Share This: California Chrome and Wildcat Lily produced this filly, hip 109 at Fasig-Tipton July.
Yesterday, 7/9/19, Fasig-Tipton in Lexington,KY hosted their annual The July Sale : Selected Yearlings. I try to catch as many thoroughbred auctions as possible. I like to test my own developing skills at spotting sale toppers and to daydream about the future champions they may develop into. In The July Sale, there was a one-year old listed for nearly every day of the year. Fasig-Tipton July was full of opportunity.
Share This: The July Sale; Selected Yearlings 2018 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY
Yearling sale season has begun! The 1 year-olds of the choicest stallions are now available at auction. Fasig-Tipton held its Selected Yearlings: The July Sale yesterday 7/10/18 in Lexington, KY. The results were positive and it should be quite a year for yearling sales.
Share This: American Pharoah stands at Coolmore America, Ashford Stud, in Versailles, KY.
The sweltering summer is swiftly sweeping by as we welcome July and all of the super racing and sales that this month has to offer. As our Triple Crown winning, 2 time Eclipse Winning, Breeders’ Cup Classic and Grand Slam winning, American Pharoah headed off yesterday I am looking forward to admiring what he has left behind for now, Pharoah’s phoals.
Keeping American Pharoah comfortable in his stall is very important at Ashford Stud.
American Pharoah retired from racing after his record breaking 2015 racing season. He stands at Coolmore America, Ashford Stud, in Versailles, KY during North America’s breeding season and then he ships to Coolmore Australia to breed during their season. American Pharoah went into quarantine for shipping to Australia the last day of June. His presence in KY will be missed but fortunately he leaves behind many from his 2 crops of foals.
American Pharoah gives some side eye to his fans from his stall at Ashford Stud.
American Pharoah’s foals are too young to race but they are fun to follow for their cuteness, the price that they bring at sales and the promise of future racing. His 2017 North American crop has earned an average of $445,500 at auction for 10 of 13 weanlings offered. In 2018 his North American offspring, 3 of 5 yearlings offered, have sold for an average of $540,000. AmericanPharoah has had two of his offspring sell for a million dollars each. No other sire had a million dollar weanling in 2017. In 2 North American crops, he has 173 foals, 14 weanlings and 159 yearlings. He covered 208 mares in North America in 2016 and 214 in 2017. His 2018 season just ended in June. His 2016 reported stud fee was listed at $200,000 and was last listed as private. People must be really holding on to those foals to race them themselves or watch as the value goes up. It is July and we are about to see some more of his foals at auction!
This stud is a handsome looker. AmericanPharoah poses for his fans at Ashford Stud.
On Tuesday, July 10th, 2018 at 10 A.M ET, Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY will hold their July Selected Yearlings Sale. I am in a lot of anticipation for this sale and I plan to follow up with pictures from the sale of these two AmericanPharoah fillies. Hip 131 is a filly born to Yong Musician consigned by a selected sales agent for Machmer Hall. Hip 205 was foaled by Distorted Point and will be sold by Bluewater Sales, LLC.
Look at that conformation! American Pharoah looks so healthy at Ashford Stud.
I will continue to cover more on American Pharoah’s phoals as they progress and go thru auctions and his phamily as it was fun to watch his full brother, St.Patrick’s Day, finish 3rd in his 3rd start on Thursday. I am hoping for some more summer racing from St. Patrick’s Day. This lightly raced 3 year old finished 2nd at Del Mar last Fall before breaking his maiden in his next start, a month later, at the same track. He made his 2018 debut at Curragh in the listed Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire Celebration Stakes last week. I’d love to see him ship back to America to romp in our races this summer.Share This:
Share This: Come Follow Me, hip 114, strikes a pose as she is on view ahead of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale.
Her halter’s nameplate reads, “Come Follow Me” and her beauty made it desirable to do so. While many American’s were busy getting ready for the Super Bowl, I found the preparations at Fasig-Tipton to hold more of my personal interests. Today, Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY will hold the 2018 edition of their two day Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale. While visiting the barns yesterday morning, I took time to inspect a few of this sales favorites at Fasig-Tipton.
