SARATOGA SPRINGS — The horses are back in Saratoga Springs for Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Fall Sale Oct. 6-7.
This year’s sale will include a couple changes.
For the first time since the fall sale’s return three years ago, it will be broken up into two days. Also, it will include yearlings.
The number of yearlings available for the commercial market has significantly increased and they could not all be accommodated for this past summer.
“We literally did not have enough stalls at Saratoga in August,” Fasig-Tipton Senior Sales Announcer and Director of Marketing Terence Collier said. “We had to provide an alternative market for them as a direct result of the expansion. It’s not the first time its ever happened, but it’s the first time in the last several years that we have offered yearlings in the fall.”
Starting at 10 a.m. Monday, the first session will kick off. Monday’s session will consist of 134 catalogued broodmares and horses of racing age.
The second session will be the more popular one. Tuesday will open with yearlings getting the auction spotlight on the oval ring, followed immediately by the featured category of the two days—the weanlings.
Most of the showcased weanlings on offer will be New York-bred or eligible for New York-bred registration. Yearlings are a little bit further along and most are already registered New York bred.
Last year, broodmares and weanlings were auctioned on the same day. This year’s setup makes a little more sense for buyers.
“Buyers of the two are usually two different groups,” Collier said. “With putting one on one day and another on the next, it’s giving the buyers of the weanlings plenty of time to evaluate them. The differences this year are more logistical than others, but they are important differences.”
Overall, there are 431 hips scheduled over the two days. Collier expects things to wrap up between 5-6 p.m. Tuesday.
Last year’s average sale was $18,791, surpassing the 2012 average sale of $16,249.
As far as expecting an increase in the average sale to go along with the increased number of hips (279 originally catalogued last year compared to this year’s 431), Collier said it is difficult to tell with the sale having such variety.
“It’s a mixed bunch and it is difficult to compare quality of the offerings from one year to another,” Collier said. “There are four different categories of horses and there’s strength in some more than other, so it’s hard to look at the overall catalog and say we expect growth in all sections. The yearlings and the weanlings will be subject to the same type of scrutiny that all the sales have been held to. Broodmares and racehorses are a slightly different category. They’ll have to stand on their own merits.”
Another difference in the October sale, compared to the August sale, is the overall atmosphere.
The sales in August tend to be more dominated by agents who are selling on behalf of the breeders who have one or two yearlings and don’t find it economically feasible to sell their own horses.
“In terms of that atmosphere and composition of the sellers, you’re going to see an awful lot more of actual dirt-under-their-nails, hard-working farmers up there with the results of their labors that they’re selling—the broodmares and the weanlings,” said Collier. “It is a totally different feeling. Although, there are components of both the August sales and the October sales that are similar. You get a great many, what we call ‘pinhookers,’ people who are buying for resale.”
The fall sale may not be as popular as the summer’s two-session yearling sale, but it has people like Collier in anticipation of an expanded catalogue and what should be an exciting two days of auction.
“We’re very enthusiastic about being back in Saratoga with such a vibrant and complete catalogue and we’re hopeful for a strong turnout of buyers. There’s been considerable interest from communities way outside of New York State, so we think we’re going to have a fun time and a big crowd. We’re confident that a nice horse is going to find a ready market. We’re also confident that it’s a good catalogue and a very diverse catalogue and it will attract a big buying base. Then it will be up to the buyers.”
For more information on the fall auction and a complete program, visit www.fasigtipton.com and click on “Saratoga Fall Sale Catalogue.”
