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Record-Setting Fasig October Sale Concludes

LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale, which had already surpassed its previous highest gross with a day to go, concluded Thursday with new high-water marks for average and median and its lowest buy-back rate since 2013.

“Day four was another outstanding day for the October sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “It was a fitting conclusion to a great horse sale. It's been a great week. The numbers have been tremendous all four days across the board. There were dramatic increases in gross, dramatic increases in average and dramatic increases in median and a pretty meaningful reduction in the RNA rate also. It was a very vibrant marketplace with tremendous depth in the bidding activity. There was a very diverse group of buyers to the bitter end. The sale exceeded our most optimistic expectations.”

By the close of business Thursday, 1,153 yearlings had sold for $52,607,500. The average of $45,672 was up 33.9% from 2020 and bettered the sales previous record figure of $37,955 set in 2019. The median of $25,000 was up 66.7% from 2020 and bettered the previous record of $18,500 set in 2014.

With just 205 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was a sparkling 15.1%.

Jacob West, bidding on behalf of Vinnie Viola's St. Elias purchased four of the auction's top five lots. West signed on behalf of the partnership of Viola and Mike Repole at a record-equaling $925,000 to secure a colt by Street Sense Wednesday. He made the highest bid of Thursday's final session of the auction when going to $500,000 to secure a colt by Nyquist (hip 1281).

Thursday's session topper was consigned by St. George Sales.

“It's been a really good sale, top to bottom,” confirmed Archie St. George. “We have sold nearly everything through the ring. There is money here, obviously, for good horses, but the middle and bottom market is good. I'd say it's carried on from September. Everything is positive. Long may it last. It's a fun time to sell horses.”

Patience Pays With Nyquist Colt

Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable added a colt by Nyquist (hip 1281) to its October haul when Jacob West, bidding over the internet, went to $500,000 to acquire the yearling from the St. George Sales consignment Thursday. The dark bay is out of Froyo Star (Rockport Harbor), a half-sister to multiple Grade I winner Sweet Reason (Street Sense) and graded winner Don't Forget Gil (Kafwain).

“He's a beautiful colt,” said Archie St. George. “He's got a lot of quality and presence. I'd like to thank Vinnie Viola and St. Elias for purchasing him and wish them the best of luck with him. We loved him and hopefully Vinnie will love him down the road.”

St. George and partners purchased the colt for $270,000 as a weanling at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale. The yearling was making his second trip through the sales ring this year after RNA'ing for $295,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale in August.

“He was probably in a bit of a growthy spurt then,” St. George said of the yearling's trip to Saratoga. “He did really well when he came home. The extra month to October helped. He just matured and filled out. To me, he's the whole package and I hope he runs now. We bought him here last November. We gave him a lot of money for him, so it's nice when it turns out.”

St. George has had success selling into a competitive yearling market. Asked if he was concerned about buying weanlings in that market when the calendar shifts to bloodstock sales in two weeks, he said, “It will be tough, but it always is. It's always very competitive to buy foals. There are a lot of good judges out there, people who do well year in and year out. And you have to work the sale hard. We are lucky between my wife, Michelle, and Roger O'Callaghan, we have a great team and we've had a lot of luck together. So we just have to work hard and hope we get lucky.”

Glen Hill Gets Its Gun Runner

After getting outbid on yearlings from Saratoga to Kentucky, bloodstock agent Donato Lanni finally signed a ticket on behalf of Glen Hill Farm when going to $335,000 to acquire a filly by Gun Runner (hip 1584) just two hips before the end of the Fasig-Tipton October sale Thursday night.

“If there is a good horse here, people will wait around for her,” Lanni said. “We've been trying to buy a horse for Glen Hill all year and we've been outbid all year. This is the first horse I bought for [Glen Hill's Craig Bernick] all year. We waited for the last sale of the year and one of the last horses through the ring. He said he wanted to buy something. We stretched a little bit for her, but we had been outbid at Saratoga, September and here. So we feel fortunate we were able to get her.”

The bay filly is the first foal out of stakes-placed Lunar Gaze (Malibu Moon). She was bred by Waymore LLC of the late Tom Conway and Charles Moore and was consigned by Taylor Made. Waymore purchased Lunar Gaze, in foal to Pioneerof the Nile, for $450,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale. The mare sold in foal to Vino Rosso for $90,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November sale.

“Gun Runner is off to a great start,” Lanni said. “And this filly was very nice. She had a lot of tone to her and a lot of strength to her.”

Zacney Strikes for Two Thursday

Chuck Zacney had been outbid on a couple of horses earlier in the October sale, but came back strong to take home two yearlings in the name of his Cash is King Thursday. First up, bloodstock agent Michael Hernon signed the ticket for the operation at $230,000 on a colt by Bolt d'Oro (hip 1332) and, as the sale was winding down Zacney, bidding on the phone, went to $290,000 to acquire a colt by Street Sense (hip 1580) from the Burleson Farms consignment.