Share This: A newborn foal at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale
The new year is here and it’s about time for a foaling frenzy! Due to the January 1st birthday, that all Northern Hemisphere Thoroughbreds must share, it is of upmost importance that no newborn be born prior to that day but we see a rapid upswing in foals thereafter. A few foals have already made their arrival. Literally, several hundred per sire are on the way, fathered by the most popular of studs. Most horse farm tours are open to stallion visits but naturally the very pregnant mares and new foals are sheltered and protected. My best chances, for now, of seeing the babies, is at the sales. With the majority of the broodmares currently pregnant there are usually a few who give birth while they are in the sales barns. I am hoping to see some of the newest foals to the Thoroughbreds, we love so much, tomorrow. Read on to see which foals I am in most anticipation of as I am foaling in love.
Rise and shine! It’s another beautiful day in sunny Del Mar, California. The race track will soon be packed with fans from all over the earth to watch the last day of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Today, the final 9 races will take place where each contending Thoroughbred will stake their place in history.
Share This: Hip 295 , a filly to Maclean’s Music and Inner Groove.
These summer sales were certainly sizzling. This week Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY hosted two sales. On back-to-back hot and humid days the Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale and The July Sale of Selected Yearlings took place. I attended the later and I saw plenty of fantastic bloodstock.
Don’t blink! The 2016 Breeders’ Cup finished up on Saturday and in the next moment the Thoroughbreds shipped away. Some we will see on the track again, some retired and others were sent promptly to Kentucky for the November sales.
Photo: Stopchargingmaria
On November 4th and 5th, Santa Anita Park in California hosted the Breeders’ Cup. 13 races took place yielding the following results by race and winning Thoroughbreds:
Juvenile Turf: Oscar Performance
Las Vegas Dirt Mile: Tamarkuz
Juvenile Fillies Turf: New Money Honey
Longines Distaff: Beholder
14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies: Champagne Room
Filly and Mare Turf: Queen’s Trust
Twin Spires Sprint: Drefong
Turf Sprint: Obviously
Sentient Jet Juvenile: Classic Empire
Longines Turf: Highland Reel
Filly and Mare Sprint: Finest City
Mile: Tourist
Classic: Arrogate
Photo: Baffled
There were a whole lot of upsets and close calls but it is all part of the game! The results of these races lead to updates in bloodlines all over the world and the new information was influential at the following sales.
Photo: Cassett
The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY was quite the success. Held at 4 P.M. EST on 11/7/16 there were 175 hips cataloged. 88 horses were sold and 34 did not meet the reserve. The others scratched prior to the sale. The auction grossed over $54 million dollars which is up over 22% versus the prior year. The average price rose nearly 30% versus last year to about $615 thousand dollars. The median price went up almost 60% to more than $377 thousand dollars. The horses that didn’t make the reserve, the minimum price per the seller, was down to less than 28% versus 34% in 2015. 15 horses sold for a million dollars or more.
Baffled $3.5 M
Curalina $3M
Stopchargingmaria $2.8M
Cassatt $2.5M
Embellish The Lace $2.4M
Lady Zuzu $2.35M
Jacaranda $2M
Love The Chase $1.95M – oh my goodness, it’s California Chrome’s mom!
Whatdreamsrmadeof $1.65M
Cover Song $1.6M
Cathryn Sophia $1.4M
Tapas $1.3M
Paid Up Subscriber $1.1M
Haveyougoneaway $1.1M
Luminance $1M
Photo: Peace And War
The 2016 November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland in Lexington, KY was held starting at 11am on 11/8/16. It will continue thru November 20th. Day 1 of Book 1 went very nicely. Day 1 included 239 hips. 115 Thoroughbreds were sold. Over $50 million dollars were grossed. The average price was more than $436 thousand dollars. The median was $260 thousand. 10 horses sold for 7 figures.
