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Siblings of Successful Saratoga Grads on Offer at Fasig

There have been several horses over the past 100 years of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale to summon big price tags, eclipsing the $500,000 mark, in the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion and then go on to be quite successful on the racetrack. The siblings of four such Thoroughbreds are part of the catalogue for the famed auction's centennial edition to be held at the Spa Aug. 9-10.

The 2017 GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (Tapit) summoned $1.2-million at the Saratoga Sale back in 2015 from a partnership comprised of Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Robert LaPenta. Prior to the Belmont, the gray captured the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and retired with a record of 13-4-1-1 and earnings of $1,362,402. He retired to stud at Gainesway and is represented by his first yearlings this season.

Tapwrit's Grade I-winning dam Appealing Zophie (Successful Appeal) is also the dam of MGSW & GISP Ride a Comet (Candy Ride {Arg}) and SW Inject (Frosted). Barronstown Stud purchased the mare for $1.2 million carrying a foal by Tapit at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Appealing Zophie's most recent foal is a colt by Justify, who is offered as Hip 41 with Eaton Sales.

“He is beautiful. What I have found pretty unique about him is he has a great, long, well-angled shoulder and incredible depth up front, much like his brother,” said Eaton's Reiley McDonald. “The mare is by a really underrated broodmare sire in Successful Appeal. She has been outstanding with a very limited pedigree, but she could run herself. She has two graded stakes winners, including a Belmont Classic winner. When I looked at this one on the farm back in April, I wrote down two things: an A and Saratoga.”

MGSW Travel Column (Frosted) sold at the most recent edition of the Saratoga Sale in 2019, bringing $850,000 from OXO Equine's Larry Best. She justified her price tag pretty quickly, earning the 'TDN Rising Star' moniker for her impressive debut win at Churchill in September and was third in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. next out. Closing 2020 with a win in the GII Golden Rod S., the gray was second in the GII Rachel Alexandra S. in February and won the GII Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks in March. She was fifth in both the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks Apr. 30 and the GI Acorn S. June 5.

Fasig-Tipton's Bayne Welker and his wife Christina purchased Travel Column's MSW dam Swingit (Victory Gallop)–who is also responsible for MGISP Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday)–for $50,000 in foal to Bodemeister at the 2016 KEENOV sale. The resulting colt brought $310,000 from LaPenta's Whitehorse Stables at the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion in 2018.

Travel Column summoned almost three-times that the following year in Saratoga and her year-younger brother would have eclipsed that number if the 2020 renewal of the sale had not been canceled due to COVID-19. The son of American Pharoah, now named Corton Charlemagne, was re-routed to Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase–a combination of the Saratoga, New York-Bred and July Sales held in Lexington in September–where he sold for $1.25 million to Speedway Stables. Swingit's 2020 colt from the first crop of City of Light will be the second-to-last horse through the ring in Saratoga this year as Hip 209.

“This colt is a very typical Swingit in that we think he is a pretty special horse,” said Conrad Bandoroff of Denali Stud, which consigns the colt. “Bayne and Chris Welker, who are two very high-caliber horsemen, think he is the best foal Swingit has given them. That is pretty high praise and I would have a hard time arguing with them. He is just a very forward, very attractive, well-balanced, strong individual. Corton Charlemagne, the horse we sold for $1.25 million at the Fasig-Tipton Yearling Showcase [in September], was a May foal. This colt is a little more progressive and forward-looking than he was.”

He continued, “Obviously, Travel Column was a great success. By a freshman sire in Frosted, she sold for $850,000 at Saratoga two years ago. There is a little bit more to this colt in terms of substance and strength, but he has that fluid walk and athleticism Travel Column had. What was great about her whole story was there were people shopping the sale, who, before the sale, said they were looking for colts by proven stallions, but every time they came by the consignment, they kept seeing this gray filly and fell in love. That is what happened with Larry [Best]. We are thrilled that it worked out and we are hoping this colt is going to come up here and continue Swingit's Saratoga success. We sold Travel Column up here. We sold a Bodemeister very well up here, and, had there been a Saratoga Sale up here last year, the American Pharoah would have come up here and been the sale-topping colt.”

Four Wheel Drive, a colt from the initial crop of Triple Crown hero American Pharoah, proved quite popular at the 2018 edition of the Saratoga Sale, bringing $525,000 from pinhookers Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo, who were acting on behalf of Breeze Easy. He RNA'd for $825,000 the following March at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, but made up for it on the racetrack. Opening his account with a win in the Rosie's S. at Colonial Downs, the bay followed suit with a victory in Belmont's GIII Futurity S. and won the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint S. to take his juvenile record to three-for-three.

