A strapping bay colt (Hip 83) by Nyquist rose quickly into seven-figure territory, with each early bid jumping by $100,000 increments. Soon the colt owned the top price of $3.2 million during the Aug. 10 opening session of Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale.
Boyd Racing bought Hip 83 through agent Brittany Linton. Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings bred the colt out of out grade 2 winner Slammed, a daughter of Marking out of multiple stakes winner Hennesey Smash. Slammed is a half sister to three other stakes winners, including grade 2-placed stakes winner Smash Ticket (Midnight Lute). Gainesway consigned the colt on behalf of Stonestreet.
"We came here with the strategy of buying two fillies, but we just fell in love with this colt," Randy Boyd said. "As we say, we have a strategy and we stick to it, but every month we change the strategy, and today we changed the strategy. But it was just a colt that we couldn't pass up.
"I think he's going to be an amazing colt. We think he has a possibility of being a (Kentucky) Derby horse one day."
Jenny and Randy Boyd of Boyd Racing have made a splash in both the North American sales scene over the last year, and even overseas, with their purchase of group 2 scorer Green Sense for £700,000 at the Goffs London Sale in June.
Their strategy has been to secure regally bred fillies to have a future as broodmares. In March, Boyd Racing purchased a juvenile filly, also by Nyquist, for $2 million at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Last year they purchased the highest-priced filly of the Saratoga sale—a daughter of Gun Runner out of grade 1 winner Paradise Woods—for $2.6 million. They also purchased multiple grade 1 winner Vahva, another daughter of Gun Runner, for $3.1 million at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
"We're buying fillies for the long term," Boyd said. "We want to buy fillies that have great potential to be a broodmare, and hopefully they'll have a good career while they're racing. But the most important thing is to buy the broodmares."
Shortly after its purchase of Hip 83, Boyd Racing, with Linton as agent, went to $1.5 million for Hip 104, a daughter of Quality Road out of the grade 3-winning Violence mare Talk Veuve to Me. The dam is a half sister to Tiffany Case, the dam of 2025 champion 3-year-old filly and recent Whitney Stakes (G1) runner-up Nitrogen.
Hip 104 was also bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. She was consigned by Denali Stud.