Hip 1580 is the first foal out of Lucky Cover (Medaglia d'Oro), a daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Teammate (A.P. Indy).
“He was a big, strong, athletic colt with a great page,” Zacney said of the colt. “With Medaglia d'Oro on the bottom and I'm a big fan of Street Sense. When I saw him, I loved everything about him.”

The yearling was bred by Nice Guys Stable, which purchased Lucky Cover for $195,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale.
Hip 1332 is out of the unraced Gwithian (Street Sense), a half-sister to multiple Grade I placed Solomini (Curlin). He was bred by Clark Brewster and was consigned by Fort Christopher's Thoroughbreds.

“We are hearing a lot of good things about Bolt d'Oro, so we decided to jump in and get one,” Zacney explained. “We thought he was one of the better ones.”

Of his October shopping, Zacney said, “I actually came in last night and bid on one or two earlier in the sale and didn't get them. They were fillies, so I had to step up my game a little bit and jump a little higher for the colts, and I did.”
Zacney said both yearlings will likely be trained by Butch Reid.

Legion Bloodstock Takes Off

A group of four friends, each with sales and racing interests, decided to pool their resources and their talents under one umbrella and Legion Bloodstock was formed. Travis Durr, Evan Ciannello, Kristian Villante and Kyle Zorn debuted the new agency at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and came away with 17 yearlings for a total of $2,110,000. The group continued to be active at this week's Fasig-Tipton October sale, signing for five yearlings for a total of $373,000. Leading the Fasig purchases was a $250,000 filly by Good Magic.

“Travis Durr is a good friend of ours and he breaks all of our yearlings for us,” Ciannello said. “He approached us and said, 'What if we combine forces? We can work on marketing and getting our name out there.'”

Ciannello continued, “We have another syndicate, and we have other clients that we've bought for in the past, we had never bought under a banner. We've used different agents, but we mostly use different trainers and then the trainer would get the horse. So it just made sense to pool our talents.”

Also joining the new venture was Kristian Villante and Kyle Zorn.

“Kristian Villante is a bloodstock agent, he's been doing this and he has his own clients,” Ciannello said. “Kyle works for Hagyard Pharmacy. He worked for [trainer] Pat Byrne for years and now he manages Chuck and Maribeth Sandford's racing operation. So he brings that background with the horsemanship and the racing side of it.”

Pooling their talents and resources, the group works as a committee.

“At the sale, we will look at everything and everyone will say, 'OK, here are the horses I like.' We will all go off of different short lists and everybody splits up and then we compare notes. Then we do a second look and, if everybody signs off, we go after that horse.”

Joining forces has also allowed the agency to have coverage at, not just all the major sales, but also regional auctions. In additional to Keeneland September and Fasig October, Legion Bloodstock was on the results sheets at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale, the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale, and the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's October Yearling Sale.

“We buy at every level, from the bottom, the top and everywhere in between,” Ciannello said. “We do some pinhooking. We have a partnership where we bought four yearlings this year all for $30,000 or less and the goal is to sell them. Hopefully they will be precocious, maybe get a start at Keeneland in April and have a good showing and get sold privately. If not, the July Horses of Racing Age Sale here [at Fasig-Tipton] will be the end of the road.”

Have a broad base of clients to draw from also gives Legion Bloodstock the flexibility to put together various partnerships to better compete in a competitive market.

“We will get creative,” Ciannello said. “We will put together partnerships. We aren't afraid to partner with partners. We bought a filly Tuesday for $250,000, a Good Magic filly, and we had to stretch, but we got her. For the perceived good ones, they are hard to buy. So we go back to the drawing board at the end and talk to everybody and say this is what we got and who wants what percentage. It's very flexible and everybody is like-minded. We can say these people will gel well with these people, so we can put together a group. Let's face it, the partnerships are the future. Even the billionaires out there are partnering, so if we want to compete, we have to do the same thing.”

Legion Bloodstock has already gained a toe-hold in the sales arena.

“So far, it's been very encouraging,” Ciannello said of the agency's early reception. “I didn't think it would grow so far this fast, but already we have our hats and people saying, 'Hey, Legion Bloodstock!' So it's been pretty cool so far. Hopefully, some horses from this first group hit. That would be great for us and we can keep it growing.”

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No Slowing Down at Fasig-Tipton October Sale

LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale, with a session still to come, soared past its record gross with another day of break-neck bidding Wednesday at Newtown Paddocks. By the close of business Wednesday, 856 yearlings had sold at the October sale for a total of $39,511,600, bettering the previous record gross of $38,258,900 which was set in 2019.

“Obviously, it was a continuation of the euphoria/excitement and enthusiasm throughout the day,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said of the October sale's third session. “It's beyond what we could have hoped for. There were a couple strings throughout the day where for three hours it seemed like every horse got sold. We ended up with an RNA rate of less than 13%. And I promise you by noon tomorrow, a big chunk of that 13% will be sold because they will be in there fighting for them in the morning.”

The October sale looks set for more records as it reaches its final session Thursday. The three-day average of $46,158–up 31.7% from the corresponding 2020 figure–is ahead of the record average of $37,955 that was set in 2019. The median of $21,000 is up 40% from a year ago and well ahead of the sale record of $18,500 set in 2014.

Bloodstock agent Jacob West twice tied the highest price for an October colt, going to $750,000 for a colt by Empire Maker (hip 513) Tuesday and again for a son of Gun Runner (hip 870) early in Wednesday's session–both on behalf of Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable–before smashing that colt record and equaling the highest bid in October history when acquiring a son of Street Sense (hip 1107) for $925,000 for the partnership of St. Elias and

Mike Repole. The price matched the auction's record set in 1999 for a filly by Storm Cat.

The sale-topper was bred by Sam-Son Farm as the historic Canadian operation began to reach the conclusion of its ongoing dispersal.

“Honestly the sale topper is a little bittersweet,” Browning admitted. “You hate to see a 50-year operation like Sam-Son make a business decision and make changes as the family dynamic has changed. They've had a wonderful program and they brought some wonderful horses here to October and some wonderful horses to Saratoga. It was a great tribute to [Sam-Son Farm Manager] Dave Whitford and [Racing Manager] Tom Zwiesler, and to the Samuel family to set the record here in October.”

The only hiccup in the October sale came when the internet bidding went down briefly late in the afternoon, but the sales company didn't know of any missed bids, according to Browning. “We tried to be as reactive as possible,” Browning said of his team's efforts to notify bidders of the issue as quickly as possible.

The Fasig-Tipton October sale concludes with a final session Thursday beginning at 10 a.m.

“It's been a great three days so far and we hope to finish up strong tomorrow,” Browning said.

Street Sense Colt Ties October Record

Jacob West, who had already tied the sale's top price for a colt twice, tied the Fasig-Tipton October sale's overall top price when bidding $925,000 to secure a colt by Street Sense (hip 1107) on behalf of Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable Wednesday. The colt was bred and consigned by Sam-Son Farm.

“It's that stupid saying that everybody always says, 'He checked all the boxes,' but this horse really did,” West said. “He has a stallion's pedigree and he's by a horse that can get a two-turn dirt horse. That's how we looked at it. He's bred to get the distance and he looks like a horse who will get the distance. We are lucky to get him.”

Bidding on behalf of St. Elias Stable, West bid a co-record $750,000 to acquire a colt by Empire Maker (hip 513) Tuesday and he matched that figure when securing a colt by Gun Runner (hip 870) early in Wednesday's third session of the auction.

His $925,000 bid matched the highest price ever for an October yearling, equaling the figure set by a filly by Storm Cat in 1999.

“I had a pretty good idea that he was going to be around there based on what the other horses we bought had brought earlier in the sale,” West said of the sale-topping bid. “And with the interest I saw at the barn. Every time I was over there looking at him, one of the big players had him out and was looking at him. So I had a pretty good idea that he was going to be that way. We were lucky enough that we had two incredible owners who got involved.”

West also gave credit to the team behind the partnership's selections.

“It's a team effort,” he said. “Monique Delk, Eddie Rosen, John Sparkman and Rory Babich and the two most important people on that team are Mike and Vinnie. But it's a team approach. And he jumped through a lot of hoops. Hopefully it works out.”

In partnership with Repole or alone, West has signed the ticket on nine yearlings for St. Elias Stable for a total of $3,650,000.

Hip 1107 is out of Dance With Doves (A.P. Indy) and is a half-brother to graded placed Dance Again (Awesome Again). He comes from a line of Sam-Son Farm champions. His second dam is Dancethruthedawn (Mr. Prospector) and his third dam is Dance Smartly (Danzig).

Sam-Son Farm's Tom Zwiesler admitted it was bittersweet watching as the dispersal of the historic Canadian operation started to wind down. Just two hips after the sale topper, Sam-Son sent its final yearling through the sales ring.

“It was a great sale,” Zwiesler said. “It's a little melancholy. Our last yearling just went through. But we are very happy. It's a testament to the Samuel-Balaz family that have bred these horses. And of course you have people stepping up to the plate and spending this money on these horses. That's wonderful to see. St Elias and Repole stepped up and bought two of our best. We wish them all the luck in the world.”

