LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale was strong out of the gate and demand for horses at all levels continued right through the final horse in the ring at Newtown Paddocks Monday. When the dust settled, three horses had sold for $500,000 or over, with a pair of fillies tied at the top when selling for $550,000.
“It was a terrific afternoon and early evening of horse sales today,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “The horses of racing age marketplace was just dynamite. I think that virtually everyone in attendance–both buyers and sellers, and I can tell you the sales company officials–were a little surprised by how strong the market was and how robust and how consistent the bidding activity was literally from start to finish.”
At the sale's end just around 8 p.m., 142 had sold for a gross of $13,982,000. The average was $98,465 and the median was $62,500. With 28 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 16.5%.
A year ago, 129 horses grossed $10,814,000 for an average of $83,829 and a median of $62,500. The buy-back rate was 19.4%.
“Three horses brought $500,000 or more,” Browning said. “But not only that, we had a lot of horses that got sold with modest reserves that were bringing significantly more than the reserves. So it was a great start to the July sale and I am very, very pleased. Once again, it's a tribute to the people who bring the quality horses to us and give us the opportunity to sell them. It sure worked well today.”
Bloodstock agent Steve Young purchased the co-sale topping Malleymoo (English Channel) from the Gainesway consignment, while Chad Schumer matched that $550,000 price tag later in the auction when acquiring Free Look (Tapit) from the Elite consignment. The final horse through the ring, Crypto Mo (Mohaymen), supplemented to the sale just hours after winning the GIII Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows Saturday night, sold to Hunter Valley Farm for $500,000.
In addition to the co-topper, Elite consigned six of the day's top 10 priced horses.
“It's been a terrific sale for us tonight–probably our best July sale ever,” said Elite's Brad Weisbord. “We started here in 2017 and the racehorses and broodmare prospects are our specialty. We've sold 34 of 37 today and we have post-sale offers on two of the three that the clients are considering. It was a terrific marketplace.”
Weisbord said he was finding buyers at every level of the market.
“We rarely sell under $100,000, but we had clients with horses that were going to sell for less than that, so we took them,” he said. “So we sold horses from $35,000 to $550,000, which is a big range for us. But there were buyers at all levels. We have always found that, unlike the yearling or 2-year-old sales where the middle market might be thin, at racehorse sales there are buyers at all levels because you can send them to your pick of trainers and they can go earn pretty quickly.”
Young Back in Action at July
Bloodstock agent Steve Young, whose Fasig July purchases include subsequent GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint winnter Wavell Avenue (Harlington), went to $550,000 to acquire stakes-winning Malleymoo (English Channel) (hip 444) Monday at Newtown Paddocks. The 3-year-old filly, consigned by Gainesway, won the Penn Oaks in her most recent start for Rockingham Ranch, David Bernsen, Talla Racing and JWS Racing.
“She is going to Todd Pletcher,” Young said. “She will go to Saratoga and look to go in one of the 3-year-old grass filly stakes there later in the meet.”
Malleymoo broke her maiden at Dundalk before finishing second in the Wait a While S. at Gulfstream last December. She was off the board in the GIII Sweetest Chant S. and GIII Herecomesthebride S., as well as a Keeneland turf allowance in April before her front-running victory in the June 2 Penn Oaks.
“She is a beautiful filly,” Young said. “She had a couple of rough trips at Gulfstream and has improved basically every start of her life. She's a nice horse. And we think she'll get better as she gets older.”
Young, who made the highest bid at last year's July sale, also purchased Lord Zed (Lord Nelson) (hip 437) for $15,000 Monday, Two Minute Lick (Connect) (hip 520) for $27,000 and late in the sale he paid $135,000 for Delta Tau Chi (hip 637), a colt by Practical Joke.
“This is a place to get horses of all classes for people who want to go to Saratoga or Del Mar or Ellis Park,” Young said of the July auction. “I think the results have been very good for a sale that's only been in business for 10 years.”
Free Look to Join Blue Diamond Band
While her racing future is still undecided, Free Look (Tapit) (hip 596) will eventually be joining the broodmare band at Imad Alsagar's Blue Diamond Stud in the UK after selling for $550,000 Monday at Fasig-Tipton. Bloodstock agent Chad Schumer signed the ticket on the graded stakes-placed filly, who was consigned by Elite.
Free Look | Sarah Andrew
“She's a beautiful mare,” Schumer said. “Tapit is a leading broodmare sire, she was graded stakes placed at two, she has beautiful conformation–she's is an absolute cracker of a physical. And it's a fantastic family. What more can you ask for? She has everything you would look for in a broodmare for the future.”
