Fasig Saratoga Sale Opens Monday

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings begins its two-day run at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion Monday evening, with the first of 252 catalogued horses scheduled to head into the auction ring at 6:30 p.m.

“We're always optimistic the day before the sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “I think we have a tremendous group of horses on the sales grounds. There has been lots of activity.”

This year's Saratoga catalogue cover features a quartet of Eclipse champions, led by last year's Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile).

“There has been a lot of success from our graduates,” Browning said. “We are pretty proud that we have four Eclipse Award winners on our front cover. This sale has really become a source of, not just good horses, but horses of exceptional quality–Classic-type names like American Pharoah, Tepin (Bernstein), Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) and Stellar Wind (Curlin). They're special. And I think we've got some special horses on the grounds this year.”

The 2016 Saratoga catalogue is slightly heftier than its 2015 counterpart, which contained 209 yearlings. The additional numbers are a sign of increased consignor confidence in the sale, according to Browning

“You want to get as many good ones as you can find,” Browning said. “We didn't set out at the beginning of the spring with a target number–we don't approach our select sales that way. We've had very, very good sales in recent years and consignors have had confidence to bring a good horse here. We've had very, very good results on the racetrack and I think that consignors also understand that the buyers have confidence as well. So we were frankly exposed to a better group of horses this year on the farms and the percentage of horses that decided to come to Saratoga was higher this year than in the past. We certainly feel confident that the increase in numbers was not to the detriment of the quality. The individual horses are of similar or better quality than the other population. We feel really good about our group of horses.”

Last year's sale saw 145 horses sell for $46,755,000. The 2015 average rose 10.4% to $322,448 and the median was up 5.3% to $250,000. Three horses topped seven figures last year, including the $2-million sale-topper by leading sire Tapit.

Activity at the sales grounds was frenetic Sunday morning and consignors agreed Saratoga yearlings will be well-scrutinized by the time bidding starts Monday evening.

“This is generally a top-end market,” explained Gainesway's Michael Hernon. “That's the demand. And expectations are high. The demand is both for the physical horse combined with the pedigree and, naturally the vet report is very significant. There is a lot of time for people to review horses, both physically and pedigree, and then they get heavily scrutinized in the repository.”

Duncan Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency agreed demand will be high for the top horses.

“If you have a horse who is in the bottom third of what's here, you're not going to do any good,” Taylor said. “There aren't so many buyers that it helps the average horse, but if you have something in the top 25%, you will be greatly rewarded. At any boutique sale, that's usually how it goes. And I think this one will be more of the same.”

In addition to a cast of regulars, the Saratoga consignors list also features some new and returning names.

Peter O'Callaghan's Woods Edge Farm, which sold subsequent graded stakes winners Rock Fall (Speightstown) and Blofeld (Quality Road) at the Saratoga sale in 2012 and 2013, respectively, returns to the Spa with a two-horse consignment after a three-year absence.

“Fasig is doing a great job,” O'Callaghan said of his return. “They have created a very good market here the last few years. So it's hard not to try to be involved with it. They have done such a good job recruiting horses and there is such an amount of good horses coming out of here, so from a buyer's point of view, if you're serious about buying good horses, I think you need to consider this sale strongly.”

Of the type of yearling who fits in the Saratoga catalogue, O'Callaghan added, “You need to have a forward horse, a very good individual and a good mover. We have two of those. We have two strong, correct horses who are very good movers who look like athletes.”

KatieRich Farms makes its first appearance in the Saratoga select sale with a two-horse consignment of its own.

“We felt that we had the right horses to come here–top-of-the-line horses,” explained KatieRich's Larry Doyle. “Both of our yearlings are by mares who have done well in New York, so that helps, too.”

Of the large number of potential buyers at the sales grounds Sunday, Doyle added, “I think there are a lot of buyers here–we're running out of cards.”

After its opening session Monday, the Saratoga sale continues with a second session Tuesday, also beginning at 6:30 p.m.