Fasig-Tipton Returns Bidding to Fairplex Thursday

The inaugural Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings Sale will be held Thursday at Fairplex in Pomona, with bidding on the first of 285 catalogued yearlings scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. PT. The Fairplex sales grounds, which last saw auction action with the CTBA sale in January, was crowded with shoppers Wednesday morning.
“It's been a ridiculous amount of traffic,” said Adrian Gonzalez of Checkmate Thoroughbreds. “We were swamped Tuesday and they are already hitting us pretty hard this morning. It's super, super encouraging seeing the turnout so far and we still have a whole other day to go.”
With training hours still underway on the West Coast, Gonzalez said, “Mostly we've been showing to pinhookers. We haven't seen very many California guys here yet, so it's been mostly out-of-towners doing all-shows here so far.”
Fasig-Tipton conducted its first Santa Anita 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in June and the catalogue included a very limited number of Florida-based consignors. With a strong group of pinhookers shopping ahead of the yearlings sale, Gonzalez is hoping some might return as sellers next spring.
“I kind of have that feeling, that they might be looking for something to bring back to the training sale here,” he agreed.
Between the activity at the barns and the strength of the catalogue, Gonzalez is looking for a strong sale Thursday.
“Personally, I brought some horses that I really, really like, so I am hoping that it will be pretty strong,” Gonzalez said. “I've looked through the catalogue and it seems like there are quite a few very well-bred horses through different consignors' barns. So I am hoping they brought some really nice stock as well. If it's a strong sale, that should rise all tides.”
While California-based sires are well-represented, there are also a large number of Kentucky-based sires with yearlings in the catalogue and many of those yearlings by Kentucky sires are California-breds. The success of Thursday's sale could go a long way towards determining the direction the state's breeding industry goes in the future, according to Gonzalez.
“I think what you can see in this catalogue is a lot of Kentucky-sired Cal-breds that came here as a result of a few new stallions standing in California a couple of years ago,” Gonzalez said. “People bought mares in Kentucky or had mares back there that they purposefully brought to California to breed to some of these new horses. So what you're seeing is the result of a couple of stallions who drew these mares here and now you're seeing a little bit better yearling crop. So I am hopeful that, if those breeders are rewarded with these yearlings, then they will continue to bring their good mares here. Because almost every farm I know out here has a string of mares that resides in Kentucky as well as here. And they swap them back and forth to make these Kentucky-sired Cal-breds. But if nobody gets paid for them–I don't want to be negative–but they won't do it again if these don't sell well. That part of the program has made this catalogue strong and I hope it continues.”
For years, Fairplex was the regular home of the now-defunct Barretts, which held its final auction in Pomona last October. The California Thoroughbred Breeders Association hosted a stop-gap sale on the grounds in January and Gonzalez said he was happy to be back.
“There is not a better sales barns in the country than this venue,” he said. “I love being here. These barns are amazing. The horses show great here. There is plenty of room to see everything. For ease on the horses and my crew and the buyers, this a lovely place to be. Of any place that I've sold, this facility is the best.”
It has been a quick turnaround for the Checkmate team, which was active throughout the 13-day Keeneland September sale that concluded Sunday in Lexington.
“It's a little rough on all of us,” Gonzalez said with a chuckle. “We literally had one travel day in between to repack and get to a new sale. My crew all works in Kentucky at those sales and we got here on fumes. But we're sales prepped, so we are ready for this. As far as the calendar date, we knew what it was going to be, so our horses are ready. It's just, for us humans, we're just a little fried at the moment. But a good sale will help ease that pain.”