Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale Starts Monday

TIMONIUM, MD – The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale kicks off Monday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, with bidding expected to begin at 2 p.m., three hours later than originally scheduled due to the postponement of last Thursday's final session of the auction's under-tack show.

That rescheduled session took place Sunday after the skies finally cleared out after four days of rain. After a plethora of :10 1/5 co-fastest furlong works, a colt by Union Rags (hip 561) earned the outright bullet for the distance at the under tack show when working in :10 flat for consignor Bobby Dodd Sunday. The bay colt is out of Tanglewood Tale (Tale of the Cat) and is from the family of champion Housebuster. Brad Grady's Grand Oaks purchased the youngster for $90,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale.

“We've had one go in :10 flat up here before, but it's not common,” Grady said. “It takes a special horse to do it and this is a big, pretty horse. He'll be impressive on the end of a shank, too.”

Dodd added, “He's a very good physical. A big strong, athletic-looking horse.”

A filly by Real Solution (hip 556) turned in the fastest quarter-mile breeze Sunday, covering the distance in :21 3/5. Consigned by All Dreams Equine, the filly is out of Sunday Sport (Honour and Glory) and was bred by Ken and Sarah Ramsey. The juvenile is a half-sister to stakes placed Touchdown Kitten (Kitten's Joy).

The under-tack preview's fastest quarter-mile worker was a son of Mucho Macho Man (hip 278), who covered the distance in :21 1/5 Wednesday.

Sunday's session of the preview was marred when hip 410, a colt by Bandbox, broke down on the turn after completing his furlong work. The chestnut was euthanized on the track.

The preview began in balmy conditions last Tuesday and was conducted during at-times heavy rains on Wednesday before returning to sunny skies Sunday. The variable conditions may prove a challenge for potential buyers, according to Dodd.

“We had one fairly good day, and then it was a really bad day and then it got really bad and we had to wait until today,” Dodd said. “Today has been a good day, thank God. So it's going to be a challenge for buyers to analyze all of that. And it's going to be a challenge for them to get all their work done since the sale starts tomorrow. They are going to have to look at all of these Sunday horses this afternoon and tomorrow morning.”

Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. credited the hard work of track superintendent Chief Denmeyer and his team in getting the track ready for works Sunday.

“I would hate to know how many hours [Denmeyer]'s worked this week, and in particular the last three or four days, to get the track in this kind of condition,” Browning said. “It was remarkable. He told us yesterday that, if things went right, we would be surprised at how good the track would be and he was 100% right. He might have worked all night on the track, I don't know, but it's a tribute to people working hard and trying to do the right thing. And we're very appreciative of his efforts and his entire crew.”

Boyd said, despite the changing weather conditions, the track remained fairly consistent throughout the week.

“I think the track played as fairly as it possibly could over the three, four, five, six days that we were here,” he said. “The consignors were very cooperative and helpful and understanding that we had to make an adjustment. I think clearly it was the right decision on Thursday to not host the under-tack show from a safety perspective. We were fortunate that we had a nice day today, but the times over the track were pretty much consistent over all three days and that is what you hope for, a fair and unbiased situation throughout the sale. Obviously, conditions change a little bit when you are breezing 600 horses, but overall I thought it went remarkably well under the circumstances.”

There was brisk activity at the barns and in the grandstand Sunday as people looked to catch the last of the breezes and check out horses before the auction's Monday afternoon start. Trainer Steve Asmussen and owner Ron Winchell, fresh off a third-place finish with Tenfold (Curlin) in Saturday's GI Preakness S. took in the action from the grandstand, while trainer Bob Baffert shopped the sales barns as his Derby and Preakness winner Justify (Scat Daddy) was shipping back to Churchill Downs. The activity bodes well for a good sale, according to Browning.

“It feels good,” Browning said of pre-sale activity. “A lot of horses breezed well and there has been a lot of interest in the sale. The consignors have reported that there has been plenty of activity in the barns. Two-year-old sales always have a little polarization, really all sales are having a little polarization in the marketplace now, but I think this is a really good group of horses on the grounds and it seems like a deep and diverse group of buyers on the grounds.”

Dodd is expecting much of the same over the next two days, with high interest in the top horses and less demand for the perceived lesser-quality offerings.

“I think it will be a good horse sale,” Dodd said. “It's going to be just like the rest of them, good horses are going to bring the money and the ones that don't vet or the lesser horses are going to fall through the cracks.”

Last year's Midlantic sale was topped by a record-setting $1.5-million son of Curlin, a recent stakes winner named Curlin's Honor. In all, 330 juveniles sold during the 2017 auction for a total of $25,237,000. The average was $76,476 and the median was $35,000.

Recent graduates of the Midlantic sale include Grade I winners Army Mule (Friesan Fire), a $825,000 graduate of the sale who won the GI Carter H. in April, and Lady Ivanka (Tiz Wonderful), who sold for $80,000 last year before winning the GI Spinaway S. The auction celebrated its most recent graded stakes-winning graduate Saturday at Pimlico when Switzerland (Speightstown), purchased for $500,000 in 2016, won the GIII Maryland Sprint S.

“The reason this sale is producing quality horses is because consignors are bringing us quality horses to sell,” Browning said. “They have confidence in the marketplace here. And as the quality of the horses the consignors bring us increases and improves, the success the buyers have buying better stock also results in increased confidence.”

The sale's second and final session begins at 2 p.m. Tuesday.