His stakes-winning dam Funfair (More Than Ready), a 'TDN Rising Star', did not produce foals in 2018 or 2019, but her 2020 foal, a full-sister to Four Wheel Drive, is Hip 102. She sells under the same Paramount Sales banner that her brother did.

“We are very pleased to have the full-sibling to BC Juvenile Turf Sprint and Futurity S. winner Four Wheel Drive,” said Paramount's Lesley Campion. “She is from an incredibly fast family with two siblings having set new course records [Four Wheel Drive and Born Great (Scat Daddy)], the family is hugely precocious and this filly looks to have that same physical forwardness to her. Four Wheel Drive got that clever name when Dean DeRenzo commented, here at the Saratoga sale, on his walk being like a four wheel drive, powerful action from each limb, and his sister shows the same. She has quality, strength and balance, coupled with a cool head, a filly anyone would love to add to their stable.”

While 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) has not won a stake yet, most people would agree it's only a matter of time. Purchased by West Point Thoroughbreds for $1 million at the 2019 Saratoga Sale, the bay has made just one start so far, but he made it count, romping by 13 1/4 lengths and stopping the clock for six furlongs in 1:08.75 at Santa Anita in April. Trained by John Sadler, the bay races under a partnership that, in addition to West Point, includes Hronis Racing, Siena Farm and breeder Summer Wind Equine.

Summer Wind owner Jane Lyon purchased Flightline's Grade III-winning and MGISP dam Feathered (Indian Charlie) for $2.35 million in foal to War Front at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale. Flightline is her second foal and second winner from two foals of racing age. Her fourth foal is Flightline's yearling full-brother, who is Hip 92 in the Lane's End consignment.

“This colt is very well put together,” Lyon said. “I think he is stockier and has a little more bone than Flightline had. We are hopeful that the buyers will like him for his own physicality and will appreciate that the mare if capable of producing a runner.”

The 100th edition of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale gets underway Monday at 6:30 p.m.

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What Does Fasig-Tipton’s Entry Into Cryptocurrency Mean For Buyers And Sellers?

The bloodstock market can be stubborn in its resistance to deviations from the way of doing business that's worked for decades, and even centuries. This is, after all, the same industry that only just widely accepted online bidding at auctions last year because of the pandemic.

Rooted with that knowledge, Fasig-Tipton's announcement on Monday that it would accept payment in cryptocurrency for its upcoming Saratoga Select Yearling Sale was a quantum leap in forward thinking.

For buyers, the new payment method allows for a different way to purchase horses that could potentially expand the buying bench into a bold, tech-savvy pool of new bidders. For sellers, the cryptocurrency option means only as much as they want it to mean.

The short explanation is that sale proceeds will be paid out to the seller by Fasig-Tipton in U.S. dollars, regardless of the currency used by the buyer, unless the seller specifically asks for payment in the company's chosen cryptocurrency class, Stablecoins. All sales will still be recorded in U.S. dollars from the auctioneer's stand and in the official results.

A seller won't be left with a wallet full of Stablecoins if they don't want it, the same way a seller wouldn't be stuck with proceeds in Euros if a horse were purchased by an international buyer. The proper currency conversions are handled as the funds pass through Fasig-Tipton's hands from buyer to seller, as two separate transactions.

Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said the cryptocurrency market has ascended rapidly over the past decade, but its establishment as a legitimate part of the global economy was what made it the right time to establish the new payment option.

Browning hoped the new option, and the incentives tied to it, would perhaps attract a new segment of buyers who might find the high-risk, high-reward investments of the Thoroughbred industry appealing in the same way that they do for cryptocurrencies.

“We hope it's a two-way street,” he said. “We hope some of the folks in the crypto world say, 'This is pretty cool. It's like the Thoroughbred industry is reaching out to us.' I think there's a lot of similar personalities and a lot of similar traits among the people that would be participating in the crypto environment that would find a lot of aspects of Thoroughbred racing interesting and attractive. We would hope to be able to attract, if not new players, then new eyeballs to the racing industry, and hopefully that would convert into participants in the long-term in the auction process.”

Fasig-Tipton will offer 1 million SWAPP tokens to the buyer of the most expensive horse paid for in cryptocurrency at the Saratoga sale. SWAPP tokens can be exchanged for fiat currencies (traditional “paper money”) or other cryptocurrencies.

From Fasig-Tipton's press release announcing the new payment option, Swapp Protocol is a blockchain-based DeFi platform leading a movement to democratize the $1.2 trillion/year data industry by enabling consumers to start getting paid for their online data.

The process for a buyer intending to use cryptocurrency will be similar to one using any other currency. Credit must first be established with Fasig-Tipton, and since the bidding takes place in U.S. dollars, the number on that line would also be in U.S. dollars.

If Fasig-Tipton gets a credit application from a buyer it does not recognize, Browning said the company can verify their crypto assets, the same way it would verify another buyer's U.S. dollar assets or investment funds.

If a buyer wants to pay in cryptocurrency, they then notify the sales office of their intention to do so within the range of their credit window. The buyer will then convert their cryptocurrency of choice into Stablecoins, a class of asset-backed cryptocurrency based on real-world fiat currencies and commodities such as precious metals.

The “Stable” part of the name comes from its relative stability from price fluctuations, unlike other, more volatile cryptocurrencies, and Fasig-Tipton's equine background is just a well-placed coincidence.

“They just have to notify us,” Browning said. “Credit's extended for 15 days for qualified buyers, and we really don't care if they pay in U.S. dollars or cryptocurrency, as long as they pay on a timely basis. Just like somebody would call and say, 'Hey, I need your wire instructions to wire U.S. dollars,' they just have to say, “I need your cryptocurrency account information to initiate the transfer from our crypto account to your account.”

In its early stages, Browning anticipated most of the cryptocurrency activity would come from the buying side, should there be any at all in its initial offering in Saratoga Springs, but he was excited about the prospect of where the concept could go in the near and distant futures.

“We certainly didn't enter the space thinking it's going to be one-off,” he said. “I'm not saying we're forever committed, but we anticipate activity is likely to increase in the crypto world in the next generation, in the next decade. The marketplace didn't exist 10 years ago, and it's become a prominent financial marketplace in 2021, and I think based on what we see and read in the trends in popularity, it's likely to grow in popularity, instead of diminish.”

The post What Does Fasig-Tipton’s Entry Into Cryptocurrency Mean For Buyers And Sellers? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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City of Light Ready to Shine in Saratoga with First Yearlings

First-crop yearling sire City of Light (Quality Road – Paris Notion, by Dehere) was a physical standout long before he joined the Lane's End stallion roster.

In 2015, the son of Quality Road bred by Ann Marie Farm topped the sixth session of the Keeneland September Sale by a landslide when he sold for $710,000 to Mark Reid of Walnut Green. It was the largest ticket price for a Keeneland Book 3 horse since 2007.

Allaire Ryan recalls watching City of Light develop at Lane's End Farm in the days leading up to his purchase.

“Physically, by the time the sale came around, he was a stunning individual,” she said. “He started out with a big, rangy, raw frame and truly blossomed as he came into himself over the course of sales prep. By the time Book 3 rolled around, he was in prime placement to be received by end users and pinhookers. Anybody that looked at him, he was a horse that stayed on your short list.”

A similar thought was had by breeders a few years later when he first began his stud career at Lane's End in 2019. The Breeders' Cup champion and multi-millionaire filled a 146-mare book in his first year off a $35,000 stud fee. When his fee was increased to $40,000 the following season, he bred the same number of mares.

“He's been overwhelmingly supported at stud,” Ryan said of the young stallion who was just as popular this year holding a $40,000 stud fee. “As far as getting off to a good start, we couldn't be happier with how he's done thus far.”

And just as City of Light blossomed during sales prep as a yearling, Ryan said the eye-catching bay has bettered himself physically as he's let down as a stallion.

“He's a better-looking version of himself now and I also say quite frequently that he's a better-looking version of his sire,” she said. “He's got Quality Road's size, substance and frame, but he has a lot of style and presence to himself as well. He has really matured into a beautiful-bodied stallion.”

Campaigned by Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren Jr., City of Light captured the GI Malibu S. as a sophomore in his first start against stakes company. The Michael McCarthy pupil returned at four to annex consecutive wins in the GI Triple Bend S. and GII Oaklawn H. After placing in two Grade I competitions in his next starts, he took the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and then capped off his career the following January with a 5 3/4-length victory over a sloppy track in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S.

“The fact that he's a Grade I winner at three, four and five is pretty remarkable,” Ryan said. “He was just a classy individual from the get-go. He had the drive, determination and class factor to rise above the competition.”

City of Light's first crop of weanlings were well received last year with 20 of 23 sold to average $190, 875 and place their sire at the top of the first-crop stallion ranks behind only Triple Crown winner Justify in terms of weanling average.

