The final curtain rises on the North American yearling marketplace Oct. 27 for Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearlings Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Md. The one-day sale offers buyers their final chance to purchase a yearling at public auction in North America.
Formerly known as Midlantic Fall Yearlings since 2012, the auction rebrands back to its original name with a new focus on promoting the East Coast's state-bred programs.
"We have restructured the sale with the goal of showcasing the racing-rich Eastern region and the remarkable opportunities it offers," said Paget Bennett, Fasig-Tipton Midlantic director of sales. "There is so much positive momentum in the region—a new racetrack now open at Belmont and soon Pimlico, as well as a growing racing program at Colonial that complements other successful programs in neighboring states. We feel the timing is appropriate to rebrand this sale to bring similar freshness and excitement to the region's major yearling auction."
The catalog of 269 horses is structured by regional state-bred programs, each with its own section. The catalog begins with horses bred in Non-Eastern states and is then followed by Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Fasig-Tipton announced earlier this month a $500,000 bonus for any graduate of the Eastern Fall Yearlings Sale who wins the 2028 Preakness Stakes (G1). All horses offered at the sale will be eligible, even if they fail to meet their reserve. The bonus will be split evenly between the owner of the horse at the time of the Preakness victory and the owner of the horse at the time it was offered at the sale.
The sale, which is usually held about a month earlier, comes at an exciting time, just days before the Breeders' Cup World Championships, held this year at Keeneland.
The most notable graduate of the Fall Yearlings Sale is multiple graded stakes winner Post Time , who finished second in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Del Mar.
Top consignor Gracie Bloodstock will offer a Breeders' Cup-connected colt whose value could skyrocket by the afternoon of Oct. 31. Hip 35, a colt by Vino Rosso , is the first foal of the Kantharos mare Quindini, who is a half sister to last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Cy Fair.
Cy Fair beat the boys in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint, and the 3-year-old daughter of Not This Time , who is trained by George Weaver, is entered in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), where she will once again take on the boys.
Fasig-Tipton has assembled a slightly larger catalog this year that will feature horses by top stallions such as Candy Ride , Cody's Wish , Early Voting, Girvin , Jackie's Warrior , Life is Good , McKinzie , Speaker's Corner , Tiz the Law , Vekoma , and Yaupon , amongst many others.
Last year's sale, which offered fewer horses (197), saw a total of 161 horses change hands for gross receipts of $4,978,100, including private sales. The average price was $30,920 and the median was $20,000. A colt by Nyquist topped the sale, selling for $370,000 to Scanlon Training and Sales from the consignment of Becky Davis. The top-priced filly of the sale was a daughter of Army Mule , who brought $210,000 from LC Racing out of the Northview Stallion Station's consignment, which led all consignors for the auction, with $1,242,500 in sales.
The one-day sale will begin Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. ET. As of Monday evening, Fasig-Tipton had reported 34 outs.
