Day 2 of the Fasig-Tipton Sale New York-bred Yearling Sale Aug. 11 picked up where Day 1 left off, with six of the first 12 yearlings through the ring bringing six figures.
The session topper came midway through the afternoon, when hip 502 brought $525,000 from Sallusto and Kimmel, agents for MWG, bidding online, matching Sunday's highest price.
Consigned by Indian Creek, agent, the gray/roan colt is by Practical Joke and out of Cuello de Luna. He was bred by Stone Bridge Farm.
"We knew he was a nice horse and well-prepped, but of course, at that price, it's a surprise," said Stone Bridge's Jeffrey Tucker. "Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck recommended Practical Joke, and I bred two mares to him. I liked him as a racehorse, and we obviously paid a lot less for the season than we'd pay today, so it's a great result."
"It was really neat to see him come here and just step up and really enjoy and thrive in the sales process," said Indian Creek's Sarah Sutherland. "There's a high demand for really nice horses, good physicals, by proper stallions. After seeing the strength of the market last night, you know you might be in a good position, but this is far exceeding any thoughts we had coming in here."
In the pavilion, Nick Sallusto had buyer Mark Gunderson on the phone while Gunderson was bidding online outside the country.
"Practical Joke is a top-10 general sire, and he's out of a Cherokee Run mare, which added some real stretch to him," said Sallusto. "He's probably the best walking horse I saw all week."
The session started at noon on a Saratoga Race Course dark day, and it didn't take long for higher-end buyers to show their interest. The second horse offered, a filly by Nyquist named Hoot Owl Express (Hip 403), brought $370,000 from trainer Chad Brown, signing on behalf of Klaravich Stables.
Steps from where Brown signed the ticket, a group that included the breeders of the filly—Ned Williams, Mike Matese, and Jack Murray-reacted jubilantly when the hammer fell.
"Nyquist has been so hot," Williams said. "Our partners just decided that she was almost too nice for us to keep, so we thought we would try her in the sale. We've had four generations of this family, so it means a lot."
"Ned Williams has been an amazing client for a long time," said Chris Shelli, whose Fort Christopher's Thoroughbreds, agent, consigned the filly. "Stuart Morris and I had a plan for this horse, literally before we bred it. We planned to foal it in New York, raise it in Kentucky, and come back up here and sell it. Luckily for us and the owners, that plan came to fruition."
Hoot Owl Express is out of the Violence mare Three Hawk.
Just five head later, that price was eclipsed when John Eaton went to $390,000 for a Constitution filly bred by Kathleen Burke Schweizer, Daniel J. Burke, and the late Christophe Clement. Out of the Quality Road mare Too Sexy, the filly was consigned by Eaton Sales. Despite the similar names, the buyer has no connection to the consignor.
"She was beautiful, and she comes from a lovely mare that Christophe trained," said Schweizer of the dam. "He's the reason that we purchased her. We were all at the sale, and he had taken us to look at her. He trained her half brother, and he told us that it was a great young family and that Too Sexy would be a great investment as a broodmare."
On that advice, Schweizer and Burke's Longford Farm paid $450,000 for the stakes-winning filly at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale.
The purchase is Eaton's first at the New York-bred sale. He and his wife Kathy recently purchased a home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and this is a first step towards an investment in New York's breeding program.
"We want New York-breds," he said. "I'm thinking of sending one of my mares here to foal, and this filly will definitely stay in New York to race."
Eaton co-bred Straight No Chaser, last year's Eclipse award-winning champion male sprinter, and his Front Row Partners co-owned two-time champion Goodnight Olive.
Selling for the second-highest price of the session was hip 522, a Street Sense filly out of a Galileo mare that went to Ed Swyer's Hudson River Farm for $400,000. Consigned by Paramount Sales, the bay filly was bred by Thirty Year Farm.
"Her pedigree was the thing that really got me interested to begin with," said Swyer. "When I looked at the horse, everything checked out, the vet checked her out. I didn't expect to spend that much money, but I'm going to end up with some partners."
Swyer also purchased the filly with an eye towards a breeding career.
"She's a filly, and she's a New York-bred," he said. "It doesn't get any better than that."
This year's sale saw 199 horses sold, up from 185 last year, with a buy-back total that decreased to 55, resulting in an RNA rate of 21.7%. The sale average was $119,950, up 15% over last year, and gross was up nearly 25% to a record $23,870,000. The previous record gross was established in 2023 when 219 yearlings sold for $20,904,000. The median of $85,000 is identical to last year.
Legion Bloodstock purchased eight head for a total of $1,450,000 to lead all buyers for the two-day sale. Denali Stud topped the consignors, selling 16 horses from their draft for $2,445,000.
"Gross is up, average is up, and RNA rates are down," said Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning. "We're ecstatic."
Buyers regularly admitted that they were spending more than they had hoped, and even breeders and consignors were surprised at the prices their yearlings brought. They all pointed to three factors contributing to the elevated trade: purse parity for New York-breds at New York Racing Association tracks beginning next year; the benefits of Thoroughbred ownership contained in recent federal legislation; and the renovation of Belmont Park, which will include a synthetic surface.
"This is the best state-bred program in the country," Browning said. "There continues to be a concerted and collective effort to breed it, on the part of the breeders and of NYRA, and we have to give some credit to the political arena that has supported Thoroughbred racing in the state of New York. It's thriving, and that's reflected in these results today."
