By Jessica Martini
The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale will be held Tuesday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, with bidding scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. The auction returns to its traditional date on the calendar after a pair of renewals held in late January.
“A lot of our consignors are very busy in the early part of the year foaling mares and a lot of them can't be in the foaling barn and at the sales grounds,” said Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett. “So they asked if we would bring the sale back to December because it just worked better for their operations.”
For the first time, this year's edition of the December Mixed sale will include a section of 72 horses of racing age.
“We've had some requests for a horses of racing age section and we felt there was a need for it in this area,” Bennett said. “When the outfits ship down to Florida, obviously not every horse gets to go and there needs to be a spot for them. This is a great way for horses to get into other hands. What doesn't work for somebody will probably work for others. There are just so many racing opportunities in the Midlantic area, so we've just had people asking on both the buying and selling end of the racing age.”
Bennett continued, “It's been well-received here so far with the horses that are here on the grounds. We've got a nice group of useful horses and we've had all kinds of people here shopping them.”
A total of 309 head have been catalogued for the one-day auction, which begins with offerings of racing and broodmare prospects, weanlings and yearlings and concludes with the horses of racing age. The auction also includes the dispersal of the bloodstock of the late Harry Weisleder/DASL Stable, which will be handled by Crane Thoroughbreds.
“We've had steady traffic at the barns and I feel like tomorrow will be busier,” Bennett said. “A lot of people feel like they can come in on sale day and get done what they need to do. The consignors have been pleased with the traffic.”
When held this past January, the Mixed sale was topped by a short yearling colt by Dialed In purchased by Machmer Hall for $70,000. In all, 141 horses sold for $906,400. The average was $6,428 and the median was $3,500.
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