While the first session of Fasig-Tipton's New York Bred Yearling Sale Aug. 16, showed a slight decrease over the first night of last year's sale, enthusiastic bidding and interest from buyers new to the sale contributed to steady business, with 33 horses bringing six-figure prices.
The session was led by Hip 358, a bay colt by first-crop sire Cody's Wish that went to Phil Hager's Taproot Bloodstock for $360,000. Hager signed the ticket on behalf of Lee Lewis, a longtime client of trainer Mark Hennig, who initially thought he hadn't gotten in the last bid when the hammer fell.
"Was it us?" Hennig asked. He got his answer when Hager in the form of an exultant hug from a friend standing nearby.
The bay colt is out of the multiple New York-bred stakes winner Hard to Stay Notgo, a product of Chester Broman Sr.'s deep and durable breeding program. The More Than Ready mare has already produced stakes-winning and stakes-placed runners.
The colt was consigned by Sequel as agent for Broman, who won the last race Aug.15 at Saratoga Race Course with homebred Maximum Heat. Sequel's Becky Thomas stood in the winner's circle with Broman. A few hours later, Thomas and Carlos Manresa, Sequel's director of operations, watched the Broman-bred Inshallah win on debut at Del Mar. Inshallah is by 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline and out of Broman's homebred Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) winner Bar of Gold. He sold for $2.1 million to Pedro Lanz, agent for KAS Stables, at this year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
"We are Team Broman right now," Thomas said. "We had the mom of (Hip 358) and the siblings. Broman's farm manager Gregg Falk is amazing, and we're really super happy."
Hager said the strong New York program influenced his decision to secure the colt.
"The New York program is really good," he said. "So that played into it. Obviously, Cody's Wish is an awesome horse, and the mare's been productive. This colt had a really nice physical."
Sequel consigned and bred Hip 350, a Golden Pal filly purchased for $320,000 by Joseph Migliore on behalf of a partnership comprising Adelphi Racing Club, LJSS Thoroughbreds, and Chief Horse Futures. The filly will be trained by Miguel Clement.
"We felt that it was one of the standout fillies in the sale, not just tonight's session, but in the sale overall," Migliore said. "We're impressed with what we've seen from the Golden Pals and the mare (Gun Club) has been a productive producer and had a recent black-type update."
"We've done a lot of good shopping off of Sequel in the past, so that helped us make that little extra push," he continued.
Last year, Migliore purchased multiple stakes-placed Illmatic out of Sequel's consignment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale for $290,000. Illmatic is by Sequel stallion Honest Mischief , who stood the 2026 season for an advertised fee of $7,500.
Sequel's Thomas said that based on the results of The Saratoga Sale last week, she expected healthy bidding on quality horses. She also relies on another, more idiosyncratic predictor.
"At the fall sale here, I have apples at our consignment," she said. "In the summer, I have peaches. We ran out of peaches yesterday, and they usually last through the whole sale, so I figured that this would be a good sale."
The gross sales for the first session were $7,622,000, a 12.4% decrease from last year, when 64 horses went through the ring, compared to 63 this year. The average dropped from $130,281 last year to $120,894, while the median remained at $100,000. The RNA rate was also largely unchanged, with 17 horses failing to meet their reserve last year, and 16 going back to their consignment this year.
"I wouldn't say that things were down, because I compare overall sales and not individual sessions," said Boyd Browning Jr., Fasig-Tipton's president and CEO. "We never know which is going to be the stronger session. Last year's sale was record-breaking, and we're on par with that. We saw good activity from the first horse to the last, and we saw very good activity on the grounds."
"We're very encouraged by the strength and consistency of the market on opening night, with 63 New York-bred yearlings selling for more than $7.6 million and a strong median of $100,000," said Najja Thompson, executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders. "These results are a credit to our breeders and consignors and the quality of horses they continue to bring to the marketplace. They also speak to the confidence owners and buyers have in the opportunities available through the New York-bred program. We're looking forward to carrying that momentum into Monday's session and finishing the sale on a strong note."
Taylor Made Sales Agency led all consignors with $1,594,000 in sales, offering 17 horses during the session and selling 13 of them. Sequel Bloodstock sold all four of their yearlings on offer for $1,080,000.
The leading buyer was Saffie Joseph Jr., who purchased three horses for a total of $542,000. Joseph came close to exceeding the $360,000 session topper, admitting that he was prepared to go as high as $400,000 for Hip 400, the final yearling to go through the ring. Joseph secured the Forte colt for $350,000 from the Taylor Made consignment. Bred by Fred W. Hertrich III, the colt is out of the Liam's Map mare Liam's Lookout.
Joseph also purchased Hip 336, an Arcangelo filly out of the stakes-placed mare Frank's Folly for $130,000 and Hip 315, a colt by Frosted out of Doc Doc Rock (Into Mischief ), for $62,000.
"He's a good-looking horse," said Joseph of Hip 400. "He obviously has a solid pedigree, and he's a very good mover. You hope that he'll carry that over when he gets to the track."
Joseph said that he has "dabbled" at this sale in the past, but he intends to have more of a year-round presence in New York beginning next year.
"All the incentives make you more willing to get involved," he said.
Migliore has been a regular presence at this sale since he entered the bloodstock business.
"This sale is such a focus for us every year," he said. "We're really putting an emphasis on being one of the premier partnerships in the state of New York, and there's no better way to do that than to buy quality New York-breds. The female families have been getting better year by year, and the program just continues to put out more incentives. Where else would we shop, really?"
