Displaying items by tag: FasigTipton

Week five of the 2021 racing season at Saratoga Race Course beginning August 9  is actually highlighted by action off the racetrack as the yearlings sales at Fasig- Tipton take place for an astounding 100th year. 

This year the famed Fasig-Tipton catalogue of Select Yearlings at the Saratoga Sale listed 210 yearlings. They will be auctioned on Monday and Tuesday, August 9 and 10 in the Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion on East Avenue. Sessions will begin each evening at 6:30 p.m. and are open to the public. The public is invited into the auction hall and can watch the action outside at the bar area where the public mingles with the elite to watch the bidding on numerous televisions.  The public gets to view each yearling as it enters the sales ring where bidding can top $1 million for the sales topper. If you have never gone to these auctions, you should make a point to go and see the action. Admission and parking are free and food and drink are available for purchase.

Due to Covid there was no sale in 2020 (the first time since World War II that the annual Saratoga Sale was not held) but the 2019 sale saw 135 yearlings sell over the two nights for an average of $411,459. More than half the yearlings sold in that sale went for $350,000 or more so keep your hand down lest you unwittingly come to own an expensive thoroughbred.  After 100 years this year for the first time you can pay for your yearling purchase with cryptocurrency.

On the track the stakes action actually hits a mid-meet lull with a mere 8 stakes races, only 2 of which are graded. Both of the week’s graded stakes races are run on Saturday August 14 with the highlight the Grade I Fourstardave with a purse of $500,000 at a mile on the grass. The other graded stakes race on Saturday is the Grade II Saratoga Special for two-year-olds at 6 ½ furlongs. The rest of the week has minor stakes for New York breds and sprinters.

Saturday’s Fourstardave is a new stakes race by Saratoga standards having first been run in 1985 as the Daryl’s Joy and then renamed the Fourstardave in 1995. Fourstardave himself was dubbed the alliterative nickname of “Sultan of Saratoga” after winning a race at Saratoga every year from 1987 to 1994. Fourstardave is one of only a few thoroughbreds buried at Claire Court on the Saratoga backstretch. The gelding started 100 times in his career and has several places in Saratoga on and off the track named after him.

The race itself is one of the few graded turf races at a flat mile which on the Saratoga course leads to a very short run into the first turn. An inside post position is therefore a big advantage. The race has been won by some tremendous horses including Hall of Famers Lure and Wise Dan the latter winning it twice. Among the 15 horses nominated for this year’s renewal 5 are trained by Chad Brown and 2 by meet leading trainer Michael Maker. One possible entrant is European star Lope Y Fernandez. Stakes winners Raging Bull and Rinaldi are also possible starters.

Saturday also sees the running of the Saratoga Special for two-year olds at the elongated sprint distance of six and one-half furlongs. The Saratoga Special has been run in one form or another since 1901 and has been won by numerous champions many of whom went on to win classic races. 

Wednesday highlights horses bred in the State of New York going a distance of ground. The Evan Shipman Handicap is run once around the mile and an eighth Saratoga dirt oval and offers a purse of $100,000. The Evan Shipman is named after the famed racing columnist for the long defunct New York Morning Telegraph.  Shipman was considered one of the world’s authorities on thoroughbred and harness racing and breeding. A colorful character, Shipman was a friend of Ernest Hemingway and a chapter is devoted to Shipman in Hemingway’s novel - A Moveable Feast. The Wednesday card also offers the Mahony - a race for three-year-olds on the grass at five and one-half furlongs for a purse of $120,000.

On Thursday the filly counterpart to the Evan Shipman is run. The Saratoga Dew Handicap at the same mile and one-eighth distance on dirt for New York bred fillies offers the same $100,000 purse as the Shipman.  Saratoga Dew was a New York bred filly who won an Eclipse Award as Champion Three-Year-Old Filly in 1992. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez has trained three of the last four winners of this race. 

Friday offers a restricted stakes named after Tale of the Cat at 6 furlongs for older horses with a purse of $120,000.

Sunday completes the week with the filly counterpart to the Mahony – The Galway.  At the same distance of five and one-half furlongs but this time for three-year-old fillies it offers the same purse of $120,000.

Published in Winner's Circle
Thursday, 09 August 2018 12:34

2 DAYS ... $62.8 MILLION

Photos by Cathy Duffy and Fasig-Tipton Photo

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings sale took place Monday, August 6, and Tuesday, August 7; both nights were extremely lucrative for those involved. On Monday, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s offspring had outstanding sales. Hip 26, a filly from the first round from American Pharoah, sold for $1.2 million to OXO Equine.