The Repole/St. Elias partnership purchased a filly by Uncle Mo (hip 469) from the Sam-Son consignment for $450,000 Tuesday.

Asked how hip 1107 ended up in the October catalogue, Zwiesler said, “I wanted to just take fillies to Saratoga, which we did and that plan worked out. And the logistics at Keeneland worked out that we would have probably been in a later book. Fasig was very good and Peter Penny has been wonderful to us and a big help. So we chose this one and it certainly paid off. I just feel like if you bring the horse, they are going to find you. It's nothing we do. It's how the horse is brought up. And this sale is turning into a much nicer sale and I think a lot of people like to keep their babies a little bit longer. Which I did in this case. I thought he'd be a standout later on.”

Eight Sam-Son yearlings sold at the October sale for $2,067,000.

“We still have nine mares [to sell] in November and we also have 25 still in the racing stable that they are going to see through and race,” Zwiesler said.

One of those Sam-Son mares slated to sell at the upcoming Keeneland November sale is Dance with Doves, who is catalogued as hip 818 and will sell in foal to Lookin at Lucky.

Gun Runner Colt Another Score for Stokes

Beryl “Sonny” Stokes, Jr., who has steadily racked up an impressive list of pinhooking successes over the last few years, scored another home run Wednesday at Fasig-Tipton when a son of Gun Runner, purchased for $80,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale, sold for $750,000 to Vinnie Viola's St Elias Stables.

“He had my shape–I am an athlete guy, I want that shape,” Hoby Kight, who selected the colt last fall for Stokes, said. “And then it was a bubble year for Gun Runner–there was the bargain. If it wasn't the bubble year, I don't think we would have gotten him for that. Everybody bought them as weanlings and everybody wanted them as yearlings, but until they race, you don't know. And then they turned out like they did and you've got one and you've got a really shapely one.”

Stokes, who led his family's seafood company for 55 years, started pinhooking as a hobby after he retired almost a decade ago. His first big success came with a colt by Goldencents who was purchased for $115,000 and resold for $400,000 at the 2018 OBS March sale. A Pioneerof the Nile colt purchased by Kight on Stokes's behalf for $175,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale returned the following spring to sell for

$1.2 million at the OBS March sale.

Kight, in the back walking ring at Newtown Paddocks, had Stokes on the phone during the bidding Wednesday.

“I had him on the phone because his computer went down right before he went in,” Kight explained. “So he was listening. He got real quiet after he got to $500,000 and he's an older guy, so I got a little worried. I said, 'Sonny are you ok?' And he said, 'Yeh. I'm here. I'm here. I'm all right.'”

Hip 870 is out of Archstone (Arch) and is a half-brother to multiple graded stakes winner Proctor's Ledge (Ghostzapper). He was consigned by Reiley McDonald's Eaton Sales, which had success for Stokes with another Gun Runner colt at last year's October sale when selling a $170,000 weanling purchase for $235,000.

“Our reason for putting him in this sale was simplistic,” McDonald said. “We held one over by Gun Runner last year for the same guy and we thought, well it worked last year, so let's give it a go again this year. Also, it's kind of getting to a point that we thought it would be good to separate a Gun Runner out. It worked to a T.”

Of Wednesday's result, McDonald said, “We knew he was going to sell well, but you never know, at this sale, past $300,000 where you are going to land. He is a beautiful colt, the best mover I saw of the entire sale.”

Fahey Strikes for Justify Colt

John Fahey, bidding on behalf of an undisclosed client, went to $450,000 to acquire a colt by Justify (hip 893) from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment Wednesday at Fasig-Tipton.

“He's been in the game awhile,” Fahey said of the client. “He's going to go to Florida to be broke and the plan is to race.”

The bay colt is out of Back to Love (Street Cry {Ire}), a half-sister to graded winner Necessary Evil (Harlan's Holiday).

“He's by Justify, a Triple Crown winner, he's a Canadian-bred, and he looks like a nice horse,” Fahey said of the yearling's appeal.

Of the Justifys Fahey has seen, he said, “They are strong, athletic, good-looking horses.”

The result was a pinhooking score for partners Colt Pike and Craig Wheeler, who purchased the colt for $150,000 after he RNA'd at this year's Keeneland January sale.

“I had good notes on him and I thought he looked very racey and balanced and he was put together well,” Pike said of his early impressions of the yearling. “He was a little bit of a later foal, so I was thinking maybe he'd fly under the radar. But I didn't vet him because all of the Justifys, if they looked good, they were bringing a lot of money. I saw he RNA'd, so I hustled back there. They wanted $150,000 for him, I thought that was fair and it just went from there.”

Pike admitted he was surprised he was able to purchase the youngster.

