Elaine Peck and Richard Quinn's Rhapsody Farm had a banner day Oct. 12 with its weanlings by first-crop sires at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale. A colt (Hip 134) by Belmont Stakes (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Dornoch topped the sale, bringing $260,000 from East Lake Racing.
"I loved him, so did everyone else, obviously," Peck said. "He's a big strong colt. He's an early (January) foal. He has one of those big, long, swinging strides and it was like the longer he walked, the bigger the stride got. He's got a great mind too; easy to be around."
Rhapsody Farm purchased the colt's dam, the stakes-winning Broadway Run, for $50,000 at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale with Hip 134 in utero. He is a half brother to the graded stakes-placed Scatify (Justify ).
Peck said her strategy over the years since purchasing Rhapsody Farm near Plymouth, N.Y., in 1979, has been focusing heavily on first-year sires.
"I love first-year stallions," she said. "I've always done well with first-year stallions. People speculate and they give money out of pure speculation."
At the beginning of the sale, Rhapsody got off to a speedy start, selling Hip 13, a colt by 2023 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner National Treasure for $200,000 to Alpine. The strategy with this colt was similar, as Rhapsody had also purchased this colt in utero by purchasing his dam at the 2025 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $60,000 from Paramount Sales.
Both Dornoch and National Treasure stood their first year at stud (at Spendthrift Farm) for an advertised fee of $40,000. Both mares proved to be great value buys for Peck.
"I look at the pedigree, I look at their race record and then who they beat when they did win," Peck explained about choosing stallions. "Dornoch beat some nice horses, and he comes from a good family. He beat Sierra Leone, and he was a very nice horse."
Hip 13 is out of the Speightstown mare Riding Point, who has produced two black-type horses, including stakes winner Acting Out (Blame ). The colt's page also received a timely update Saturday under the second dam, when Limited Liability ran a game second in the Sycamore Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland.
"(Hip 13) is a really nice colt. A little different body type (than the Dornoch colt), but just a very solid colt," Peck said. "Both were very well balanced and correct."
Peck said the prices for her top two-priced colts exceeded her expectations.
"I've always been a little on the conservative side when setting reserves," she said. "If they want them, they're going to pay for them. As long as you have more than one person interested, that's what it takes."
Overall, she said the sale was selective and harder for the middle- to lower-market horses.
In addition to the colt, she also sold a filly by Cogburn for $62,000 to Zoe's Prime. Rhapsody's draft of five horses brought a total of $560,000.
Rhapsody Farm has long been a force at the New York sales, and Peck said this year she and her husband decided to cut back their broodmare band to three to five horses.
"We're both going to be 80 this year," Peck said. "But then again, things change and when we catch our breath a little, we might change our minds."
Prudhomme Rewarded with $235K Yaupon Filly
Cheryl Prudhomme and her husband Dr. Michael Gallivan have a small but powerful broodmare band. They have bred many top runners over the years, including 2020 Remsen Stakes (G2) winner Brooklyn Strong, who was also crowned 2-year-old champion male in New York that year, and multiple stakes winner Allure of Money. Their most recent success story is Allure of Money's half brother Leon Blue, who won the 2025 Rick Violette Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
The couple may have another star waiting in the wings, as they sold the top-priced filly of the Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale—a daughter of leading second-crop sire Yaupon . Hip 236 brought $235,000 from Big Bear Bloodstock.
"She's been a lovely filly from day one," Prudhomme said. "The mare (La Condesa) throws to the stallion, so that's why we picked Yaupon. She had another foal by a son of Uncle Mo (Mo Town), who was named Endless Love, and she showed a lot of promise when she won first time out and then got hurt.
"I sent the mare to Yaupon because I needed some size. I picked Yaupon, and I really try to do my homework and see who is going to hit in the cheaper range of stud fees. I got Yaupon for $25,000; now he's $100,000."
Hip 236 was bred by Prudhomme and Galvin out of their homebred Freud mare La Condesa. She is the dam of five foals to race, with three winners including stakes-placed Tough Street (Speightster).