The 3-year-old filly is out of the unraced Wild Mint (Medaglia d'Oro), a full-sister to Violence. A $300,000 Keeneland September purchase in 2021, she was second in the 2022 GII Miss Grillo S. and ended her juvenile campaign with a fifth-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She was most recently third in a Belmont allowance May 13 for trainer Chad Brown and Klaravich Stables.
Of immediate plans for the filly, Schumer said, “Plans are fluid because she's a 3-year-old filly and she's OK to race. But we also think she's very valuable as a broodmare. That was the primary focus when we bought her. I think what we will do is let the dust settle and figure it out and come up what we think is the best plan for her and go from there.”
Blue Diamond enjoyed Classic success last year with Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who won last year's G1 French Oaks.
“Imad is an old friend and Nancy Sexton, who I work with a lot, she is one of his bloodstock advisors,” Schumer said. “They found her in the catalogue. I am just doing the easy stuff here. They are the ones that picked her and I went and looked at her, inspected her.”
Klaravich Stables was also represented in the sales ring Monday by Power in Numbers (Girvin), who sold for $400,000.
Crypto Mo to Join Cox Barn
Saturday's GIII Iowa Oaks winner Crypto Mo (Mohaymen) will be joining the barn of trainer Brad Cox after Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm purchased her, in partnership with Qatar Racing, for $500,000 Monday evening at Fasig-Tipton. Crypto Mo was winning her third straight race Saturday in the Iowa Oaks. She captured a Prairie Meadows allowance by 17 3/4 lengths in May and added the Panthers S. in June. “She won very well Saturday night,” Galvin said. “She's a filly on the up. She's a beautiful physical and she was very classy here in the back ring. She never turned a hair. She is definitely improving, so hopefully there is bigger and better on the horizon for her.”
Asked if the filly had been on the team's radar before her win at Prairie Meadows late Saturday night, Galvin admitted, “Not really, no. The race was run Saturday night, so obviously when she was advertised, we looked her up and she won it pretty easily and got a good number. We are hopeful we will take her to Saratoga and maybe look at some races up there. Nothing is set in stone yet.”
Hunter Valley was represented by its first Grade I winner when A Mo Reay (Uncle Mo), purchased for $400,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale, won the GI Beholder Mile at Santa Anita in March. Qatar Racing has had its own success buying fillies of racing age with MGISW Caravel (Mizzen Mast).
“We've had a good year with A Mo Reay and a few others and it's boosted our confidence a little bit,” Galvin said of the decision to purchase the filly. “And she caught our eye.”
Galvin said he wasn't surprised by the filly's $500,000 price tag.
“She is an improving 3-year-old filly,” he said. “There are a host of races for those in the next couple of months. They are always in high demand.”
From Prairie Meadows to Fasig-Tipton, Crypto Mo Stars at July
When Crypto Mo (Mohaymen) (hip 645) hit the wire first in the GIII Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows late Saturday night, her owners made the last-minute decision to enter in the horses of race age sale and the partners were rewarded when the sophomore filly–the final horse through the ring at Fasig-Tipton Monday–sold for $500,000 to Hunter Valley Farm. She was consigned by Taylor Made Sales. Trainer and co-owner Travis Murphy, whose wife Cindy rode the filly Saturday night to her milestone 2,000th victory, and co-owner Brendon Valentini were on hand at Fasig-Tipton Monday to watch their prize filly sell.
Murphy purchased the filly for $20,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September sale and Valentini admitted they would celebrate her sale Monday the same way they celebrated her purchase nearly two years ago.
“We bought her for $20,000 as a yearling and we went to Malones,” he said. “We sold her for a half-a-million today and we are going back to Malones.”
“It's emotional,” Murphy said. “We keep a smaller stable and buy horses in our partnership group. We get attached to them. So that part is difficult.”
Valentini added, “We are excited about her future. We want her to go on and do great things. I think she is going to be a multiple graded stakes winner.”
Murphy trailored the filly the nine hours from Prairie Meadows to Lexington himself.
“Brook Ledge had a van at Prairie Meadows with some of the other ship-in horses, but they were leaving at 4 a.m.,” Murphy said. “We hadn't made any preparations for the sale yet because we wanted to see how she competed and I wanted to see how she came back from the race. So that left her getting here in a very short window.”
Harrison Ups the Quality with Redifined
Perry Harrison, along with trainer Michelle Lovell, came to the Fasig-Tipton July sale specifically for one filly and the Texan went home happy when securing the stakes-placed Redifined (More Than Ready) (hip 481) for $450,000.
