By Jessica Martini
LEXINGTON, KY – Following two days of championship racing across town, the action moves inside to the sales ring at Newtown Paddocks for a glittering renewal of the Fasig-Tipton November sale Sunday. The boutique November sale, which produced its highest-ever gross a year ago when 149 horses sold for $103,699,000, will offer 320 catalogued lots this year.
“I said last year that I didn't know what we could do for an encore and, while we still have to get a lot of valuable horses sold and sold well on Nov. 6, this is a great catalogue,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. “We truly could not be any more excited about our November sale for 2022.”
With supplemental entries still being accepted in the week ahead of sale time, the auction features one of its largest catalogues in recent memory and bidding begins at 1 p.m. with the first of 181 catalogued weanlings.
“It's packed, packed, packed with quality horses,” Browning said of the catalogue. “We have got some of the finest quality fillies and mares coming off the racetrack. There are young mares in foal, there are proven producers at the highest level. It's the best group of foals that we've ever had. The reception that we've gotten so far is extremely positive. I think people are excited about it.”
The Fasig-Tipton November catalogue received several big updates over the championship weekend. Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince) (hip 298) comes into the sale off a third-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Friday, while Blue Stripe (Arg) (Equal Stripes {Arg}) (hip 316) heads to Fasig-Tipton off her dramatic runner-up effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff Saturday. Awesome Flower (Flower Alley) (hip 261) will be offered carrying a full-sibling to Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile runner-up Cyberknife (Gun Runner), as will his weanling half-brother by Authentic (hip 125).
The Breeders' Cup might be the main attraction for fans, but buyers and agents have been working the sale all weekend.
“Particularly for our marketplace, so many of the top buyers are focused on buying those horses,” Browning said. “I am not going to say there won't be some participation in the Breeders' Cup as well, but there are a lot of folks whose focus is going to be looking at horses and evaluating weanlings and fillies and mares and doing their homework.”
And, while a hometown Breeders' Cup means less travel for most participants, the event is a boon for the sales wherever it is held each year.
“I think the Breeders' Cup creates energy whether it's held in Lexington or Los Angeles or Del Mar or Churchill,” Browning said. “The Breeders' Cup in and of itself creates energy. It's our championship event for our industry and it creates a buzz regardless of where it's held.”
During the 2021 November sale, 26 horses sold for seven figures, with Whisper Hill Farm and Three Chimneys Farm purchasing the $5.2 million sale topper, Magical World (Distorted Humor).
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