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Fasig-Tipton Brings the Glitter and the Glitz to Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – A year after a record-smashing 2022 edition, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings returns to Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs with a two-session auction beginning Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. The sales grounds were a scene of wall-to-wall activity on a cloudless Sunday morning as trainers, agents and principals all vied for prized show spots for the 235 catalogued yearlings.

“The traffic has been outstanding,” consignor Dave Anderson outside his Barn 3. “Coming in with the economy being a little suspect, it was hard to know whether we would attract the usual suspects, but they are all here. Everybody is in good spirits, so I am expecting a good sale.”

Adrian Regan of Hunter Valley echoed Anderson's comments.

“We are delighted with the activity at the barn,” Regan said. “There's been a lot of showing. People look to be working it hard and from what we are hearing so far, people are saying that there are a good group of horses here.”

The boutique Saratoga catalogue attracted its usual array of sire power and glitzy pedigrees. Gun Runner who had two million-dollar yearlings, including the $2.3-million sale topper at last year's auction, has 12 yearlings in the auction this year. Curlin, who had three seven-figure yearlings in 2022, has seven in the catalogue in 2023, including a son of champion Beholder (Henny Hughes). That mare's half-brother, super-sire Into Mischief, who was represented by four million-dollar sales a year ago, has 12 to be offered in this year's catalogue.

The Saratoga sale is held just across the street from the historic racecourse, giving the power-packed catalogue that extra bit of bling.

“I think with the racing, it is as good as it gets,” Anderson said. “It gets people excited. And the wives and the husbands and the families come and they turn it into a mini-vacation. And when the weather cooperates, Fasig-Tipton knows how to put on a great party and a great show. People bring the product and it's really a special place.”

The atmosphere encourages buyers to attend the sale in person, rather than simply having agents acting on their behalf. That, too, adds to the success of the auction, according to Doug Arnold of Buck Pond Farm.

“This is what's great about coming up here,” said Arnold. “When you can put your hands on things, it kind of changes your mind on what you will and won't do.”

Buck Pond's consignment at Saratoga this year includes just one horse, a filly by Not This Time, and Arnold said horses at the boutique auction face plenty of scrutiny in the days leading up to sale time.

“The buyers have a long time to look at these horses, so they can talk themselves out of things,” Arnold said. “If you have something that is sticking out that they don't like, they will find a way not to buy. We would normally bring more than one up here and it was one of those years that we had a lot of May foals and I kept looking at them and thinking maybe this horse will work for Saratoga, but I am really happy I didn't. Everyone seems to love this filly.”

Tim and Nancy Hamlin's Wynnstay Sales is making its first appearance at the Saratoga sale with a four-horse consignment.

“We've sold horses up here, but we've never brought our own consignment,” Tim Hamlin explained. “One of our customers wanted to do it and Fasig wanted us to do it and we decided to do it.”

Hamlin continued, “I am hoping it's going to be a good sale. You have to have one that has the pedigree and by a hot sire and vets, you've got to jump through all of the hoops. But these are some of the best horses in Lexington, so I think the best ones will have a home.”

After a series of out-of-the-park results last year, the yearling sales season got off to a quieter start at last month's Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale.

“I am a glass is half-full kind of guy, but I think we've got to realize what is going on with interest rates and the economy in general,” Anderson said of a possible correction in the market. “The yearling market has to soften at some point here and that's a good thing, it probably needs to happen.”

While economic conditions might deter many buyers in the middle market, the top-end of the market targetted by Saratoga sellers seems to remain competitive.

“I don't think [the economy] is going to impact this sale,” Anderson said. “This is a boutique sale and buyers are coming here expecting to see some of the best horses in the United States and Canada. They are prepared to buy them at whatever cost it takes.”

Despite the dips and turns at yearling sales to come this fall, Regan feels confident bidding will be strong Monday and Tuesday in Saratoga.

“To be honest, I was a little bit cautious coming up here,” he said. “But we have seen the top end is where everybody wants to be at the moment. So with the group of horses that Fasig has here, I would be very positive about how the sale is going to go.”

Last year's Saratoga sale set records for gross, average and median as 14 yearlings sold for $1 million or over. A total of 135 head grossed $55,155,000 for an average of $408,556 and a median of $350,000.

