Fasig-Tipton

Winter Mixed Sale

FASIG-Tipton Kentucky’s winter mixed sale ended its two-day run on Monday with a $450,000 sales topper in multiple graded winner Rose To Gold, when knocked down to WinStar Farm. And while the mare’s price was well above last year’s sale-topping price of $360,000, the market posted declines overall in gross, average, and median.

The two-day auction in Lexington, Kentucky, sold 406 horses for $10,560,700, averaging $26,012 with a $12,000 median price. Buybacks were 17.6% for the auction, and there were 118 scratches.

2014 saw 406 horses grossed $13,527,500 with an average price of $33,319, a $16,000 median, and a 19.6% buyback rate. This year’s figures were down overall. Total sales dropped 21.9% as compared to last year while average and median were down by 21.9% and 25%, respectively.

Rose To Gold was one of the last horses offered Monday night, but according to WinStar Farm, she was worth the wait.

“Multiple graded winner and a lot of class, so we felt like she would be a good addition to our broodmare band,” said WinStar’s Elliott Walden. “We were kind of stretched from where we wanted to be. We were hoping to get her for $350,000 or $400,000.”

Early in Monday’s final session, Grade 3 placed stakes winner Shanon Nicole also hit the headlines when selling to Sierra Farm for $220,000; the Irish owned and operated Paramount Sales agency consigned her.

The four-year-old Majestic Warrior filly could come back to race, in a career that has already earned $450,663 with two stakes wins and placings in three others, including a third in the Grade 3 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds Racecourse last season.

“It was a little bit more than I wanted to pay, but the more I looked at her, the more I liked her,” Edmond Hudon, owner of Sierra Farm commented. “I liked her on paper, and I liked her race record, and when I saw her presence, she really sold me. We’re going to take a look at her, get the vets on her, and if she can go back into training, she’ll go back into training. If not, she’ll go to the breeding shed.”

Calumet Farm was highly active at the two-day sale, buying 14 horses for a total of $626,500. Their 11 purchases included Polar Foxx, a rare white thoroughbred.

The highest-priced yearling of the sale was a $180,000 Into Mischief filly, knocked down to Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt from the consignment of Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services agency. The daughter of stakes-placed Lanai City, by Carson City, is from the family of two-time graded winner Eagleton and 2013 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner New Year’s Day (by Street Cry).