Early Impressions from Fasig: Whose First-Crop Yearlings Caught Your Eye?

Every year, the Fasig-Tipton July sale offers the first chance for buyers to get a look at a new crop of yearling sires. Many buyers were seeing these sires' yearlings for the first time this week, and while it's admittedly early, we took a little survey to get their first impressions.

The group includes: Basin, Beau Liam, By My Standards, Charlatan, Core Beliefs, Essential Quality, Independence Hall, Knicks Go, Known Agenda, Leinster, Lexitonian, Maxfield, Modernist, Raging Bull, Rock Your World, Silver State, Tacitus, Uncle Chuck, and Yaupon.

LIZ CROW: Tacitus (Tapit), Taylor Made, 2022 stud fee: $10,000
Beau Liam (Liam's Map), Airdrie Stud. 2022 Stud fee: $6,000.
I don't think that anyone can tell who is going to be the leading freshman sire, especially this far out. We're just looking at them in July and they're so immature and you're just looking at a small handful of them. Constitution was eighth on the freshman sires average yearling price list, and so obviously, all of us were wrong about him. So I'm just going with what my eye has liked here so far, knowing that I could pretty much be incorrect.

I have liked the Tacitus yearlings. I have seen 10 or 12 of them. They seem to have a nice shape, nice lines to them. I probably left the most of that freshman sire on my short list. These are really the first group of them I've seen. I haven't seen any of them at the farm, and it just seems to be the freshman sire I'm landing on the most at this time.
The other one is Beau Liam. I have seen quite a few of those that I have liked. They have nice, big hips. He was obviously very fast and I think you can see that in his progeny so far. They have all the makings of quick, early two-year-old types from what I've seen so far.

PRICE BELL: Beau Liam
I'm going to answer the question by return on investment for the stud fee. I am really impressed with the Beau Liam foals that I'm seeing. I thought his stud fee was really attractive, and I think he'll have the best ROI to stud fee from the first crop. I bet that he will average $55,000, so I'm guessing that's going to be 9x, which I'm thinking just on pure math will be impossible for Charlatan or most others to hit.

CONRAD BANDOROFF: Charlatan (Speightstown), Hill 'n' Dale, 2022 stud fee: $50,000
Charlatan will be the leading freshman sire. We sold him as a yearling. He brought $700,000 in September in Book 1. He was an absolutely gorgeous specimen. I'm seeing a lot of his athleticism in his progeny, and a lot of the balance and the brilliance that Charlatan showed early on and in his racing career. I'm going to go with Charlatan, but that being said, this is as close a year as we've seen in a while. I've been very impressed with the Maxfield (Street Sense)s (Darley, 2022 Stud Fee $40,000). They are very strong, forward, mature-looking horses and they physically made me stop and look. The Essential Qualitys are nice, also, and I think when we finish the year, you're going to look and it's going to be a pretty close race at the top.

DAVID INGORDO: Charlatan
I like the Charlatans .They all look pretty uniformly like nice horses, with balance. They're fast-looking and should be early and quality, which is what we need. The Maxfields look pretty good. They look like two-turn horses, and I've been impressed by their hind ends. They're really strong. I thought Maxfield was beautiful when he was running, and the foals look a lot like him.

JACOB WEST: Yaupon (Uncle Mo), Spendthrift, 2022 stud fee: $30,000
I've only been through four barns, but if I could just give you one, it would be Yaupon, just from what I've seen through four barns and what I've seen out on the farm. He's a beautiful horse and he's passing on incredible characteristics. He's a son of Uncle Mo who was really fast. Everybody likes speed in America and I think that what he's got here is a pretty good representation of what he is and what he could be.

HUBERT GUY: Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), Spendthrift, 2022 Stud Fee: $10,000.
So far, I've liked the Rock Your Worlds. He's a son of Candy Ride. They look very racy and they all move fairly well. Candy Ride has been such a success as a sire of sires that it's a real possibility. I have also seen a lot of nice Beau Liams.

LAUREN CARLISLE: Yaupon and Knicks Go (Paynter), Taylor Made, 2022 stud fee: $30,000,.
Yaupon has stuck out. They look fast. They're pretty correct for the Uncle Mo line. Sometimes they can struggle with their knees but those horses have been very pretty and seem to be good movers.
And Knicks Go. I saw some nice individuals at Taylor Made. They look fast early. That's going to be a pinhooker horse, I would say, just because of how fast he was. That's what they're looking for. Those stuck out to me. Nice horses, put together, look solid, and fast.

OLIVIA PERKINS-MACKEY: Tacitus
From what I've seen today, and that didn't catch my eye as weanlings. Tacitus. I think people will make money. They didn't pay much for them, or didn't sell them, and they all have good bodies. They just look like nice horses that will be fast at the two-year-old sales.

JAY KILGORE: Tacitus

It's Tacitus right now. I haven't seen enough. I've only seen them this morning, but they're standouts. I like them. Most of them are quite nice. But my sample size is still very, very small.

STEVE ASMUSSEN: Yaupon

He was beautiful and his babies are beautiful. They have extremely racy lines. Very athletic looking.

PHIL HAGER: Lexitonian (Speightstown), Calumet, 2022 fee: $10,000
There have been a few that I have liked, but I would say the most consistent body types that I've seen thrown is Lexitonian as a stallion. They all look like they have a race body, good size, good shoulder, good hip, so I've been most impressed with him.

SUSAN MOULTON: Independence Hall (Constitution), WinStar, 2022 fee: $10,000
Our absolute favorite new sire is Independence Hall. They're big, fluid movers, and well-balanced. They look like racehorses. I like the Beau Liams and the Rock Your Worlds. The Rock Your Worlds, there are two or three that I really like, and being Candy Ride, they're bigger than I expected.

JAMES KEOGH: Charlatan and Yaupon
I've been very very impressed with the Charlatans. Very attractive horses, very athletic. I'm excited about a few that we have to sell, so definitely Charlatan would be the horse that's going to come out of this year's crop. For me, Yaupon was such a fast, fast racehorse and a very exciting prospect, and there's nothing but good things to say about his stock that I've seen so far.