“I had a team with me and we looked her over pretty thoroughly and vetted her and she fit a lot of what we are trying to accomplish,” Harrison said. “She's a nice filly.”
Redifined, out of Mrs. Boss (Brz) (Wild Event), was consigned by Lane's End. Racing for trainer Tony Dutrow and his Team D partnership, the 3-year-old filly broke her maiden at Belmont last June. She was third in the Bolton Landing S. and a narrowly beaten second in the GIII Matron S. before ending her juvenile campaign with a runner-up effort in the Stewart Manor S. She captured a Belmont allowance June 3 in her most recent start. She was a $150,000 Keeneland September purchase.
Harrison campaigned the hard-knocking mare Change of Control (Fed Biz), who won the 2021 GIII Intercontinental S. He said he currently has about 10 horses in training, as well as a small broodmare band.
“We typically breed about five to eight and then we race usually about the same,” Harrison said. “This is kind of step outside of our comfort zone, but we feel like she is well worth it.
She had both ends of it–we want to look at the breeding aspect as well as the racing. And she's only a 3-year-old and she has a lot of promise and a lot of upside.”
As for plans for the filly, Harrison gestured to Lovell and said, “I am going to talk to Michelle about it. I will let her decide. I'm not going to try to put her words in her mouth on that.”
Of the filly's final price tag, Harrison said, “It was where we thought she would go. Did we hope she'd bring less? Yes. But for quality, you are going to end up paying for.”
Mawaka Makes First Purchase
Scott Mawaka, who has been a racing fan and minority partner in some horses for two decades, made his first purchase at auction Monday at Newtown Paddocks, going to $445,000 to acquire Catiche (Arrogate) (hip 551) from the Elite consignment. Mawaka was sitting alongside bloodstock agent and advisor Marette Farrell when he signed his first ticket.
“She has a tremendous pedigree and still potentially some life on the track,” Mawaka said. “I think we will come out of the excitement of the sale and re-gather and determine what her future looks like. At this point it looks like we might see her back on the track short term and certainly in the broodmare in the future.”
Scott Mawaka, Marette Farrell at the HORA Sale 2023 Fasig-Tipton July Sale
Mawaka said no trainer had been determined for the 4-year-old filly.
Racing for Augustin Stables and trainer Jonathan Thomas, Catiche was runner-up in last year's GIII Selene S. and Bourbonette S. She most recently finished second in a May 12 Woodbine allowance.
Of the filly's final price, Mawaka said, “I thought it was a good deal. I anticipated a little more, so I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to get her there.”
Based in Ohio, Mawaka is CEO of the insurance company Fleet Response. Among the horses he has been co-owner of is Fingal's Cave (Carpe Diem), runner-up in last year's Raven Run S. at Keeneland.
“I've owned horses in minority partnerships for a long time and this is my first introduction to the sale,” he said. “I am just looking to expand more than anything. I love the game. I've been involved as a fan and an owner for probably 20 years. And it's a time in my life now that I can invest more energy and finance into the game.”
As he looks to build a broodmare band, Farrell said Mawaka's plan will be to breed mostly to race, while selling some foals to finance his stable.
Asked if he has plans for any more purchases, Mawaka laughed and said, “Hard to say. We will see. It depends on these prices.”
Lanz Continues Saudi Buying Spree
Pedro Lanz, who was active buying on behalf of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Sons's KAS Stables at the Keeneland April sale a few months ago, continued buying horses of racing age to send to Saudi Arabia Monday in Lexington. The agent went to $400,000 to acquire Power in Numbers (Girvin) (hip 470) and came back just a few hips later to purchase Rebellious Stage (Justify) (hip 479) for $200,000. Both 3-year-old colts were consigned by Elite.
“I am buying for Saudi Arabian clients and they are looking for horses to run Classic distances,” Lanz said. “They are trying to get the best horses for stakes races there, so they love these sales.”
A $200,000 Fasig-Tipton July purchase in 2021, Power in Numbers has won three straight races this year for Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown. He most recently captured the June 25 Tale of the Cat S. at Monmouth Park.
“This horse is a 3-year-old, lightly raced, with good numbers and improving with every race,” Lanz said of Power in Numbers. “The horse is sound and he's by Girvin and they are doing very good.”
Lanz topped the Keeneland April sale when purchasing the debut-winning 2-year-old Commissioner Dan (Commissioner) (hip 120) for $500,000. Also at that horses of racing age auction, he purchased Carmel Road (Quality Road) for $260,000 and Naval Aviator (Tapit) for $170,000.
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