there were some breaks in his racing career. The same can be said for Redesdale. It doesn't seem to show up in their progeny. They tend to be sound and durable, and especially in a state-bred program, that's incredibly important.
What are some of the common traits you've seen among the Redesdale foals, both as young horses getting ready for the sales and as racehorses?
Schumer: I've been struck by what nice types they are. Sometimes with stallions in regional programs, you kind of don't know what to expect. I've seen every Redesdale that's come to the 2-year-old sales. While I've been doing work for other things, I make sure I see all of them, and I've just been struck by how they're all pretty nice types. They have that same quality that he has, and they've done well.
Interestingly, almost across the board, considering the location and fee, I think the price for his 2-year-olds has been really strong.
What makes Redesdale a good fit for the New York-Bred Program?
McMahon: New York is an interesting place to race a horse, because we love turf racing here. We're all into it nowadays. I see the future as being bright for the horse because of the presence of that, and the tremendous international appeal of his pedigree.
Schumer: Soundness and versatility. New York is one of the most lucrative programs in the country, and they want horses that are going to show up as 2-year-olds, be back as 3-year-olds, and so forth. So far, the Redesdales seem to be doing that. It's a little early. His oldest foals are just three at the moment, but they seem to carry on, start after start.
The other thing that I like of what I've seen so far is they seem equally adept at either dirt and turf, which I think is wildly important in a regional program, especially.
What are some of the physical and pedigree traits in broodmares that you've found have produced the most successful crosses with Redesdale?
McMahon: He nicks well with the Mr. Prospector-line mares and A.P. Indy-line mares.
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Redesdale has some serious sire power on his page, with the likes of Danehill and Northern Dancer. What is your philosophy on how much having successful stallions in the female family can influence an active stallion's potential?
McMahon: I think it kind of evolves over the course of the years. When you're retiring a stud and you see those names within a pedigree, it's going to attract you a better book of mares. You can get better mares than you would normally get because of those stallion names. Then, in year two or three of a stallion's career, you're seeing some racehorses hit, and now we're seeing some better turf horses coming out of those matings, and we're saying, “Where is this coming from?” Speightstown has been kind of a dirt speed horse, so I think that pedigree is influencing the current crops moreso than we gave it credit for the first couple years. The first couple years, I think we were using it more as a selling point, but now we're using it now to explain what you're going to get.
What is something about Redesdale that you think goes overlooked?
McMahon: Something we haven't talked about much is he threw the highest-priced yearling by a New York sire in 2021. That was $140,000 and ended up being [stakes winner] Ramblin' Wreck, who's trained by Danny Gargan. He can throw you a sales horse out of the right mare. We know they're good-looking, we know the pedigree's there. He can be a commercial stallion with the right broodmare on board.
Schumer: His actual racing class. Because of his stops in his racing career, it took him a while to make his first start due to some niggling things as a 2-year-old, but he ran as a 3-year-old at Churchill Downs in a maiden special weight, then came back and won two more allowance races, and he was undoubtedly graded stakes class.
I think he's easily overlooked because it shows him in the book only as a winner, but he was without a doubt a stakes-quality horse.
Robby Albarado rode him for us, and after his last start, he told me he reminded him so much in terms of quality of a horse he rode at the Fair Grounds, and that was Mineshaft. If he was half as good as that, he'd be a proper stakes winner. It gave us a lot of confidence in using him.
Following is a list of stallions whose first crops of yearlings are represented in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale, including the number of horses cataloged and the farm where the stallion is currently advertised.
Offerings from the debut crop of a stallion are often met with a commercial premium from buyers at auction. A stallion's stud fee is often at its highest during their first season, increasing the initial investment, and the natural intrigue of a blue-sky prospect often put a unique spotlight on the rookie sires at any given sale.
Here are the opportunities to get in on the ground floor with a first-year stallion at this year's Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale.
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
Tapit at Gainesway Farm 8.14.14
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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#5 – Good Magic, Hill 'n' Dale Farms
Good Magic
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.
