Ahead of Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Aug. 5-6, auction house president and CEO Boyd Browning Jr. was confident his team had assembled one of the highest-quality catalogs ever. His confidence was rewarded when The Saratoga Sale set records for gross sales and average, exceeding last year's records by 9.5%.
Browning was quick to credit his team for the record-breaking success of this week's sale.
"Thank goodness when you've got a team that's unbelievable. They're the unsung heroes, like the backside workers," he said. "They don't get any damn credit. It's not easy, it's a thankless job, but it's the combination of everybody that wears a red shirt. It's a shared responsibility, it's a shared effort and the shared desire to do a great job."
Helping set the records were 12 horses that sold for $1 million or more during the two sessions. After the last horse walked out of the ring, gross sales totaled $82,160,000 and the average settled at $533,506 from 154 sold.
The second session was the stronger one with gross sales of $41,900,000 for 73 horses sold from 92 offered and an average of $573,973. The RNA rate for the entire sale was 19%.
An Into Mischief colt (Hip 183) consigned by Lane's End sold for $2.4 million during the Tuesday session to agent Marette Farrell on behalf of Speedway Stable to top the session and be the sale's second-highest-priced yearling overall.
Bred by Marty and Pam Wygod and consigned by Lane's End on behalf of the Wygod family, Hip 183 nearly exited the ring for $2 million, but buyers re-engaged and carried the price much higher. The colt was tough to let go as a foal out of stakes-placed winner Sweet Sting (Awesome Again), who is out of multiple grade 1 winner and 2000 champion grass mare Perfect Sting.
"We were on our absolute last bid a couple of times," said Farrell, who signed the ticket for the bay colt for Speedway's owners Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner.
Farrell said partner Zoe Cadman elbowed her to bid again as the bidding war came near an end.
"We absolutely loved this colt, I felt he commanded the room, as they say," she said. "We love all the connections, and we love to honor Marty Wygod. He was such a big supporter of our Thoroughbred business and so successful."
Farrell said she sees Hip 183 as a "stallion in the making."
"I cannot thank Peter and K.C. enough. I'm still shaking because I loved this horse, but I really had hoped I wouldn't have to go to this amount of money, and they knew that we loved the horse. I hope he's a lucky horse, I hope he's a good horse. They deserve this, and so does the horse. I really think he's a fabulous horse."
Marty Wygod, who died April 12, was a well-known breeder and owner. He and Pam bred many stakes winners, including 2004 Eclipse 2-year-old champion filly Sweet Catomine and multiple grade 1 winner Life Is Sweet, both out of their homebred mare Sweet Life.
"We bought the mare at the beginning of Covid and my dad picked her out, and he liked the pedigree. We were all house bound," said Emily Bushnell, Marty and Pam's daughter. "She's still kind of new to our broodmare band, we have a 2-year-old that we love, it's a full brother, so hopefully this one will be just as nice."
Lane's End sold both of its offerings Aug. 6 for seven figures. The consignment also sold Hip 146, a colt by Gun Runner , for $1.9 million to M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant's White Birch Farm.
"It's been a super healthy market for us," said Allaire Ryan of Lane's End. "We try to bring quality individuals here across the spectrum. We want nice individuals that are going to show themselves well and be good representations for the breeder and for us, and we've been really well rewarded for it."
Resolute Racing's John Stewart was the leading buyer for the second night in a row, buying six yearlings for a total of $3,660,000. Over the two nights, Stewart spent $9,085,000 for 11 yearlings.
Browning, along with multiple buyers, commented on the fierce competitiveness at this sale, which they felt reflected the quality of horses that were on the sales grounds.
"We're thrilled with the results; there was depth in the buying bench," said Browning. "We also saw some new faces who hadn't purchased here before, who were major, major contributors to the sale, but we also saw some of those groups that they thought might be dominant bid and get outbid on a number of hips also, which is healthy."
Magnier and White Birch Farm teamed up to buy the second-highest-priced horse of the Tuesday session at $1.9 million—the aforementioned Hip 146, a colt by Gun Runner out of the Tapit mare Secret Sigh. The same team has had success with colts by Gun Runner before in Sierra Leone, winner of this year's Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and runner-up in the Kentucky Derby (G1).
Gainesway was the leading consignor of the Saratoga sale, selling all 19 of its yearlings offered. They produced an average of $670,526, with gross sales of $12,740,000.
The sales action continues Aug. 11-12 in Saratoga Springs for Fasig-Tipton's New York-Bred Sale. The first session Aug. 11 will begin at 7 p.m. ET with hips 301-400, with the second and final session beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET with hips 401-600 Aug. 12 at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion.
"The New York-bred program is producing quality individuals, and quality horses and quality runners. That gives us a lot of optimism going in," Browning said.
