Prelude to Breeding Season, Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale Opens Monday

LEXINGTON, KY – With just weeks to the opening of the 2023 breeding season, the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale begins its two-day run Monday at Newtown Paddocks with an eclectic offering of broodmares, broodmare and racing prospects and short yearlings. The auction attracted 465 entries to its main catalogue and, with the addition of supplemental entries, now features 594 catalogued offerings. Bidding begins Monday at 10 a.m.

Jill Gordon and Jacob West's Highgate Sales consignment made its debut at last year's Winter Mixed Sale and made an immediate impact when selling the broodmare prospect Brilliant Cut (Speightstown) for a sale-topping $750,000 to Katsumi Yoshida.

Highgate returns for its second February sale with a consignment of 10 head.

“This sale got us off to a really good start last year,” Gordon said on a windswept Sunday morning in Lexington. “We are definitely glad to be back.”

Activity at the Highgate sales barn, and throughout Newtown Paddocks, has been steady over the lst two days, according to Gordon.

“The traffic has been steady throughout the barns,” Gordon said. “We haven't been overrun, but we have kept busy enough throughout the day today as well as yesterday. We hope to see some more activity for the remainder of the day today and into tomorrow.”

The consignment has a hard act to follow from its 2022 debut. In addition to the sale-topper, Highgate sported a perfect strike rate at Fasig-Tipton last February.

“We have a good group of horses,” Gordon said of the 2023 offerings. “We have got horses with current race form and some stakes-placed fillies. And some mares in foal to fashionable covering sires and a nice weanling from the first crop by Game Winner. So we are hopeful that we will have another good February sale. We were 10 for 10 last year and hopefully we can replicate that this year.”

Morris Back in Action

After missing the first two auctions of the new year while at home recovering from a stroke he suffered in December, Stuart Morris was back at the helm of his consignment at Fasig-Tipton Sunday. Morris will offer 17 horses over the next two days in Lexington, including the broodmare Brooke and Emory (Speightstown), a half-sister to promising sophomore and 'TDN Rising Star' Faustin (Curlin). The 6-year-old mare's Twirling Candy colt, foaled Feb. 3, will sell alongside his dam.

“I feel like the interest and the buyer base is very typical for this sale,” Morris said. “It's very strong, with a deep buying base from all levels. All of our babies and mares have been well-received, it appears. So I feel like this sale will be consistent and strong like it always is. It's always been an honest market here at Fasig in February. And I don't anticipate any slack coming. I've always felt like this market is very honest and fair and you get what your horse is worth and, if you get lucky, you get a little extra. But I've never brought a horse out here and thought I sold it short. I think that's going to carry on. All of the usual suspects are here and a few others that usually aren't are in the room. It certainly feels like, for us, here in this shedrow, that it will carry on like it's been at the previous sales in the last two years or so.”

Morris agreed the February sale's status as the last stop, not just ahead of the breeding season, but also before the yearling sales, helps build business.

“I think for young mares and maiden mares, it creates a fervor for them,” Morris said of the auction's place on the calendar. “If guys are trying to cover a season that they have to cover or if 'I need mares for a stallion I stand at my farm,' or 'I can buy one and not have to feed it for another three months' because we start breeding and foaling next month, instead of buying in November and having to feed it until it foals. For young mares and broodmares it creates extra demand because of the timing of it. It's the last stop to buy those.”

Morris continued, “It's also the last stop for yearlings. So if you have an order to fill for pinhooking or racing and you need to buy horses in that market, it's obviously our last chance to do it. So I think both sides of that market are bolstered somewhat by the timing of the sale.”

Despite not being able to travel to Florida for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale at the end of January, Morris's consignment sent out the auction's top-priced lot, a short yearling colt by Tapit who sold for $225,000.

Asked if it was hard to watch the result from afar, Morris said, “It was and it wasn't. I missed it because I missed seeing all of my friends and being in Ocala and being in the market. I just enjoy being at a horse sale. It was hard not to be there and celebrate with the longtime clients and friends who owned that horse. They've been supporters of me for my whole career–since I was 15 years old. So I missed it for that reason, the more personal aspect of it. Professionally, I never had any doubts that my staff would do a phenomenal job and those horses would be very well cared for and very well presented. So it was more on a personal level that I missed being there.”

Morris said he is still trying to take it a bit easy at his first sale back in action.

“It feels very good to be back,” he said. “I made a goal for myself with my kids on Dec. 28 to be here for this market. So to make that goal feels very rewarding. I am managing my energy level and my time out here. I still have to take care of myself–I am still going to physical therapy and doing all of that stuff, but it's very great being back out here and seeing all my friends and peers. Being back out at a horse sale and smelling horses and being back at it again is very nice.”

Paddy Campion Makes Consigning Debut

The Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale marks the debut of Paddy Campion's Dundrum Sales. The 25-year-old will offer three horses during Tuesday's second session of the February auction.

“I have been working for Paramount forever and ever, since I was a kid,” Campion said. “Some people approached me that wanted to sell their horses and I thought, why not do it myself. I am glad I did. It's been very fun so far.”

Campion was definitely born into the horse business. His parents, Lesley and Ted, operate Dundrum Farm in Versailles, while Lesley is the longtime accounts manager at Paramount Sales.

“The sales are my main thing,” Campion said. “I've always loved the sales. I've worked on farms. I've never worked racing, but I've always loved the sales. To have my own consignment is kind of special.”

Campion is pleased with how his three-horse consignment has been received so far at the sales grounds.

“I've been very happy,” he confirmed. “The yearling has been out a bunch of times. A bunch of people have come to see the two broodmares and everyone has been giving me pats on the back. We will see come the sale day. Hopefully it all comes together.”