His top lot, a colt out of the Into Mischief mare Breaking Beauty, was the highest-priced weanling of the Fasig-Tipton November Sale when he was purchased by Oxo Equine LLC for $600,000. Larry Best's Oxo Equine purchased another top-priced member of City of Light's first crop at the Keeneland January Sale, going to $400,000 for a filly out of I'll Show Me (Bernardini) from the family of champion Proud Spell (Proud Citizen).

“In last year's market there were a lot uncertainties, but we were certainly encouraged by the support buyers showed for his first-sale yearlings,” Ryan said. “Consistent support from end users and pinhookers is always encouraging, especially for a new stallion, so to receive that kind of support certainly made us feel like we were heading into the right direction coming into the yearling sales season.”

At last month's Fasig-Tipton July Sale, four of five City of Light yearlings sold, fetching $230,000, $180,000, $170,000 and $80,000, with another failing to meet her reserve at $120,000. His top-priced yearling, a filly out of Grand Sofia (Giant's Causeway) from the family of Grade I winners Rail Trip (Jump Start) and Palace Malice (Curlin), was the highest-selling yearling of the auction of any first-crop sire.

City of Light colt out of stakes winner Adorable Miss sells as Hip 33 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. | Lane's End Farm

Ryan said the physicals City of Light is throwing lend to the yearlings' commercial appeal in the sales ring.

“City of Light is a very dominant stallion from a physical standpoint,” she said. “He's extremely consistent in what he's throwing. Like him, they have size and beautifully-balanced frames. They have scope and a bit of style and elegance to them. A City of Light yearling comes out and they have presence. They catch your eye. On top of that, they use themselves beautifully. They have a tremendous range of motion and they cover the ground effortlessly with their stride. So from a commercial aspect, they have everything you want in a yearling prospect.”

The young sire has seven first-crop yearlings cataloged for the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale on Aug. 9 and 10. Lane's End will be representing two of those youngsters.

The first, a colt selling as Hip 33, is a son of dual stakes winner Adorable Miss (Kitten's Joy), a full-sister to GIIISW Noble Beauty.

“He's a homebred here for the farm and has been a forward individual from day one,” Ryan explained. “He's got size, length, scope and a quality frame. He has a handsome head and eye, beautiful length to his neck and a nice range of motion. He carries himself effortlessly for a big, two-turn sort of colt.”

The second Lane's End-consigned City of Light, a filly selling as Hip 154, is out of the A.P. Indy mare Modesty Blaise, a daughter of Group I winner and Grade I producer Chimes of Freedom (Private Account). The filly is a half-sister to stakes winners High Noon Rider (Distorted Humor) and Poupee Flash (Elusive Quality).

“This filly oozes class and quality,” Ryan noted. “She has the residual value in her female family to back her up so I think heading into the sale, she'll be very well-received.”

Full brother to dual graded stakes winner Travel Column sells as Hip 209 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. | Chris Welker

Chris Welker has been on the ride of a lifetime over the past year as the co-breeder of dual graded stakes winner Travel Column (Frosted). The filly's half-brother by American Pharoah, now named Corton Charlemagne, brought $1.25 million at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. This year, Welker is looking forward to offering their half-brother by City of Light as Hip 209 at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale.

“What don't I like about him?” Welker asked about the colt that will be consigned with Denali Stud. “As he's gotten older, he reminds me a lot of City of Light. This colt has a very good mind, a beautiful walk and he's very smooth. He has a beautiful head on him and is everything I had hoped he would be.”

In addition to producing MGSW Travel Column, the colt's dam Swingit (Victory Gallop) is also responsible for MGISP millionaire Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday).

Regarding the decision to send Swingit to City of Light, Welker said, “We loved the way he was bred and the races he won were brilliant. He was a brilliant horse. The first time we saw him run, I got really excited about how beautiful he was. At that time Swingit wasn't what she is now so the timing was perfect that when he went to stud, her offspring had done what they've done and we were able to [breed to him].

With just one week until her colt is set to go through the ring in Saratoga, Welker is growing more and more excited to find out how he will be received by the market.

“I feel really, really good but at the same time I want to be realistic because you can't start thinking crazy,” she said. “He's a little bit of Travel Column, a little bit of the American Pharoah colt and a lot of City of Light. You just see more and more of the City of Light in him, which to me is really, really exciting. I think City of Light is such an exciting stallion prospect and it will be fun to see what his babies will do.”

