Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale Starts Monday

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale will look to follow up on its record-setting 2018 renewal when bidding gets underway at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion Monday evening at 6:30 p.m.
“I think there is a very good group of horses on the grounds,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said Sunday morning. “We felt very good about the horses as we saw them this spring and as we were putting the catalogue together. You never know exactly until they get to the sales grounds, but the feedback we've gotten from the potential buyers has been very positive about the overall quality that's here. There has been lots of activity on the sales grounds in advance of the sale, we know the market is pretty solid, and we're very optimistic heading into Monday.”
The sales barns were abuzz with activity Sunday morning, a day after a scintillating card of racing at the historic racetrack across the street.
“It's been packed,” Taylor Made Sales Agency's Mark Taylor said in a rare break in the action. “It's been unbelievable. We're just trying to get people room to look at horses. The activity has been really good.”
All of the sports major buyers were represented at the sales barns Sunday, with Godolphin representatives John Gosden and Anthony Stroud in attendance and Coolmore's M.V. Magnier, Paul Shanahan, and Demi O'Byrne were making the rounds. Among the other buyers at the barns were Larry Best, Peter Brant, Kaleem Shah, Barbara Banke, Mandy Pope, and Everett Dobson. Terry Finley, whose West Point Thoroughbreds partnered to purchase last year's Saratoga topper was also in attendance.
Carlo Vaccarezza, who made a major splash at last year's Saratoga sale for an initial pinhooking venture which enjoyed a very productive spring at the juvenile sales, looked primed to restock as he traversed the barns Sunday morning. And he had plenty of pinhooking company, with Eddie Woods, Randy Bradshaw, Bobby Dodd, Nick de Meric, and Raul Reyes all active at the sales grounds.
An enthusiastic crowd of 40,791 watched a trio of exciting graded races at Saratoga Saturday. That excitement carries over to the sales grounds, Taylor agreed.
“A lot of buyers, and a lot of our owners, they go over there and watch the races,” Taylor said. “It's adrenaline. It's very unique. And that's one of the best things about Saratoga. You're just mixing the end result with the draft. You're having the draft and then you get to go watch the Super Bowl.”
Fasig-Tipton launched the yearling sales season with its July Sale last month and, while that auction produced steady results, Taylor looks for demand to pick up during the boutique Saratoga sale.
“To me the July sale was a little flat,” Taylor said. “Statistically, it wasn't bad, but I thought the bidders were a little reserved, just kind of waiting. They knew they had Saratoga coming, they knew they had September coming, but here you get a very uniform group of nice physicals. I think that's what Fasig hangs their hat on-they get good-looking horses on the sales grounds. And when you get that combined with not an overly large catalogue in a place like this, it's just a good recipe.”
Taylor continued, “There is some uncertainty in the market just because of all the challenges the industry is going through right now, but if you look at the crowd which was at the racetrack yesterday–I was walking through there for the [GI] Test [S.] and it was absolutely packed. There wasn't an inch of that racetrack that wasn't occupied. It just shows you what racing can be. If our industry could do anything to not undermine its own product, the sky is the limit.”
The 2018 Saratoga auction produced the highest gross in its history, with 170 of 255 catalogued yearlings selling for $62,794,000. Last year's sale also produced its second-highest average ($369,376) and a record-tying median ($300,000). Five horses sold for seven figures a year ago, led by a Taylor Made-consigned son of Medaglia d'Oro who brought a final bid of $1.35 million.
The 2019 catalogue numbers 223 head, with 25 outs as of Sunday afternoon.
“The catalogue is a little smaller this year,” Browning said of the anticipation of matching last year's record gross. “We don't have any artificial goals or predetermined expectations. We want to have a good, solid sale for the men and women who have supported us with quality horses-the owners and the consignors-and that's how we'll evaluate the overall sale. We want to get as high a percentage of horses sold as we can for them. And the final figures will be what they are. Let's just hope we continue to have a strong marketplace, a realistic marketplace, and get a lot of commerce done for both buyers and sellers.”
The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale will offer hips one through 112 Monday and Tuesday's session will include hips 113 to 223. Both sessions begin at 6:30 p.m.