“I walked back to the barn and was thinking, 'What am I missing here? This horse is pretty nice and $150,000 is the stud fee.' But they said he was good to go, so I said, 'Deal, I'll take him.'”

The yearling continued to improve heading into the October sale.

“He's gotten real racey. Some of the other Justifys colts have been bigger horses and I think he was a little bit more refined and racey, so I think some people kind of hopped on him because of that,” Pike said. “I'm very happy with that result, he exceeded expectations. I couldn't be more happy with the job that the people that prepped him did and Hunter Valley did a wonderful job. I've had a couple of horses with them before and they just knocked it out of the park.”

Pike is already looking forward to next year's yearling sales.

“I've actually already bought a few [weanlings] in New York, so we are getting loaded up and ready,” he said.

A Bolt for Petersen

Michael Lund Petersen added a colt by Bolt d'Oro to his racing stable when bloodstock agent Donato Lanni went to $300,000 to acquire a yearling by the first-crop sire from Wayne and Cathy Sweezey's Timber Town consignment Wednesday.

“He was a cool dude,” Lanni said after signing the ticket on hip 1063. “I loved him. They came out and they just had a chain over his nose. He was just so cool. I sent Bob [Baffert] a video of the horse last night and he just loved him. So I got the green light.”

The yearling is out of Colby Cakes (Scat Daddy), a half-sister to stakes winner and graded placed Lucky Copy (Unbridled's Song). He was bred by Timber Town Stable and Wood Duck Stable.

Bradshaw on the Board With Justify Colt

Randy Bradshaw made his first purchase of the Fasig-Tipton October sale early in Wednesday's third session when going to $250,000 to acquire a son of Justify (hip 810) from the Baccari Bloodstock consignment.

“He is a May foal, but he's quite well-developed,” Bradshaw said of the yearling. “I liked that part of it. And I knew a little bit about the family, the Bernardini half-sister [the unraced Believein] doesn't show in there because she got hurt, but she was a terrifically fast filly. He looks like a speedy colt and, if everything goes well, we'll probably try to get him to Miami or maybe the OBS sale in March.”

Hip 810 is out of Aguilera (Unbridled's Song), a half-sister to Japanese Group 1 winner Mr Melody (Scat Daddy). He is a half-brother to stakes winner and graded placed Bluegrass Singer (Bluegrass Cat).

Chris Baccari's Baccari Bloodstock purchased Aguilera for $240,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale. The yearling was bred by Seclusive Farm and Chester and Anne Prince.

Bradshaw said he felt this colt from the first crop of Triple Crown winner Justify would be well-suited to his pinhooking program.

“Some of [the Justifys] are very big,” he explained. “Some of them are almost 17 hands, a lot of them are huge with the Scat Daddy sire. But I thought he looked a little more typey and, for what we do, trying to sell one early, he looked like the type. He looks quick.”

Bradshaw doubled up on Baccari Bloodstock offerings later in the session when going once again to $250,000 to acquire a colt by Into Mischief (hip 925). The bay, out of the unraced Bella Gattino (Tapit), was bred by Jumping Jack Racing and Seclusive Farm and RNA'd for $195,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July sale.

Of his October shopping, Bradshaw said, “We tried on a couple yesterday and we have a couple more coming up today that we're going to try to buy. It's always competitive for a nice horse. That's always the hard part. If a good horse comes in here and vets clean, you're going to have to pay for them.”

Mattmiller Looking for More Black Type

Maddie Mattmiller has been an active bidder at the yearling sales this fall, shopping on behalf of husband Jake Ballis's Black Type Thoroughbreds partnership and the agent made a pair of quick purchases Wednesday at Fasig-Tipton. She went to $150,000 to acquire a colt by Goldencents (hip 816) from Bill Murphy's consignment and came right back to secure a filly by Uncle Mo (hip 825) for $170,000 from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

“We are really just focused on a good physical,” Mattmiller said of her approach to buying for Black Type. “Pedigree helps. We bought a colt who has a pedigree that, were he to be a Grade I winner, he would be a stallion. That always helps when spending six figures on a colt. You kind of have to do that. Fillies on the other hand, we aren't as hard on them as far as pedigree, as long as we get the athlete. We have had success with fillies with pedigrees and without. So we focus on the athlete and physical.”

Mattmiller signed for four yearlings at the Keeneland September sale last month, going to $255,000 for a filly by

Mo Town (hip 1014) and $250,000 for a daughter of Army Mule (hip 3158).

“Keeneland was tough, very tough,” Mattmiller admitted. “I don't think we could have afforded these [October] horses at Keeneland. This sale has been a little easier–in our price range–to come in and pick exactly what we wanted. At Keeneland we struck out a few times.”

She continued, “It's hard for us to come in and spend $300,000 or $400,000 on a yearling when we can find value at the 2-year-old sales. For yearlings, we like to stay in that $100,000-$200,000 budget. Obviously we spent a little more in September, but the market told us that we had to.”

