Bidding from his customary spot on the second-level balcony of the Humphrey S. Finney sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, flanked by owner Amr Zedan and trainer Bob Baffert, nailed the first seven-figure yearling to sell Aug. 10 at this year's Fasig-Tipton The Saratoga Sale.
Hip 19, a Curlin colt out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Merlazza, inspired a spirited bidding war early in the opening session, ending when the hammer fell at $2 million. The dark bay or brown colt is from the consignment of Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, agent, and was bred in Kentucky by Curlin Syndicate and Don Alberto Corporation. Lanni signed the ticket on behalf of Zedan. At this sale last year, the duo purchased the sale's third-highest seller, a Gun Runner colt that went for $2.9 million.
"He's a horse that the whole team liked," Lanni said. "Bob (Baffert) loved the horse. He was a really nice colt by Curlin. There's not going to be too many of those Curlins left, unfortunately. He's getting a little older, and he's been a great sire. He had the Derby winner this year. This colt is very mature, very athletic, and he looks like he'll stretch out."
The colt's third dam, Crystal Current, is a full sister to grade 1 winner Majestic Warrior (A.P. Indy), and his fourth dam is the dual grade 1 winner and millionaire Dream Supreme (Seeking the Gold).
Hill 'n' Dale's director of bloodstock Jes Sikura beamed, even looking a little awestruck as he discussed the colt and the price.
"We really, really liked him. He showed great this week," he said. "He's a beautiful-moving colt. I don't know if we expected him to go quite that high, but we thought that he was going to surpass our expectations. This is to a little bit of a different level."
"You never know what they're going to bring," Lanni said, "but the good ones always seem to cost a lot. There was a lot of competition for the horse. He impressed us from the very beginning. At Saratoga, you have so much time to look at the horses and find a reason to get off the horse, but we just stayed on him."
Both Lanni and Sikura commented on the energy and traffic in the pavilion and on the sales grounds.
"We had really strong traffic at our consignment," Sikura said. "This is the most momentum and energy I've seen here. We're happy that this colt fell into that momentum."
"There's very strong energy," Lanni said. "It's been a good year, and there are a lot of people here. There's good horses all around."
$1.5 Million Colt From Uncle Mo's Final Crop
Hip 54, from the final crop of the late Uncle Mo, brought $1.5 million. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, the bay colt was purchased by Lori Owens' B-4 Farms.
The bay colt is the sixth foal out of the Bernardini mare Rachel's Valentina, a grade 1 winner at Saratoga Race Course. The Stonestreet homebred won the 2015 Spinaway Stakes (G1) as a 2-year-old in her second career start. Rachel's Valentina is a daughter of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra.
"He's beautiful," Owens said. "He's going to be a Derby winner. We did expect to have to go that high. His breeding, his looks, we think he's going to be a two-turn horse."
The horse will be trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who trained Rachel Alexandra.
Stonestreet's Barbara Banke said, "We thought he would bring a high price. There was a lot of interest in him. He looks great, he looks the part, he's out of a grade 1-winning mare. The sale is pretty, pretty hot."
Holliday Acquires Nyquist Filly
Blue Devil Racing's Marc Holliday entered the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion Monday on a mission, and that mission was accomplished when he secured Hip 49 for $1,375,000 out of the Paramount Sales consignment.
"She was the one we came here for," Holliday said.
The chairman of the New York Racing Association's board of directors latched onto the bay filly's impressive pedigree. By 2015 Eclipse champion 2-year-old male and 2016 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist , the filly is out of the winning Bernardini mare Pray for Leslie.
Pray for Leslie has had three foals to race and all have performed well in graded company. The highlight is Praying, a daughter of Vekoma who won the 2025 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) at Keeneland and Prioress Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course. The dam also produced the winning Omaha Beach mare Alys Beach, third in the 2023 Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, and the winning Authentic filly Spa Prospector, third in the 2025 Adirondack Stakes (G3) at Saratoga.
Pray for Leslie is a half sister to stakes-placed C J's Awesome (Awesome Again) and C J's Gal, the dam of grade 3 winner Hidden Connection and grade 3-placed Very Connected.
"That cross—Nyquist and a Bernardini mare—I think is going to be something that we're going to have a lot of fun with on the racetrack and then for many years in the breeding shed," Holliday said. "I'm very, very happy with how it turned out."
Holliday was also impressed by the filly's powerful look, which he picked out with the help of bloodstock agent Dan Hayden of Sugar Maple Farm.
"She's an extremely balanced filly, very powerful-looking," Holliday said. "She vetted AAA plus, and for me, that's what I look for with this kind of purchase."
The filly was the third-highest-priced filly of the night and one of 15 yearlings to break seven figures. A regular attendee of the sale, Holliday noted a different feeling in the ring this year.
"I'm here every year, so this is something I look forward to all year," Holliday said. "I've never seen the place this crowded or as exuberant as it is tonight."