Asked what he has learned from his parents that he will take into his consignor debut, Campion said, “I've pretty much learned everything from Lesley, my mom. She's a huge hustler and she is always trying to find little things about the broodmares. She tries to find sneaky little facts that people might not know and just mention them to people in the hope that people find them interesting and they stay on people's lists.”

And what nugget has he found for the three horses in his first consignment?

“Topanga Canyon (Lord Nelson) has nine sisters under 10 years of age and her mother is still having babies,” Campion said with a smile. “So the page is only going to get better.”

Looking ahead, Campion said, “The plan is probably to see how this sale goes and see if I can maybe round up some for October, I'm thinking.”

Campion looks to be remaining cool and composed ahead of the Winter Mixed sale.

“I don't feel too much pressure, it's kind of small at the moment, so it's ok,” he said. “Come sales day, we might be talking a different story.”

The post Prelude to Breeding Season, Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale Opens Monday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

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.

The post Siblings of Successful Saratoga Grads on Offer at Fasig appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Weekend Winners Headed to Fasig

A trio of horses that visited the winner's circle over Fourth of July weekend will make their next appearances in the Fasig-Tipton auction ring Monday as part of the company's July Horses of Racing Age Sale.

Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) (Hip 557) gave his resume a major boost last weekend with his first black-type win. On July 2, the sophomore gelding scored an emphatic victory beneath Jose Ortiz, taking the Iowa Derby by 4 1/2 lengths at odds of 16-1. The chestnut earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort.

“We were thrilled with the win [July 2] and more over the fashion in which he won it by, beating an accomplished field of horses by 4 1/2 lengths, earning a career best 95 beyer,” Paramount Sales' Lesley Campion said. “He truly is a turn-key horse, he has been as sound as bell metal and shows up every time! I think this colt is primed for a big summer, a ton of conditions open with already a quarter of a million in earnings and maybe a trip to the Dubai Carnival as a fun target for the new owners in 2022. He is a standout physical with a fantastic mind and we are delighted to be offering him next Monday.”

Hitting the board in his first four starts, Stilleto Boy graduated at fifth asking at Oaklawn in April, defeating future GIII Indiana Derby hero Mr. Wireless (Dialed In), and was fourth in the Prairie Mile prior to his breakout win in the Iowa Derby for trainer Doug Anderson. He is a half-brother to SW Rosie My Rosie (Purge) and SP Condo Closing (Offlee Wild).

Elite offers another new stakes winner in Josie (Race Day) (Hip 501), who captured the Iowa Distaff at Prairie Meadows July 3. She kicked off 2021 with an allowance score in the slop at Oaklawn in February. Off the board next out there in Apr. 8, she won an Indiana optional claimer 20 days later and repeated in Iowa.

Out of SW Spirited Away (Awesome Again), Josie is a half to MGSW Prospective (Malibu Moon) and the dam of GSW & GISP Kalypso (Brody's Cause).

“It is always crucial to come into these horses in training sales off of wins and it is even better to come in off a stakes win,” Elite's Brad Weisbord said. “She is one of a handful of stakes-winning fillies in the catalogue. That was her first time in stakes company and I thought her race was very impressive. She ran a nine on the Ragozin sheets, which is a lifetime top and it would be competitive in Grade II races the rest of the year.”

Weisbord and Liz Crow's consignment also includes a promising sophomore colt in Hozier (Pioneerof the Nile) (Hip 659). Second in both the GII Rebel S. and Sir Barton S. for trainer Bob Baffert, the $625,000 FTSAUG purchase was transferred to Rodolphe Brisset. Failing to fire in the June 26 GIII Ohio Derby, the bay bounced back just eight days later at Ellis, winning a one-mile allowance July 4. Owned by the group known as the Avengers, he is a son of MGSW Merry Meadow (Henny Hughes).

“We ran him off eight days' rest after running in the Ohio Derby,” said SF's Tom Ryan. “That race just didn't work out for him. We thought it was a throw out race and Rodolphe felt confident enough that the horse would come back and race very well. He had good energy, his head was in the feed tub and he was training well throughout the week. It wouldn't be fair to bring him into the sale off such a sub-par performance in the Ohio Derby. It was an interesting maneuver to run a horse back on eight days' rest, but it turned out to be the right one. Getting a win on a Saturday afternoon is what it's all about.”

Ryan continued, “He has shown he has class and he will fit nicely in someone's program. He is lightly enough raced horse with a lot of conditions ahead of him that he can be a lot of fun for a lot of people.”

Ryan also pointed out another sophomore colt of note who broke his maiden June 23 named Myopic (Candy Ride {Arg}) (Hip 525). Off the board in two starts for Baffert, the SF homebred donned cap and gown by six lengths at Indiana.

“He won quite emphatically about 10 days ago and ran an 85 Beyer,” Ryan said. “He really looks like a progressive colt. He is just figuring things out.”

Myopic's second dam is Grade I winner Key Phrase (Flying Paster), who is the dam of SW Yankee Gentleman (Storm Cat).

“He only has sight in one eye,” Ryan said. “We were slated to sell him as a foal and he got this little eye injury. He was raised with Gerry Dilger and we thought it would rectify itself by the time he was a yearling, but it didn't really. He ended up losing sight in the eye. He is a big boy now and he is unaffected by it. He is out there strutting his stuff and looks like he wants to become a nice racehorse.”

The trio of Fasig-Tipton July auctions kick off Monday with the Breeding Stock Sale starting at 2 p.m. and the Horses of Racing Age Sale immediately following. The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale will take place Tuesday, beginning at 10 a.m.

The post Weekend Winners Headed to Fasig appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights