Two Days: $45.5 Million!

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Horse Sales were back in action at Fasig-Tipton on Monday, August 8 and Tuesday, August 9. One hundred fifty six yearlings were sold between the two days, for a grand total of $45,570,000. Seventy three horses were sold at Monday night’s auction for a total of $21,215,000. The average price for a yearling at this year’s opening session was $290,616. The median price increased from $225,000 in 2015 to $240,000 in 2016. The highest bid of the night peaked at just shy of a million, with hip number 111 selling for $950,000 by Stonestreet Stables. The colt’s father is Pioneer of the Nile, who has also sired thoroughbred legends such as American Pharaoh. A close second was hip number 61, a filly sired by Ghostzapper, winner of the 2004 Breeder’s Cup Classic, who sold for $800,000 by PTK LLC. The China Horse Club bought five yearlings that night for a total of $2.3 million. Eighty three more yearlings were sold at the next night of sales which took place on Tuesday, August 9. The sales for the night increased from the previous night, totaling out at $24,355,000. Unlike on Monday night, two of the bids broke a million at Tuesday’s auction. Stonestreet Stables, who placed the highest bid at the first session, sold hip number 140 - a gray colt sired by Tapit, for $1,250,000. The colt was bred from Tapit and Rote, and comes from a long family of stakes winners. However, Stonestreet’s purchase was not the number one bid of the night. Whisper Hill Farm came in with a $1,450,000 purchase of hip number 191, the dark bay Medaglia d’Oro filly. Medaglia d’Oro is the winner of multiple stakes races, including the 2002 Travers Stakes and the 2003 Whitney Handicap. The average sales for Tuesday night came to $293,434, an increase just shy of $3,000 from Monday night. Last year’s second night average was much higher at $333,467.