Fate brought back La Condesa to Prudhomme, who sold the filly as a yearling in 2011 for $25,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale. About six years later, her husband was flipping through the BloodHorse and saw a small ad with someone selling La Condesa in Maryland.
"They were selling her for like $4,500; we bought her and sent her right down to Kentucky (to be bred)," Prudhomme said. "They're like my kids. I don't have any kids, so the horses are like my kids. We love our horses; they keep us young."
Prudhomme and Gallivan also sold a filly by Jackie's Warrior for $135,000 to Violet Stables. All their homebreds were consigned by Vinery Sales.
McCrocklin Goes to $175,000 for Kingsbarns Filly
Top 2-year-old consignor and one of the best pinhookers in the game, Tom McCrocklin bought a filly by a horse he's very familiar with—2024 Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) winner and first-crop sire Kingsbarns .
McCrocklin purchased Kingsbarns as a yearling on behalf of Champion Equine for $250,000 at Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale in 2021. The horse was a successful pinhook, bringing $800,000 from Spendthrift Farm at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton The Gulfstream Sale. The son of Uncle Mo turned heads, blazing a quarter mile in :20 3/5 during the under-tack show.
On Monday, McCrocklin went to $175,000 for Hip 55, a filly from Kingsbarns' first crop. She was bred in New York by Rockridge Stud out of the multiple stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed mare Strategic Dreams.
"Very pretty, good-sized, good conformation, beautiful walk, big hip, pretty shoulder, neck, head—all the things you want in a weanling," McCrocklin said of Hip 55. "Obviously, partial to Kingsbarns. He turned out to be a very good horse and I'm really excited to be a part of his first crop."
McCrocklin said the filly resembled her sire, as they both have balance and athleticism, and a good skeletal structure.
"He had all those qualities, and I feel like he's going to be a good sire," he said.
McCrocklin said he took the trip to Saratoga Springs specifically to secure a weanling by Kingsbarns. He said he originally identified her through photos and videos online.
"I thought she was one of the better weanlings in the sale and I thought she was my favorite Kingsbarns," he said. "I wouldn't dare say she was the best Kingsbarns, but she was my favorite."
He credited the sale as being strong for perceived quality and joked that his friend and under-bidder of Hip 55, (Gainesway general manager) Brian Graves, cost him some money.
"I have immense respect for Brian and his ability to buy a nice weanling," McCrocklin said. "I was flattered that we were bidding on the same filly."
McCrocklin said plans for the filly are yet to be determined, and she could sell as a yearling or a 2-year-old, and he will make that decision next spring.
Dam of Multiple Stakes Winner Bravaro Brings $240,000
Albert Ciuffetelli, co-owner of recent Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes winner Bravaro, purchased the stakes winner's dam, Opera Star, near the end of the sale for $240,000. She is in foal to Upstart , carrying a full sibling to Bravaro.
Bravaro broke his maiden at first asking and followed that effort up with a 2 1/2-length win in the Sleepy Hollow Stakes at 2. In his first start as a 3-year-old, he finished second to Nearly in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Opera Star, consigned as Hip 289, by The New Hill Farm, is by 2016 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Tamarkuz and out of the Ascot Knight mare Operetta. She is a half sister to three black-type earners, including Canadian stakes winners Dene Court and Jacally and graded-placed winner Theregoesjojo.
At the end of the day of trade, 176 horses changed hands for gross receipts of $7,889,500, including private sales. Gross sales were up from last year's total of $6,204,500 but 42 more horses were sold. The average price saw a slight decline from $46,302 to $44,827 and the median rose 18% to $26,000. Seventy-seven horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 30%.
The leading buyer of the sale was Big Bear Bloodstock, which bought five head for a total of $635,000. Vinery Sales topped the consignors, selling 31 from its draft of 42 for $1,509,500.
Fasig-Tipton will now look ahead to its Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale, held Oct. 19-22 in Lexington.