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Letter to the Editor: Hugh Mitchell on Woodbine

Horse racing is an honourable sport that is steeped in tradition; built by generations of hardworking and passionate individuals and families. It's an industry that brings people together from all walks of life, and is critically dependent on everyone's contribution to its stability and success. While this diversity of roles and shared passion is racing's greatest strength, it exists within a very complex and challenging business environment that results in constant pressure to plan, adapt, and aggressively fight to secure our future.

At Woodbine Entertainment, we own and operate two racetracks: Woodbine Mohawk Park (Standardbred racing) and Woodbine Racetrack (Thoroughbred racing). If you are reading this with interest, it's important to understand that Woodbine operates as a not-for-profit minded organization. The late, great breeder and visionary, E.P. Taylor, donated a large piece of land in Toronto where Woodbine Racetrack is now situated. His vision was to provide this land, and this racetrack, to the hardworking horse people of Ontario so they would always have a place to race horses and earn a living doing so. Woodbine Entertainment, formerly the Ontario Jockey Club, carries the responsibility, mandate, and obligation to honour his vision. We do not have an owner nor shareholders. We have an independent and committed Board of Directors whose job is to ensure that this mandate is strictly followed. Our executive management team is accountable to this Board. Every decision we make is to create a strong and sustainable Ontario horse racing industry. That's why Woodbine exists, and for no other reason. Every dollar of profit we make is invested to support the entire Ontario horse racing industry. Our vision and ambition is to support all current industry stakeholders as best we can while also thoughtfully investing to grow the Ontario horse racing industry towards a strong, vibrant, and sustainable future. It's a very difficult balance requiring judgment and trade-offs. We recognize that not everyone will agree with the decisions we make to achieve this balance, however, we hope and expect that everyone will respect our motivation and purpose to support the present and future of racing in Ontario.

A decade ago, the provincial government in power at the time ended a lucrative funding agreement that was supporting horse racing. This decision almost killed the industry in Ontario. At the time, the only path forward was for Woodbine Entertainment to lead the industry-something that was asked of us by the government, and staying true to E.P. Taylor's vision, we agreed. We worked tirelessly to reach a new long-term funding agreement that is now in place. To this day, we continue to lead the industry at a substantial cost to our operations, and we do so proudly.

While this long-term funding agreement is essential to our industry's existence today, our vision is to develop the property that Woodbine Racetrack is situated on to create new revenue streams that will eventually allow us to not depend on government funding. This will support our mandate to create a strong and sustainable Ontario horse racing industry. Every cent of profit generated from this investment will be used to support the industry. In addition to fueling substantially larger purses, we will be able to invest even more heavily in our racing facilities, people and industry support programs.

We're also investing in other game-changing areas like sports betting and technology-things that will further develop new revenue streams that will be spent back on racing in Ontario. Until we get some of these major initiatives across the finish line, we need to continue to operate prudently and be patient to allow the long-term vision to come to life. At the same time, we understand the challenges that all of our industry stakeholders face today. It's difficult to make a reasonable living, and we must provide as much support as financially possible while building towards a brighter future. We must allocate the dollars we have available today across numerous stakeholders that often have different priorities, issues, and needs.

In the meantime, wagering is Woodbine's primary line of business that can immediately drive significant incremental revenue. This revenue supports the above-mentioned purses and capital improvements. Therefore, healthy field sizes and competitive racing is necessary to provide a product that will drive wagering.

Despite the challenges our industry faces today, we are extremely confident in our future. We are a world-class racing industry with tremendous opportunity in front of us. We are blessed with an incredibly hardworking and talented group of horse people and employees. If we take care of our people today, and provide for a better future for them tomorrow, we will have successfully achieved the future E.P. Taylor envisioned decades ago.

Sincerely,

Hugh Mitchell

Chair, Board of Directors

Woodbine Entertainment

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Anderson: Woodbine’s ‘Bully Tactics’ Could Result In ‘Mass Exodus’ Of Ontario-Breds

On Tuesday, the consortium that operates Fort Erie racetrack filed a grievance with the Canadian Trade Commission over alleged strongarm business tactics by Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) that Fort Erie contends are designed to “starve Fort Erie of its necessary horse supply.”

Two days later, David Anderson, a prominent Ontario-based breeder who owns Anderson Farms and serves on the boards of three key Thoroughbred organizations in Canada, told TDN that Woodbine's tactics are, in his opinion, a coordinated effort to hamper Fort Erie's operations, and that some of those detrimental decisions are being funded by money that is supposed to be earmarked for Thoroughbred-industry improvement in Ontario.