In just three years, Black Type Thoroughbreds has been represented by Up in Smoke (The Big Beast), third in last year's GI Test S., as well as this year's GI Ashland S. runner-up Pass the Champagne (Flatter).

“Black Type started about two years ago when my husband Jake had a bunch of buddies that had had horses in the past and he kind of revisited them and they showed some interest to get back into horses,” Mattmiller said of the origins of the partnership. “So he put his buddies together and they bought the filly Up in Smoke and had success with her. And these guys told all their friends. And it just seems to have built from there. Jake has a good group together now which we are having a ton of fun with.”

There could be much more fun in the group's future as they head to Del Mar with GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies contender Hidden Connection (Connect). Black Type bought into the filly following her 7 1/2-length debut win for Hidden Brook Farm at Colonial Downs in August. She returned to take the

GIII Pocahontas S. by 9 1/4 lengths, which earned her an automatic berth on championship weekend.

“To have been able to buy into a filly who had just broken her maiden and sell these people on the idea that we are pointing to this race that gets us points to go to the Breeders' Cup and then, not only to win that race, but to do it the way she did it,” Mattmiller said with a huge smile. “They are all over the moon–the Breeders' Cup, Del Mar, I mean it's worked like it was written, which is rare. Every time I come home, Jake is pulling his hair out trying to figure out how he's going to find all of these tickets.”

Asked if she was done shopping for yearlings this year, Mattmiller said, “I am going to say we are done. Jake is going to kill me if I don't.”

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First-Crop Catalina Cruiser Filly Leads Record Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale Return

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale returned Monday to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., after a hiatus in 2020 to establish new sale records for gross and top price paid for a weanling.

A filly from the first crop of multiple Grade 2 winner Catalina Cruiser topped the sale when sold for a record $195,000 to Reeves Thoroughbred Racing (video).

The chestnut filly was consigned as Hip 215 by Sequel New York, agent. The filly is the third foal out of the stakes winning Red Giant mare Catcha Rising Star, from the immediate family of Grade 2 winners Ten Below and Fortnightly. Hip 215 was bred in New York by Gentry Stable LLC. She is now the most expensive weanling ever sold at The Saratoga Fall Sale, and the highest since a colt by Into Mischief out of Darling Mambo sold for $170,000 in 2017.

A pair of weanling colts sold for $120,000 to round out the top three:

Hip 199, a colt by Kantharos, purchased by St Elias Stables for $120,000 from the consignment of Vinery Sales, agent. Out of Bella Cara, a half-sister to the dam of multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Fear the Cowboy, Hip 199 was bred in New York by SGO Thoroughbred LLC.
Hip 265, a colt from the second crop of multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro, purchased by Willow Brook Stables, agent for $120,000 from the consignment of Summerfield, agent. The second foal out of Judge Lee, a winning Street Cry (IRE) half-sister to multiple stakes winner Euro Platnum, Hip 265 was bred in New York by Matthew Nestor.

The session's top broodmare came in the form of Nice Smile, carrying her first foal by multiple Grade 1 winner Vekoma, which sold for $70,000 to Goose Wickes.

The 5-year-old daughter of Smiling Tiger was offered as Hip 12 by Stuart Morris, agent for Tocky Top Racing and Highclere Inc., et al. Nice Smile is a half-sister to Grade 1 placed stakes winner Red Vine (Candy Ride), who earned more than $775,000 on the track. Her dam, Murky Waters, is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winning millionaire Fort Prado and stakes winner Cammack.

Overall, 163 horses sold for $3,657,800, a sale record gross and an 8.1 percent increase over the 2019 total, when 134 sold for $3,384,000. The average was $22,440. Seven weanlings sold for six figures.

Results are available online.

The post First-Crop Catalina Cruiser Filly Leads Record Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale Return appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Process: Jacob West

As the agent for the powerful partnership of Mike Repole's Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias (involved in $10,435,000 worth of Keeneland September '20 expenditures, mostly together on Classic-leaning colts); the buyer for upper-market players Robert and Lawana Low ($1,535,000 on four head last September); and in his role as Vice President, Bloodstock for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners (part of $4,267,000 in buys at KEESEP '20 including the $2-million topper), there aren't many, if any, agents with more money behind them these days than Jacob West.

Considering Eclipse partnered on the $800,000 topper at this year's Fasig-Tipton July sale, and the Lows purchased the second-priciest lot at Fasig Saratoga in the form of a $1.6-million Uncle Mo colt, plus with the success Repole and Viola have already had with last year's yearling buys, it's a pretty safe bet that West will have his hand in his fair share of the priciest acquisitions at the upcoming Keeneland September sale.

