Jon Green of D J Stables came out on top of a bidding war that ensued for a colt (Hip 843) by Candy Ride early on during the third session of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale Oct. 22. Bidding online, Green secured the colt out of Unrivaled Princess—a daughter of 2010 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic (G1) winner Unrivaled Belle and half sister to multiple grade 1 winner Unique Bella—for $850,000.
"This colt looks more like a Gun Runner than he does a Candy Ride," Green said. "He's balanced, he's a great mover, and he really just wowed us from really the first moment that our consultants (Kim Valerio and Lauren Carlisle) pointed him out to us. So, this colt has been on our radar almost all week.
"We kept comparing him to all the other yearlings that we were looking at, and to the Gun Runner (Hip 504) we bought the day earlier. There's a lot of nice athletes in this sale, but this colt was at a higher echelon based on his athleticism and the way he moved, and just how mentally stable and calm and collected he is."
Green said he thought the colt would bring somewhere in the $750,000 range.
"It wasn't until about 20 minutes before he got into the ring that my Dad (Leonard Green) and I had a serious conversation about exactly how far we wanted to go on a yearling.
"Mark Casse and Kim Valerio rarely say to us 'this is the horse to buy,' and they both independently came to that same conclusion" Green said. "Both of them said to us in no uncertain terms, if you're coming to the sale with the idea of buying a top, two-turn colt, the list begins and ends with this horse."
Green expressed that the value of Candy Ride's offspring impacted their decision to buy the colt. The 26-year-old stallion is likely in the tail-end of his career.
"We felt confident that buying a Candy Ride would be worth the money. He'll tell us in a year or two."
The colt was bred in Kentucky by Liberty Road Stables, and consigned by Gainesway.
"(The market) is strong. It's really strong," Green said. "It's just a continuation of what happened in the summer time at Fasig Saratoga, the New York-bred sale, what happened all the way through the Keeneland September Sale, it's not just the good horses that are bringing a lot of money. It's all horses that are bringing more money than what we had anticipated a year or two ago.
"I think there's a lot of factors that play into that, but mostly it shows that, economically, as an investment, the horse industry is no longer just a luxury-item industry. It's actually a real-commodity industry."
Mayberry Signs for $500K Nyquist Filly
April Mayberry of Mayberry Farms went to $500,000 to secure a filly (Hip 861) by Nyquist for Lee and Susan Searing's CRK Stable from the consignment of Blandford Stud (Padraig Campion).
"Nyquist, one of my favorite sires," Mayberry said when asked what appealed about the filly. "Big, beautiful filly. She's so pretty. I broke the sister for BBN—Mackinac, and I love her. There was just a lot, between I love the family and Nyquist, and her physical."
Mayberry said the $500,000 price tag was not much of a surprise.
"I really like this sale, and I feel you can find a really nice horse at the sale," she said.
Padraig Campion said he was delighted with the outcome.
"It's a good price. She's a lovely filly, she deserved to bring that much," Campion said about Hip 861. "(She's) beautiful, very balanced, a lot of class, beautiful mover. We'll be reading about her."
Hip 861 was bred in Kentucky by Manitou Farm, and is out of the Violence mare Violencia, who is a half sister to graded stakes-placed and graded stakes producer Auntjenn.
About 30 hips later, a Justify filly (Hip 897) tied the top price for a filly during the third session, selling for $500,000 to Trade Winds Farm. The gray or roan filly is the second foal of the multiple graded stakes-placed Winter Sunset—a daughter of multiple grade 1 winner and millionaire Winter Memories. She was bred in Kentucky by Phillips Racing Partnership.
Day 3 Stats
The third session finished with the same strength it started with, as the last horse through the ring (Hip 1200), sold for $200,000 to Mustang Farms. The filly by Uncle Mo is a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner and sire Airoforce .
Gains were seen across all metrics, with 271 head selling for gross receipts of $19,546,500, including post-ring sales. The average was up substantially to $72,127, a 48% increase from last year's third session of $48,862, and a 38% increase from last year's total sale average of $52,392. The median was a solid $30,000, a 50% gain on last year's third session. Sixty horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 18%.
"It's almost a 50% increase over the corresponding session last year," said Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning Jr. of the average price. "I tend to use, as I've said all along, the overall sale average as compared to session to session, because I think it's more appropriate generally speaking."
The catalog is sorted alphabetically, leaving a variety of horses scattered throughout the four-day sale.
Mahmud Mouni was the session's leading buyer with six purchases totaling $1.36 million, including the second-top lot of the day, a $550,000 Good Magic colt (Hip 1143) consigned by breeder Woods Edge Farm. Mouni also signed for a $460,000 Justify colt (Hip 1122) who is a half brother to the grade 1-placed The Wine Steward, and a Medaglia d'Oro half brother (Hip 1033) to grade 2 winner Kitten's Roar for $325,000.
Gainesway topped the consignors, selling 13 head for $2,012,000.
"It started off with robust activity today, and ended with robust activity today, and that's the most encouraging thing of all," Browning said.
Fasig-Tipton's October Yearlings sale concludes Oct. 24 with the final session beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET. Hips 1201-1601 are set to head to the ring. As of Wednesday evening, Fasig-Tipton had reported 72 outs.