Anderson also warned that some of Woodbine's purse allocation strategies for the 2023 meet that starts Apr. 22–namely the reduction of maiden special weight (MSW) purses from $126,000 (Canadian) to $111,600 to purportedly bolster the money offered for low-level claiming races-could result in “the biggest mass exodus of Ontario bred horses” out of the province.

“There's no reason on earth why Woodbine should be running $5,000 claimers and competing against Fort Erie,” Anderson said. “I mean, it's just never been that way. And there's enough room in the province for an A track and a B track. But they're just trying to snuff out their competition. And the horsemen don't want it. The government doesn't want it. It's just Woodbine upper brass, just… I don't know what the proper word is for it.”

“I have a significant investment in the game,” Anderson said. “I'm one of the bigger breeders in Canada, and I sit on all these industry boards. Ontario Racing. I sit on the board of the HBPA in Ontario. I sit on the board of the Jockey Club of Canada. I'm on every single industry board, committee [and] subcommittees that there are. And no one is willing to step up and speak out against Woodbine because of the bully tactics and the dictatorship that [WEG chief executive officer Jim] Lawson's been running.

“They're afraid he's going to take away stalls from them on the backside; he's going to exercise private-property rights and kick them off the grounds,” Anderson continued. “I mean, it's just a complete totalitarian regime over there. And I don't want to sit here and make the article a complete bashing of Woodbine. We've got so many things that are fantastic that are going on [in Ontario]. Unfortunately, we're on this island up there that the tail wags the dog, and Woodbine is the mothership. And with the stroke of the pen, they can take one of our programs basically illegally and take those funds and redirect it or reallocate it into a program that they want to do that bolsters their profits.”

Anderson articulated other specific criticisms in his Apr. 20 interview, such as Woodbine's “no return” shipping policy for horses that leave the grounds to race at Fort Erie. He also echoed concerns about an allegation that surfaced in Fort Erie's formal grievance: the recent rescheduling of the Canadian Triple Crown series, which he alleged works to Woodbine's advantage and against both Fort Erie and the best interests of Ontario's overall racing industry.

TDN on Friday emailed Woodbine's communications director, Jamie Dykstra, requesting an interview with Lawson (or any other company executive) to give Woodbine the chance to get its side of the story about Anderson's complaints on the record.

In response, Dykstra wrote that no interview would be forthcoming. He attached a fact sheet about purses and a prepared statement that Woodbine had issued earlier in the week about Fort Erie's grievance.

That press release stated: “The assertions made by Fort Erie Race Track are baseless and without merit and we will vigorously and confidently defend ourselves if requested by the Canadian Trade Commission or any other regulatory authority. We are very proud of the vital role we play in supporting the strength, success and growth of the Ontario horse racing industry. We are very much looking forward to starting our 2023 meet this Saturday. We will have no further comment on this matter at this time.”

'How are we improving the breed?'

Anderson underscored how the province's racing industry should be operating from a solid starting point instead of dealing with infighting between Ontario's two Thoroughbred tracks.

“I sit on the board of Ontario Racing, which governs all of the racing in Ontario. It's a government-appointed board that administers all of the funds for Thoroughbred racing, Standardbred racing, and Quarter Horse racing. And there's subcommittees on that board. One of them is the Thoroughbred Improvement Program, or TIP.

“We have a mare purchase program that we've been promoting quite heavily,” Anderson said. “We've brought in well over 300 brand-new, pregnant mares into the province in the last three years, which has been much needed in our province. We were actually [up] double digits in live foals, in mares bred, in new stallions in our province, which is greater than any jurisdiction in North America. So there's lots of great points here that we've [put] into place.”

Anderson said that during the same time frame, TIP ushered in a program that had increased MSW purses at Woodbine to $126,000 by the end of the 2022 meet.

“And it's been crazy-successful for Ontario breds. Ontario bred yearlings in the last three years are up 68% average at the sales. People are buying Ontario-bred yearlings because they want to run in this program. Breeders are buying better mares, breeding to better stallions because they're able to sell their yearlings for more money. And ultimately, it's because of the program.”

But Anderson said he was dismayed when Woodbine's first 2023 condition book got released, and MSW purses had been slashed from $126,000 to $111,600.

“Once these owners that have bought yearlings last fall and the fall before and are expecting to run for those purses find out about it, they're going to leave,” Anderson said.