Secret Gesture $3.5M
Celestine $2.55M
Tapicat $2.2M
My Conquestadory $1.5M
Peace And War $1.45M
Princess Sylvia $1.4M
Summer Soiree $1.3M
Yellow Ribbon $1.3M
Lexie Lou $1M
Dust and Diamonds $1M
Photo: from left to right Dust And Diamonds, Celestine, Tapicat
It was a good couple of days to catch the action in Lexington, KY. I can’t wait to see what the remainder of the sales yield. I hope we have a knockout November! Check back at least weekly and I’ll do my best to keep you updated on new adventures with race horses.
Photo: clockwise from top left Summer Soiree, Secret Gesture, Princess Sylvia, My Conquestadory
Tapit, the sire of my favorite horse, Juba, stole the show, once again, at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale. The two day sale ended last evening with 9 Tapit offspring selling. Both his average and median prices beat out the other sire’s yearlings at the sale.
Tapit is a 15 year old super sire. He is a grey horse that has sired many other greys and he is nearly white in appearance. He lives at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, KY. I visited him, at his farm, this past June. Tapit is the son of sire Pulpit and dam Tap Your Heels. Tapit was KY bred at Oldenburg Farms,LLC and owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, LLC. His trainer was Michael W. Dickinson. Tapit only had 6 starts in his racing career. 2 of his 3 wins were in graded stakes races. He won the Laurel Futurity at Laurel Park and the Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Tapit retired to stud in 2005 and by 2008 his first crop was racing. He immediately shot up to leading freshman sire that year. Tapit was the leading Champion North American sire in 2014 and 2015 and he is leading again in 2016. He holds the highest stud fee in the country at $300,000. He has a slew of successful offspring including Frosted. Frosted won the race I wrote about last week, the Whitney Handicap.
It makes sense, that with the success on the track that Tapit’s offspring have shown it seems everybody wants a Tapit yearling. Fasig-Tipton’s sale on August 8th and 9, 2016 was no different. There were 252 yearlings cataloged in the Saratoga Selected Yearling sale that was held in Saratoga Springs, NY. 11 of those were sired by Tapit. 9 of his yearlings sold with an average price of over $700,000 and a median price of over $600,000. His top seller, hip 140, sold for $1.25 million dollars. Only one horse sold for more in the two day sale. That was Medaglia d’Oro’s, $1.45 million dollar filly, hip 191. Tapit still had Medaglia d’Oro and all the other sires beat with a total of over $6.42 million dollars in sales. Medaglia d’Oro’s yearlings totaled over $3.65 million.
Overall, I wasn’t so pleased in the trend but that may just be a matter of personal opinion. The previous year, the sale sold 156 versus 145 Thoroughbreds. The sale total, despite more horses sold, dropped by more than a million dollars. The average price dropped by more than $30 thousand dollars and the median price dropped by $12.5 thousand dollars. While only 26 horses did not sell in 2015 there were 47 horses that did not get sold this year.
The same auction house will feature the Fasig-Tipton New York Bred Yearling sale on August 13th and 14, 2016. Tapit is a good ol’ Kentucky boy, thus he won’t have any yearlings in this sale. Perhaps that will give my partnership’s entry an advantage on Sunday. However, Tapit is the dam sire of hip 387, a filly by Violence. Violence has 6 yearlings in this sale and I’m expecting those to do very well. I hope the right matches get made and we all get to enjoy some fantastic racehorses in the following years. Check back next week for more info on Thoroughbred action!
Woo hoo for the Whitney! The 87th running of the Whitney Handicap will take place tomorrow, August 6,2016 at Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, NY. If I could click my heels and go anywhere right now, I’d be at “The Spa”.
The Whitney Handicap was inaugurated in 1928. It has been at various tracks for different genders, ages and distances historically. Tomorrow, the Whitney will take place on Saratoga’s dirt track. It will be a race of 9 furlongs (1 and 1/8 mile) for horses 3 years old and upwards. 6 Thoroughbreds will compete for the “Win and You’re In” automatic entry into the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the $1.25 million dollar purse. The winner will also receive a blanket made of Marylou Whitney pink roses and a sterling silver chalice trophy with the Whitney family crest.
Considered one of the top Grade 1 races, the Whitney is named for the Whitney family. Historically this family’s contributions to Thoroughbred racing have shaped the industry and blessed us with a vast number of graded stakes winners. Marylou Whitney continues the tradition. She has a home in Saratoga as well as a farm in my hometown, Lexington, KY. The Whitney’s have won their own stakes race 4 times.