We caught up with West days before Repole and Viola are set to be represented by a pair of September buys Monday in Saratoga's GI Hopeful S.–'TDN Rising Star' and GIII Sanford S. winner Wit (Practical Joke, $575,000) and game first-out winner Power Agenda (Nyquist, $120,000)–to find out how he approaches auctions in general and specifically the industry's largest yearling sale.

This year's September sale will be held from Sept. 13 to Sept. 24. Visit theworldsyearlingsale.com for more information.

TDN: Do you do much pedigree work before the sale?

JW: I'm more of a physical guy than a pedigree guy. I think that when you find the top physical and go back and look at the pedigree, you can kind of use that as gauge for an appraisal. I try to focus solely on the athlete and find the athlete, and then go back and look at the pedigree and make an appraisal of what I think the horse will bring if he passes the vet.

TDN: Do you make many farm visits to inspect KEESEP entries before the sale?

JW: I do. I've seen probably 400-500 horses already and I've got some more spots to go to still. I try to cover as much ground as possible.

[If there's one I don't love at the farm] I think you still have to go into the sale with a little bit more of an open mind. There may be a horse that you liked at the farm and you see him at the sale and he unravels. And vice versa, there might be a horse you didn't like at the farm and you go see him at the sale and you like him. They change so much so quickly. I think you'd be foolish to knock off horses to try and create a short list from the farm. I do it more to try to get a gauge on what's out there; what the quality's going to be in Book 1 vs. Book 2 and so forth.

TDN: Are you an iPad guy or a catalog guy?

JW: I'm a catalog man. I use the iPad when I do my farm visits because it's easier to keep track of what you've seen, but when I'm at the sale I've got to have paper in my hand. Plus, it's easier for me to keep my catalogs and look back for reference. I get calls all the time from people asking me if I saw a filly before they drop a claim and things like that.

TDN: What's your shortlisting process like?

JW: I work closely with Todd Pletcher at the sales. I try to cover as much ground as I possibly can–it's pretty easy to cover ground in Books 1 and 2, and with this new format I guess maybe Book 3 as well–but when you're dividing it up with a Hall of Fame trainer who has bought multiple Grade I winners, it's good to know that if you cut the barns in half and the other half is him working, and you swap lists when you meet halfway, that works out pretty well.

As I get into the later books, I think at that point it's easier to sort through some of the pedigrees [and not look at every horse]. Eddie Rosen, Mike Repole's pedigree consultant, has told me, “In this business, there are proven failures.” So if a mare's 0-for-10 with her produce record, there's really no point in thinking that you're going to be the one who's going to buy her next foal that becomes a champion.

Plus, if you have a good relationship with the consignors, they're always pushing to sell their horses, but as you're marking the card they may say to you, “Hey, you're missing a nice horse–let me add it on” or they might say there's no reason to look at a certain horse.

I know there's a lot of people who look at every horse and have these massive teams, but it's hard for me to rely on somebody unless it's Todd, or Todd's dad or a handful of other people at the sales.

TDN: What's the first thing you look at when a horse comes out of the barn at the sale?

JW: Presence–that's 1A, and 1B is athleticism. Good horses come in all forms, shapes and sizes, but luckily for me I spent 10 1/2 years at Taylor Made Sales Agency so I got to see some of the best horses that we sold who went on to be good racehorses, and also in November we sold top fillies [coming off the track]. I got to see what those horses look like, and characteristics that they had that you could look for going forward. That was the best way to learn.

I always tell people who are new to the industry, go out and look at stallions, because they're the best racehorses we have. You can't get a view of what a good horse looks like without going out and seeing these studs, and for fillies go to the November sales and just kind of hang out by the barn and as these horses come out for inspections, take a look at them.

TDN: Is there a certain physical characteristic or type that you tend to gravitate towards?

JW: With my clientele, they want to win Classic races. It might almost be a little bit of a mistake if we end up buying a sprinter. Pedigree will have to come into play there, especially for Mike and Vinnie if we're buying potential stallion prospects–they don't care how good the horse might look if he doesn't have the pedigree to back it up that they can go and sell to become a stud.

Mr. and Mrs. Low's number-one goal is to win the Arkansas Derby, so for them I can't buy something that's by a turf stallion out of a big turf family to try and go win the Arkansas Derby–that's not going to happen.

So, things like that come into play, but to me, at the end of the day, the walk is what's most important. I know some sprinters don't really have great walks, but most two-turn, Classic-distance horses have easy ways of going and take care of themselves. And that all begins at the walk.

TDN: How do you figure out which of your owners end up on which horses off your list?

JW: It's a function of price. Mr. and Mrs. Low have kind of a rifle target–they know typically what they're going to spend. We've been the underbidder or maybe haven't gone as strong on other horses, but when a horse fits the profile or mold of what they want, they give me the thumbs up [to fire].