“[And] the fact is, it's government money,” Anderson continued. “This program was set up by TIP. It's worked and it is working, and [Woodbine] can't just take the money and go and put it where they want to put it. They can take their other purse account money and go and do with it whatever they want, or they actually have to negotiate it with the HBPA. But they're not even doing that. There's zero negotiations with the HBPA. I sit on that board. I sit on the liaison committee. I know exactly what's gone on. It's zero.

“How are we improving the breed by taking money from our upper-echelon horses and putting it into $5,000 claimers?” Anderson said. “They're leveraging those government dollars to bolster their own coffers.”

Photo courtesy Fort Erie

'I can't sit back and watch'

Anderson said he is hoping that a planned regime change at Woodbine could bring about a new sense of cooperation. On Apr. 11, WEG announced that Lawson will be stepping down from his role as CEO this fall after 15 years at the track in various management positions, although it is expected that Lawson will be associated with Woodbine in a “senior role” that will be defined at a later date.

“Jim Lawson has finally stepped down, which is going to be hopefully a very positive move for the horse industry in Ontario,” Anderson said. “The problem is there's no one to take over. There's no one currently in upper management at Woodbine that knows the mane from the tail. And we've got to put the feelers out there across North America or the world and try and find somebody that can step in and take on that role.

“The horsemen are the stakeholders of Woodbine,” Anderson said. “It's a not-for-profit. We are the stakeholders and these guys at Woodbine and their board, quite frankly, have to be accountable and there has to be governance. And now that Jim's stepped down, there has to be a proper executive search done for a proper CEO that understands horse racing.”

Anderson said that for years, Woodbine “always ran with Fort Erie as a sister track.” But that mindset has been quashed.

“If you couldn't break your maiden at Woodbine, you drove 40 minutes down the road and you broke your maiden at Fort Erie and came back,” Anderson said. “If you had a well-bred filly that couldn't win at Woodbine, but you wanted to get a win under her belt, you'd run down there and do it. And when David Willmot ran the place [until retiring in 2012], he understood that. He's a breeder. He is an owner, he got it. Now they've put this rule in, if you leave Woodbine and go run at Fort Erie, you can't come back.

“When I was a kid growing up back in the '70s, the lowest claiming rank at Woodbine was $6,250,” Anderson said. “It's now $5,000 at Woodbine. They have become a B track, but on purpose. They don't want good horses.”

“And here we are, struggling as much as we can to get better horses and build our industry,” Anderson said. “And we've got this mothership doing the opposite, and they don't get it. They want to run $5,000 claimers because they're 12-horse fields. They pay out a $20,000 purse, and they get big pari-mutuel wagering out of it. Yet in the last 15 years, we've had $4 million in purse increases on a $70 million contract. I mean, it's nothing. You look at every racetrack around North America over the last 15 years, and tell me how much their purses have gone up.

“Woodbine, it's a different mindset,” Anderson summed up. “And as a horseman and as a person, I'm in a position where I can stand up to these guys. I can let them have it. What are they going to do to me? Kick me off the grounds, take my box away? I've known Jim for 20-plus years. My father sat on the board of Woodbine for 35 years. I mean, I've been going to that place since I was a kid, and I absolutely love it. It's home to me. [But] I can't sit back on behalf of all the horse people in Canada and watch this happen. They have to be accountable. And kudos to Fort Erie for actually taking it to court.”

Anderson's sister, Jessica Buckley, was the Senior Vice President of Standardbred and Thoroughbred Racing at Woodbine, but resigned last June.

The post Anderson: Woodbine’s ‘Bully Tactics’ Could Result In ‘Mass Exodus’ Of Ontario-Breds appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Got It Made Tops Fasig’s June Digital Selected Sale

Got It Made (Uncle Mo) (Hip 6), offered in foal to Not This Time, topped Fasig-Tipton's June Digital Selected Sale, which closed Thursday afternoon. Consigned by Rosilyn Polan of Sunday Morning Farm, the 5-year-old mare brought $145,000 from David Anderson's Anderson Farms. She hails from the family of MGISW Cavorting (Bernardini), dam of GISW Clairiere (Curlin).

Buyers may still make offers on horses that failed to meet their reserve by visiting the sale page and then clicking “Make Offer” next to the horse they are interested in purchasing. Offers are currently being accepted on the 2-year-old half-sister to undefeated Grade I winner Jack Christopher (Munnings), among others.

Dates for the next digital sale, which will take place in August, will be announced in the coming weeks. Selected horses of racing age and breeding stock will be offered on-site in Lexington, Kentucky, on July 11 at the July Selected Horses of All Ages sale.

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