Last year’s Whitney winner was Honor Code. Kelso and Discovery each won the race 3 times.
The 2016 Whitney field is as follows by post/horse/jockey/trainer/owner/age:
El Kabeir/Ricardo Santana, Jr./John P. Terranova/Zayat Stables, LCC./4
Comfort/John R, Velazquez/Todd A. Pletcher/Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners/4
Upstart/Irad Ortiz Jr./Richard A. Violette, Jr./Ralph M. Evans and WinStar/4
Frosted/Joel Rosario/Kiaran P. McLaughlin/Godolphin Racing, LCC./4
Noble Bird/Julien R. Leparoux/Mark E. Casse/John C. Oxley/5
Effinex/Mike E. Smith/James A. Jerkens/Tri-Bone Stables/5
El Kabeir is a beautiful grey colt by Scat Daddy and Great Venue. El Kabeir ran his first 2 of 15 career starts at Saratoga. He is a multiple graded stakes winner though he has not won in 2016.
Comfort is a colt by Indian Charlie and Unkatzable. Comfort has only raced 7 times and never at Saratoga nor has he won a graded stakes. His jockey/trainer combo won the Whitney in 2013 with Cross Traffic.
Upstart is the son of Flatter, whom I wrote about in my last story when I met him while touring the stallions at Claiborne Farm. Upstart’s dam is Party Silks. Upstart won his maiden at Saratoga on his first start. He has raced at that track 3 times of his 14 career races. He is a multiple graded stakes winner. He was fourth in last year’s Travers.
Frosted is the favorite for the Whitney. He is another lovely grey colt. He is the offspring of Tapit and Fast Cookie. He raced at Saratoga in 3 of his 16 starts. He placed 2nd the 1st two times at that track and third the last time out there. Those races were a maiden, the Jim Dandy and the Travers respectively. He is coming off a strong win at Belmont in June. In 2015 he finished the Belmont 2nd to our Grand Slam winner, American Pharoah. Frosted’s trainer, McLaughlin, won the Whitney with Invasor in 2006.
Noble Bird is the gorgeous horse in the photo. I met him at Keeneland this past April. I caught him with his tongue out as he ate a peppermint. He is the son of Birdstone and Anyhow. Noble Bird is trained by Casse, whom works with one of my favorite fillies, Tepin! She is a Saratoga sales grad. Noble Bird has raced at Saratoga once before in his 16 starts. He is a multiple graded stakes winner.
Effinex is the son of Mineshaft and What A Pear. Effinex has the most experience with 24 career starts. He has raced twice at Saratoga, where he finished 2nd in the Woodward Stakes. He is a multiple graded stakes winner. He was second to AmericanPharoah in last years BC Classic. His jockey, Smith, won the Whitney in 1993 with Brunswick. The father of James A. Jerkens, the trainer of Effinex, trained Onion who beat the amazing Secretariat in 1973’s Whitney.
As if the Whitney isn’t enough action, there are 11 races on the card Saturday. 5 of those are stakes races and there is another stakes on Sunday. Then the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale takes place August 8th and 9th while my most favorite horse, Juba, races at Saratoga on the 8th as well.
I part own 5 horses that will be auctioned off at the sale. 3 will go on Monday and the 4th and 5th on Tuesday. This sale is one of the first of the season and finest of sales for yearlings. 252 select yearlings have been catalogued for the 96th Saratoga Sale.
Juba is trained by Jerkens, just like Effinex and has the same jockey, Velazquez ,as Comfort. Juba is a 5 year-old grey son of Tapit and Adoradancer. That is the same sire that Frosted has.
If you are at Saratoga tell me all about it. If you’re watching from a television or computer tune in to NBC Sports for race 10, the Whitney, at 6:18 pm EST on 8/6/16. Find Juba, in race 8 at 5:02 pm EST on 8/8/16. I’m hoping to see it on TVG. Finally, follow along with the Fasig-Tipton sale on http://www.fasigtipton.com