The Saratoga sale was the last catalog put together by the late Fasig-Tipton vice president Bill Graves, who has a memorial plaque dedicated to him in the stables, and who passed in May. His son, Brian Graves of consignor Gainesway was present for the sale. Acknowledgement to Bill Graves was felt throughout the evening via a speech by announcer Terence Collier, a commemorative tie for sale to benefit the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, and a tribute in the catalogue.

Monday’s session had 83 horses sold for a total of $28,965,000 – up 19 percent from last year’s opening night, where only 75 horses brought in $24,425,000. The average for Monday’s sales was $348,976, up 7 percent from last year. The median sat comfortably for the second year in a row at $300,000. Only 24 horses went unsold. The second top selling horse from Monday was also offspring to American Pharoah, Hip 62, sold to Bob Baffert, owner of Triple Crown 2018 winner Justify, for $1 million on behalf of M.V. Magnier of the Coolmore partnership. Baffert will be inducted into Saratoga Walk of Fame during Red Jacket Ceremony on Friday, August 24, New York Showcase Day. Baffert is a four-time Eclipse Award-Winning trainer, he is one of only two trainers in history to win multiple Triple Crowns. In 2015, he had his first Triple Crown via American Pharoah and in 2018 via Justify. Hip 82, sired by Into Mischief, was the third highest selling to OXO Equine for $950,000.

On Tuesday, Hip 196, Medaglia D’Oro’s sire was the top seller, for $1.35 million to R. Masiello, C. Larsen, at West Point. Hip 204, also sired by Medaglia D’Oro, sold to Pheonix Thoroughbred for $1.3 million. Rounding out the top three was Hip 143, another sire of Medaglia D’Oro, sold for $1 million to Lael Stable. 170 horses were on sale for the two-day auction, which saw record highs since 2001. Sales were up 9 percent to $369,376, with the media tying with last year at $300,000. Tuesday’s session was the strongest of the two this year, with 87 yearlings sold for $33,829,000, up 18 percent from last year’s second session which sold 81 horses for $28,570,000. The average for Tuesday was $388,839 which was up 10 percent, the median also rose by 17 percent to $350,000; each figure an improvement from Monday’s session.

Published in Winner's Circle
Thursday, 19 October 2017 13:33

Fasig-Tipton Sales Wrap-Up

[All photos by Lori Mahan.]

SARATOGA SPRINGS – On Monday, Oct. 16 the Fasig-Tipton Fall Sale took place in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, NY. Out of 236 horses up for sale, 144 horses sold for an average of $22,674, the highest average sale price since 2012, after the sale was reconstituted from a 15-year hiatus. This sale featured a mix of mares, yearlings, and thoroughbreds that were born earlier this year.

Locally owned horses had a strong day. McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Lake sold 18 horses for $273,000; Chip Landry, operator of Harry L. Landry Bloodstock in Saratoga Springs sold 11 thoroughbreds for $200,000; Christopher Shelli, owner of Fort Christopher’s Thoroughbreds in Fort Edward sold six horses for $199,000.

This sale continued what the August Fasig-Tipton started with an uprise in sales. The Saratoga Select Yearling in August saw an increase of 16.3.

The highest selling horse this year, for $170,000, was born to Into Mischief and Darling Mambo, and was bought by Mahoney Eden Manor & Classic Bloodstock.

Last year, the total for sales was $2,780,600 with the average being $16,955 and the median $8,500, with 164 horses sold. This year, with only 20 more horses sold than the previous year, the numbers were way up. Totaling $3,265,000, average sales were $22,674, and the median was $12,000. 17 horses sold for $1,000, which was the lowest sale price.

Monday’s sale marked a strong 2017 finish for the Fasig-Tipton sales in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Published in Sports
Thursday, 12 October 2017 13:09

Fasig-Tipton Fall Sales

[Photo by www.PhotoAndGraphic.com]

SARATOGA SPRINGS – On Monday, Oct. 16 Fasig- Tipton will be hosting the annual Saratoga Fall Sale. The event will take place in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion beginning at 10:00 a.m. The sale will be featuring 298 horses on offer. The single sale will begin with hips 1-90 consisting of in-foal mares and racing/broodmare racing prospects, followed by hips 91-280 as weanling horses and hips 281-298 are all yearlings. The full calendar is available online at www.fasigtipton.com.

“We have good quality in this year’s catalog,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning.

“There are a number of mares in foal to leading national and regional sires that should draw significant interest. Additionally, this sale has developed into an excellent weanling market – we have nearly 190 weanlings cataloged this year – and the sire power is very good,” Browning said.

Anyone requesting further information is encouraged to contact Evan Ferraro at 859-225-1555.

Published in Sports

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