For the second year in a row, and fifth time in the sale's history, Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale surpassed the $100 million mark for gross sales. At the end of the day of trade Nov. 2, 138 horses sold for gross receipts of $100,167,000, including private sales.
"In my mind, there's something magical about trying to get to the $100 million for this night, and we achieved that goal this year," said Boyd Browning Jr., president and CEO of Fasig-Tipton.
The excitement built up at The November Sale around the offering of Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) winner Ways and Means. The bidding kicked off at $500,000 and rose to $2.5 million in only a few bids for the ELiTE-consigned mare. When the dust settled, Boyd Racing landed the multiple grade 1 winner for $5 million to top the sale. Agent Brittany Linton signed the ticket.
The 5-year-old daughter of Practical Joke is a six-time graded stakes winner, with her best performances in the 2024 Test Stakes (G1), this year's Ballerina Stakes (G1), and the Filly and Mare Sprint that boosted her career earnings to $2,157,500.
"I think she's clearly the best horse in our opinion in the sale," Randy Boyd said. "I expected her to go for a lot more."
Boyd said he and his wife, Jenny, were watching the sale for "entertainment purposes," and then at the last minute realized that the bidding had stopped much lower than he thought.
"I said, let's weigh in for one bid before it keeps skyrocketing, and the bidding stopped," he said. "We just felt like we got really lucky. We weren't expecting to win.
"We had other horses we were planning on bidding on, but if we had an opportunity to get the best horse in the sale for what we think is a great value, we couldn't pass it up."
Boyd said he will talk over the mare's future with their trainer and decide whether they will keep her racing or retire her to join their broodmare band at Killora Stud near Paris, Ky.
"She will definitely be a big part of the broodmare band; whether she's got some more races in her or not is really up to our trainer," Boyd said.
WATCH: Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars
Boyd said it is unlikely they will bid on any other horses over the next couple of days in Lexington.
"We feel pretty good with what we got," he said. "We've said we don't really want to be the biggest. We just want to be the best and we want to have a small broodmare band that's the absolute best that we can possibly have. And I think that Ways and Means fits that strategy perfectly."
Ways and Means raced as a homebred for Klaravich Stables through four seasons of racing. Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan signed for her dam, Strong Incentive, in 2018 at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $40,000.
Ryan also picked out Ways and Means' sire, Practical Joke, who brought $240,000 as a yearling.
Ways and Means is a half sister to two graded stakes winners, including grade 1 winner Surge Capacity (Flintshire).
Yoshida Goes to $3.2M for Kathynmarissa
Near the end of the sale, a second Breeders' Cup winner strutted to the sale ring. Kathynmarissa, winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T), brought a cool $3.2 million from Katsumi Yoshida. She was consigned by Gainesway, agent.
The 5-year-old daughter of American Pharoah won four graded stakes races this year, including two grade 1 wins in the Diana Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course and the Filly and Mare Turf.
"She was gorgeous. She didn't look like she raced this weekend with that good performance," said Shingo Hashimoto, who was bidding on behalf of Yoshida's Northern Farm. "We were very honored to buy her."
Hashimoto said he was in attendance for the mare's race, which he called "amazing."
He also said their decision was influenced by American Pharoah's influence as a broodmare sire and the fact that he's staying in Japan at stud.
"We're very excited," he said.
Shingo said the mare will likely ship to Japan, where she will be bred. He said among the stallions they are considering for Kathynmarissa is Japan's 2022-23 Horse of the Year, Equinox.
Kathynmarissa's co-owner Michael Dubb was on hand at the sale, alongside trainer Chad Brown, watching his star mare sell. Kathynmarissa was purchased for $200,000 as a yearling by HR Bloodstock at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She earned more than $3 million during her career for Dubb and Michael Caruso.
"She is one of the special horses of a lifetime for me. Breaking up is hard to do," Dubb said. "You have to sell to stay in the game. There will be another one somehow, some way."
Yoshida purchased five other mares Monday night, to be the leading buyer of the sale for the second year in a row. Yoshida made six purchases totaling $10.9 million. In addition to Kathynmarissa, Yoshida also acquired grade 1 winner In Our Time for $2.5 million.
"It's strong, but in a sense, I think it's pretty tricky," Hashimoto said of the market. "Some of the very good ones are very expensive, but I think some of the reserve prices are set at a very high price as well."
Fillies Lead Weanling Offerings
The weanling market proved strong with five weanlings sold for $500,000 or more. The top-priced weanling was Hip 80, a daughter of Not This Time that brought $1.15 million from Caitlin Dunne, agent for Asagi Stables. Dunne also signed on behalf of Asagi when landing Hip 36, a filly by Into Mischief , for $1 million.
READ: Seven-Figure Fillies Top Fasig-Tipton Weanling Market
Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned the top-priced weanling and was also the leading consignor of the sale, selling 24 from its draft for $23.33 million.
The top-priced weanling colt of the session was Hip 70, a son of first-crop sire National Treasure , who brought $400,000 from Spendthrift Farm.
"The demand for beautiful horses is extraordinarily strong," Browning said. "Whether it happens to be a weanling, a filly or mare coming off the racetrack, a mare in foal, you cannot appraise a mare high enough that is big and beautiful.
"On the other hand, we live in a market where there is still some selectivity, without any question. Every horse that went through the ring wasn't met with complete enthusiasm."
The average price was down 0.8% from last year's session to $725,848. The median showed a healthy 8.5% increase to $350,000. Thirty-one horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 18%.
Lifetime Breeding Rights
Fasig-Tipton also offered two lifetime breeding rights, on behalf of Darley Stallions, to the first- and third-place finishers in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Peter Brant's White Birch Farm secured the breeding right to 2025 Horse of the Year and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sovereignty for $1 million. Havertz Bloodstock purchased the breeding right to Knightsbridge for $450,000.
Browning thanked the entire team at Fasig-Tipton for their efforts to make the sale a success.
"Our team does a remarkable job in recruiting these horses on a year-round basis," he said. "All the credit goes to them for the blood, sweat, and tears that they put into recruiting these horses and recruiting the buyers to come and support this marketplace.
"It's a special night and we feel honored when we get entrusted with the type of horses that we were entrusted with again in 2026, and look forward to another magical night in 2027."