City of Light's other yearlings at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale include a half-brother to GISP Mr. Crow (Tapizar), a half-brother to GIISW Merneith (American Pharoah) out of SW Flattermewithroses (Flatter), a half-sister to GIIISW Share the Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) out of three-time stakes winner Belle of the Hall (Graeme Hall), as well as a son of stakes-placed Sca Doodle (Scat Daddy).

View City of Light's full Saratoga Select Sale roster here.

The Lane's End sire also has three yearlings cataloged for the upcoming Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Sale. View their pedigrees here.

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Red Oak Stable to Offer Unbridled Mo’s First Foal at Fasig Saratoga

The first foal out of Grade I winner Unbridled Mo (Uncle Mo) is one of 210 yearlings catalogued for the 100th renewal of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale, which will be held Aug. 9 and 10 at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. The inclusion of the colt by Quality Road (hip 15) in the catalogue reflects a new business strategy for the Brunetti family's Red Oak Stable, which bred, not only the yearling, but also his multiple graded-stakes winning dam.

“Mr. [John] Brunetti, Sr. passed in March of 2018 and his son Steven Brunetti has taken over the breeding and racing operation,” explained Red Oak's racing manager Rick Sacco. “So we are looking at selling about 20% of what we breed every single year. It's just a financial decision and one that we think is prudent.”

Red Oak Stable is now being run by a third generation of Brunettis. The stable has it origins with Joseph Brunetti, who began buying horses in the 1950s. And, following his death, it was taken up by his son John, who purchased Hialeah Park in 1977. His sons John, Jr. and Steven have focused on different facets of the industry, with John handling much of the casino operations and Steven taking over much of the breeding and racing interests.

Under this new business model, Red Oak got into the sales arena at last month's Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearling Sale. The operation sold a filly by Munnings (hip 223) for $200,000. The yearling had been purchased earlier this year for $100,000 at the Keeneland January sale.

While he expects most of the farm's foals to be offered as yearlings, Sacco said the plan remains fluid.

“We do have a filly earmarked for the 2-year-old sales,” Sacco said. “A Candy Ride (Arg) filly who is a half to [Grade I winner] Mind Control that we will be selling in next year's sale cycle. We haven't determined where yet, but she's a really outstanding filly.”

The Red Oak broodmare band currently has about two dozen head.

“Right now we are up to 24,” Sacco said. “We are supporting a stallion in New York right now, King for a Day. But we are not going to get higher than that.”

The 8-year-old Unbridled Mo took her place in the Red Oak broodmare band in 2018 following a racing career in which she won four graded stakes races, capped off by a victory in that year's GI Apple Blossom H. She also won the 2016 GIII Monmouth Oaks and 2017 GIII Doubledogdare S. and GIII Houston Ladies Classic and was third in the 2018 GI Ogden Phipps S. On the board in eight of 12 starts, she won seven times and earned $1,067,880.

The Brunettis purchased Unbridled Mo's dam Unbridled Waters (Unbridled) for $155,000 at the 1999 Fasig-Tipton Florida March Sale. She won four of 16 starts and earned $128,640. In addition to Unbridled Mo, she produced graded stakes winner Unbridled Essence (Essence of Dubai).

Sacco admitted if the mare's first foal had been a filly, she would likely not be for sale, but the racing manager has been impressed by what he has seen of the colt, who is consigned to the Saratoga sale by Hunter Valley Farm.

“He is an outstanding individual, he's a beautiful colt,” Sacco said. “He has a lot of Unbridled Mo in him. He's a long, athletic colt and very correct. He showed very clean with the pictures that we took on the farm and he has a Grade I scope. We're very pleased with him physically. He just really started to mature in a big way in the last month and change.”

Unbridled Mo did not have a foal in 2021, but she is currently in foal to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

While shoppers can expect to see 20% of the Red Oak foal crop at auction, the operation will still be well-represented at the racetrack. The Red Oak colors were recently carried to victory by Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) in the GII John A Nerud S. The 5-year-old has scored top-level successes in the 2018 GI Hopeful S. and GI H. Allen Jerkens S. The stable has also been represented this summer by first-out maiden-winning juveniles Wand of Power (First Samurai) and Boss Lady Kim (Street Boss).

“We want to have at least 20 horses that are out with trainers,” Sacco said. “We have horses with Todd Pletcher, we have horses with my brother Greg Sacco on the Jersey Shore, and Brad Cox has a couple for us also at Keeneland. We want to enjoy the racing end of it. And of course we are maintaining two farms in Ocala, Red Oak and Good Chance Farm, our training center. So we are just trying to make some prudent business moves to offset some expenses by selling some of the higher-end horses.”

After a year's absence due to the pandemic, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale returns next Monday with bidding scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

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