SARATOGA SPRINGS — Horses will be back in Saratoga Springs for Fasig-Tipton’s “Saratoga Fall Mixed & Horses of Racing Age Sale” this Monday, October 7.
Starting at 11 a.m., the first of 279 scheduled hips will get the auction spotlight on the oval ring.
While there are 279 hips on the program, there is likely to be approximately 10 percent scratched, so it’s safe to assume 230–240 horses will end up taking the ring.
This is the second straight fall auction, bringing back the sale that used to take place in the area years ago.
Most of the showcased weanlings on offer will be New York-bred or eligible for New York-bred registration with some exceptions.
“The mares in the sale can been foaled anywhere,” said Fasig-Tipton Director of Marketing and Senior Sales Announcer Terence Collier. “The Fund requires them to be resident or non-resident. The act of foaling their in-utero offspring will qualify those offspring for New York-bred registration in 2014.”
For this particular sale, any Thoroughbred that meets the sale conditions can be entered and offered, as long as the entry fee has been paid.
The fall sale may not be as popular as the summer’s two-session yearling sale, but the success of the early August sales has helped set “solid” expectations for a “well-attended,” yet “lower key” auction Monday.
“This will be the first sale in the Northeast – probably the entire USA – where breeding stock is offered for sale in 2013,” Collier said. “These offerings are basically the production tools used by New York breeders to produce the yearlings we sell at Saratoga in August. Those yearlings are bought by trainers, or buyers who intend to re-offer their purchases in 2014 as 2-year-olds in training. There are some similarities (to the summer sale) because buyers of foals may re-offer them as yearlings next year, but this is a sale of mares and foals, not yearlings.”
Another difference from the summer sales will be the absence of prestigious buyers. So, there will be no ruler of Dubai representatives or heiresses to Campbell’s Soup in attendance signaling to offer six digits for a horse.
Last year’s average fall sale was just over $16,000—a number Collier expects to increase because of the growing quality of the field.
“The mares and horses of racing age are slightly better quality than last year,” Collier said. “It would not be surprising to see the average growing 15 percent. Mixed sales are a mixed bunch and it is difficult to compare quality of the offerings from one year to another. The key to the success of this sale will be the evaluation of the sellers that they have moved product.”
Expect the one-day sales to wrap up between about 5–5:15 p.m. Monday. For more information on the fall auction and a complete program, visit www.fasigtipton.com and click on “Saratoga Fall Mixed & HORA Catalogue.”
