Fasig-Tipton Closes Out 2022 at Midlantic Mixed Sale

The 2022 sales year comes to a close Dec. 6 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed and Horses of Racing Age Sale in Timonium, Md. Over a single day of selling 286 horses will be on offer for various programs, including Jim McKay's Maryland Millions, which takes place in the fall at either Laurel Park or Pimlico Race Course. The final live sale in the U.S. is sure to cap off a fantastic year of trade across all regions. During the 2021 edition of the single-selling session sale, 261 of the 332 horses through the ring were sold for a gross of $3,905,100, suitable for an average price of $14,962 and a median of $10,000. Seventy-one horses failed to meet their reserve, representing an RNA rate of 21.2%. This year the catalog offers 73 broodmares, seven broodmare prospects, 76 horses of racing age, 24 racing or broodmare prospects, 18 yearlings, and 88 weanlings for consideration. The first portion of the catalog will feature mares, yearlings, and weanlings, followed by racing stock. "The sale is important for breeding farms to showcase, if you will, foals by their sires," Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sales director Paget Bennett said. "To help get people on board for future breeding seasons by showing people what they produce. It's one way to market their stallions, getting them out in front of everybody at the sales." Of the mares in foal, the majority carry foals by exciting regional sires while a few are in foal to popular Kentucky-based sires, along with some first-year sires sprinkled throughout. Three mares on offer are stakes-producing dams and selling with enticing matings: Northview Stallion Station offers She's Flattering, by Flatter (Hip 12) in foal to Eclipticalspraline on an early April cover. The mare, a daughter of the late Flatter, has produced the grade 3 placed Please Flatter Me, by Munnings. The Smoke Glacken mare, Smeauxkininthelane (Hip 18), will sell carrying a Tapwrit foal on a March cover. Her second foal by Can the Man, Man In The Can, captured the Arkansas Breeders' Championship Stakes in 2020 and placed in the same race in 2021 and 2022. Harry L. Landry Bloodstock will see her through the ring. The third black-type producer, Stolen Heart, by Ecton Park (Hip 25), sells in foal to Engage on a Mar. 3 cover. The mare herself was stakes placed in the Mesa Handicap twice and has produced stakes winners Henny's Princess and Noblame. A five-time stakes winner, Red's Round Table (Hip 164), will sell from the Dark Hollow draft; the Cuvee mare boasts a record of 8-3-1 in 19 starts with earnings of $268,780. She will head through the ring in foal to a new stallion of 2022, grade 2 winner Engage, a son of perennial leading sire Into Mischief. Maryland stakes winner Celtic Katie, by Posse, will sell as Hip 65 with Bill Reightler, agent for Lewis Family Racing Stable. While unmated for the 2022 breeding season, she boasts a full roster of progeny hitting the track. The Maryland sale offers yearlings from the state-bred program, other surrounding states, and two from Kentucky. This will be the first trip through the ring for all but two of the yearlings. Hip 173, a filly by Long River who initially went through the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale, was retained at $9,500 with her consignor Lady Olivia at North Cliff and the Sally Thomas consigned Hip 180, a colt by Accelerate who failed to meet his reserve at $27,000 during the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. "We have a lot of weanlings by regional sires; a lot of them are Maryland-breds, which makes them Maryland Million eligible and is a big plus to the area," Bennett said. "It's a big deal. It makes them eligible for that big day of racing, but not just that day. Maryland sires have a lot of stakes races and opportunities for them throughout the year." With 88 weanlings to sort through, there is something for every buyer, notably six siblings to stakes winners for consideration. Turning Point Bloodstock consigns a Speightster colt, Hip 21, out of grade 3 winner Solo Survivor and full sibling to Hip Hop N Jazz, winner of the Houston Distaff Stakes and placed in the Delaware Oaks (G3). The active family of Bazinga B will be up for grabs; her Uncle Lino colt (Hip 53) will head through the ring, as well as his half brother Bazinga C (offered as Hip 286), a stakes winner who added another black-type placed finish to his resume recently in the Safely Kept Stakes Nov. 26. Northview Stallion Station will see both colts through the ring. Other offerings with stakes-winning siblings include Hip 66, a Maryland Millions certified Outflanker colt named Chimney Sweep from Bill Reightler's consignment and Hip 109, a Pennsylvania-bred Uptowncharlybrown filly offered by Sally Thomas acting as an agent for Danielle Marie. Two live families can be found in Hip 111, a colt by the late Lord Nelson consigned by Gracie Bloodstock and Hip 152, a filly by Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Cloud Computing. Hip 111 is a half brother to this year's Miracle Wood Stakes winner, Local Motive as well as to current runner Unrequited Love while Hip 152, named Ona Proud Note, shares a dam with the 2022 Robert G. Leavitt and West Virginia Lottery Breeders' Classic Stakes winner Free Sailin. Bennett added: "We also have some weanlings by first-year sires, which sold well during the earlier mixed sales in Kentucky. We're fortunate to have some of the same up here, and hopefully, they'll be equally as appealing to buyers as they were in Kentucky." The Horses of Racing Age portion of the catalog, which accepted entries until this week, offers an excellent opportunity for buyers to pick up horses ready to run for the winter meets and for trainers to trade in horses that possibly don't fit their owner's outline. The group of current form horses will again be headlined by 25 offerings from the esteemed owner/breeder Joseph Besecker who has been responsible for selling toppers in 2020 and 2021. During last year's sale, he saw the 2-year-old gelding Safalow's Mission sell for $130,000 to trainer Linda Rice for Thelma and Louise Stable to be the day's top price. "The racehorses are in some training and could go to Florida, New Orleans, or Oaklawn," Bennett said. "We've had interest from people out in California for some of these racehorses. The racehorses will do well because people, as we all know, are always looking for useful racehorses and having so many places where they can run in the winter here or go elsewhere." Leading consignor Northview Stallion Station sold 107 of their 145 horses on offer last year to be the leading consignor, with gross receipts of $1,774,600, at an average price of $16,571. "Thanks to the people that have consigned horses with us, we feel like we have a great opportunity to end on a high note," Bennett commented. "We have a lovely mare in foal to Bolt d'Oro (Hip 86—Ever Awesome) and one to Justify (Hip 151—Northern Beauty); just having what the buyers want, it just gives us great hope that we can end on a high note." Charles Zacney closed the sale last year, making six purchases for gross receipts of $159,000 to be the sales leading buyer by gross. Next year an exciting addition of the June 28 2-year-olds in training sale will be added to the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic calendar, with an under tack preview held Jun. 26 on the dirt track at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. The sale gets underway Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. ET at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. As of Monday evening, 54 horses had been withdrawn from the sale.