Mike and Vinnie are a little bit different because they're going to buy a number of horses and there's a big scale there. But they're not typically going to close their eyes and go buy a horse. Like I told everybody last year, it doesn't show up in the sales results, but they carried the yearling sales last year because of how many horses we were the underbidder on.

TDN: Both Repole and Viola have their own teams of dedicated advisors. How do you incorporate their work with yours and Todd's physical evaluations?

JW: With them, I do a list, Todd does a list, and Vinnie has his own team made up of Monique Delk and a handful of others who are very instrumental as well. We compile those lists and [Repole's pedigree advisor] Eddie Rosen and [Viola's pedigree advisor] John Sparkman have already done their pedigree lists too. So we sit down and check the score sheet, and if we all match up and they vet, then it's a go at whatever price we decide on.

TDN: How do you stay focused and organized during the September sale?

JW: Going home every night, eating as healthy as you can, trying not to stay out late, and staying organized with your catalogs and lists and all that are very important.

TDN: What's something you've learned or changed your mind about from when you started seriously shopping the sales?

JW: I think you learn from your failures more than anything. You look back and see, well I bought this horse who had X, Y and Z and that didn't work out–so that's not going to work for me… If you've been burned by a certain thing, be it stallion, mare, whatever it is, you kind of learn from that. I think it's very hard to say, “I've got a certain type that I buy and it's got to be that type physically.” If you get into that, you might be missing out a little bit. But over the years, I've definitely learned what doesn't work for me.

TDN: What do you remember about Wit when you bought him?

JW: I remember what stall he was in with [breeder and consignor] Rosilyn Polan… He hit everyone's list and the stars kind of aligned. He was a big, strong, mature horse. He's a May foal, and you never would've thought that when you saw him. To me, he was a perfect blend of his father and his broodmare sire [Medaglia d'Oro]. That's one of those that I think benefitted from working with a team–Mike and Vinnie are so smart to get the opinions of multiple people. When the opinions match up, that's a good thing.

TDN: Fellow Hopeful contender Power Agenda obviously cost significantly less than Wit at $120,000 at the same sale. What do you remember about him?

JW: He came later in the sale. He was a beautiful horse who moved well. To be honest, he wasn't a horse who had a lot of flash, but he was just athletic.

TDN: Eclipse, along with Robert LaPenta, Gainesway and Winchell Thoroughbreds purchased last year's September topper, a $2-million Tapit colt (hip 435) out of GISW Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song), from Stonestreet, who also stayed in. He's posted a last breezed Aug. 28. How's he doing?

JW: He's now named Capensis and he's doing well. He's at Todd's barn at Belmont and training forwardly. He's one of those horses who we've had to say, “Whoa” a little bit and not “Go” to make sure we didn't end up chewing him up too much, but it's worked out well.

He was started down at Stonestreet, and they did a phenomenal job getting him ready. We discussed whether or not to send him to Saratoga or keep him at Belmont and point for a fall campaign, and that's what we ended up deciding to do. We said, 'Let's take the foot off the gas pedal and let him grow up and develop more” and that's set him up for more of a fall campaign.

TDN: These stallion-making partnerships are one of the most noteworthy bloodstock market trends of the last few years, with the Repole/St. Elias group sending a large number of colts to Pletcher; of course The Avengers with Bob Baffert out in California; and now the Brad Cox Colts Group that popped up at Saratoga. What impact on the market do you think these groups have?

JW: The obvious answer is that well-bred colts who have the physical to match the pedigree are going to bring more money. I think you saw that at Saratoga. But at the end of the day, you can have so much money and buy so many horses, but there are only so many horses who really fit the mold of what everybody's looking for in that instance. So, you know if you have a horse who carries a top pedigree, is a top physical and he vets, you're going to get paid [as a seller]. And it's all about these breeders having that.

But I think it also opens up opportunities for other buyers on horses who might suffer a little bit on pedigree or conformation. There's an opportunity to go in and buy those types. Well-bred fillies always sell well, but it may also open up some opportunities for fillies too.

TDN: Wit was obviously a freshman sire success story coming out of Practical Joke's first crop. Any first-crop sires this year you're paying particularly close attention to heading into September?

JW: I think we're at a very interesting time in the industry in North America. I can't think of another time when we've had the stallion power that we have now, between Into Mischief, Tapit, Medaglia d'Oro on down and young horses coming along like Gun Runner. The proven stallions who are out there are really damn good. There's a reason why they rank at the top and why everybody wants their progeny. As far as first-crop sires go, I've seen quite a few Good Magics that have been very nice and we've bought two already [for Eclipse], so I'd probably give him the thumbs up.

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