Fasig Takes a BC Flyer into November

Take a filly who won a Breeders’ Cup race over the weekend and another who won last year. Add two GI Kentucky Oaks winners. Toss in a score of further Grade I winners and producers, including a Broodmare of the Year candidate, and what do you get? You get the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, which once again should offer some of the most exciting five or six hours of selling anywhere on the globe this evening. The single-session sale begins today at 4 p.m. and includes 193 hips in the main catalog, as well as at least seven in the supplemental portion. 

As is usually the case, results from this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships figure heavily into the catalog’s make-up. Dayatthespa (City Zip) put up a career effort in her wire-to-wire in the victory GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Turf, and will be one of the sale’s highlights when she goes late as Hip 184. 

“It wasn’t just that she won–it was the way she did it,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “Clearly, she established herself as one of the leading contenders for a divisional championship. And the horse that ran second to her, Stephanie’s Kitten, ran a great second, and she’s also in the sale.” 

A rallying runner-up on Saturday, Stephanie’s Kitten (Kitten’s Joy), who won the GII Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf in 2011, sells as the property of Ramsey Farm as Hip 141. 

“When you look at Stephanie’s Kitten’s race record from 2-, 3-, 4-, and now at 5-years-old, the ability to be competitive in the Breeders’ Cup at two, and then to be competitive at five, is just remarkable,” said Browning. 

The GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Sprint winner Judy the Beauty (Ghostzapper) was a late scratch, but there were late additions, too. The 3-year-old broodmare prospect Love This Kitty (Not For Love) (ThoroStride video), is a half-sister to the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hootenanny (Quality Road). Bluewater Sales consigns her as Hip 200. Bluewater also consigns both the dam of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf third Daddy D T (Scat Daddy), the Awesome Again mareIssues (Hip 92), who sells in foal to Scat Daddy; and his Sky Mesa weanling half-sister (Hip 18). 

Others with Breeders’ Cup connections include Hip 180, the 10-year-old mare Concinnous (El Corredor), whose MGISW daughter Iotapa (Afleet Alex) ran third in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Gainesway consigns Concinnous, who is in foal to leading sire Tapit. 

“It’s fun to be around horses of this quality,” said Browning. “We had a lot of great updates over an exciting two days of racing, and it sure helps. There’s always a demand for quality, and especially ‘current’ quality, horses that are performing well now. We try to recruit horses with current connections, and it gets everyone charged up. It’s an exciting time.” 

Other highlights of the sale include the winners of the 2012 and 2013 renewals of the Kentucky Oaks. Brereton Jones’s Airdrie Stud offers homebred Believe You Can (Proud Citizen), winner in ‘12, in foal to Tapit as Hip 170; she’s preceded into the ring by last year’s winner Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior), selling from Taylor Made Sales as a broodmare prospect as Hip 125. Princess of Sylmar’s dam, the 10-year-old Storm Dixie (Catienus) (Hip 143) , sells in foal to Tapit from the Brookdale Sales consignment, on behalf of owner King of Prussia Stable. 

Jim and Pam Robinson have a rare commodity on their hands with Champagne Royale (French Deputy), who, according to Fasig-Tipton researchers, is one of just two mares on the planet this year to produce two 2014 Grade I winners inDanza (Street Boss) and Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor). The possible Broodmare of the Year candidate goes from their Brandywine Farm consignment as Hip 178. 

The November Sale is coming off a blockbuster 2013 renewal, when 129 horses sold for $73,859,000, an average of $572,550. While that represented a 17.3% drop in average from 2012–due largely in part to the sale of the $10 million Havre de Grace (Saint Liam) in ‘12–the $250,000 median was up 31.6%. 

Moreover, last year’s RNA rate of 20.9% was a vast improvement from the ‘12 RNA of 35.1%. Led by the $5.2 million Betterbetterbetter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})–Jude {GB}, by Darshaan {GB}), who was purchased by Whisper Hill Farm’s Mandy Pope, there were 24 seven-figure horses who sold in 2013, including seven who made $2 million or more. 

“Our expectations are for a similar marketplace,” said Browning. “I don’t see any reason for it to be dramatically stronger, and I sure don’t see any reason for it to be dramatically weaker. We’re living in a fairly stable environment, and I think overall there’s a competitive balance between buyers and sellers. I think we’ll have a very solid sale. There will be some pleasant surprises, and I hope there will be some people who will hook up and be determined to buy no matter the price. But I think we still live in a world where there are limitations at the top of the market. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think you’re going to see a $25 million mares in Kentucky this week [laughs]. It’s a healthy market.” 

For complete catalog and up-to-date outs, visit www.fasigtipton.com.