F-T Midlantic December Sale Today
The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale will take place today in Timonium, Maryland. The 202-hip catalogue will be separated into four sections: hips 1-90 are broodmares, broodmare prospects and racing/broodmares, hips 91-180 are weanlings, while hips 181-190 are yearlings and lots 191-202 are horses of racing age.
The estate of Maryland horseman and breeder Brice Ridgely, who passed away earlier this year, will also be dispersed during the sale. Ridgely bred 2004 GI Hollywood Futurity winner Declan’s Moon. The dispersal includes Declan’s Moon’s dam Vee Vee Star (Norquestor), who sells as hip 62, as well as a weanling half-sister by the juvenile champ Friesan Fire (hip 180). Also selling, is Delaney’s Star (Latent Heat) (hip 20), a 4-year-old half-sister in foal to Majestic Warrior. The dispersal is part of Bill Reightler’s consignment to the auction.
With the recent success of many Timonium graduates, such as Bayern (Offlee Wild) and Dortmund (Big Brown), who were purchased out of the Midlantic May sales the past two years, Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett is optimistic about the venue’s final auction of the year.
“We had a great May sale, we had a strong yearling sale and we did well with the Maryland-breds and we continue to sell good horses well and we’re well supported by buyers,” Bennett explained. “We’re hoping that we have a lot of interest in mares and weanlings and the catalogue, and we’re hoping we get horses traded around.”
As for the recent success of the Timonium sales, Bennett said, “I think it’s a great shot in the arm for next year’s May sale. Everybody knows that there are good horses, great horses, and something for everyone that comes out of this sale’s arena. This December sale, we’re sadly offering horses for the estate of Brice Ridgely, including the dam of Declan’s Moon, half-sisters to Declan’s Moon and weanlings out of his dam Vee Vee Star, so people should be interested to try to carry on what was successful for this Maryland breeder. Unfortunately, he left us too soon and his horses have to be dispersed, and I think there’s still a lot of production left in them, so, hopefully, people will take advantage of what he had started with them.”
A number of progeny by young Maryland sires will be on display, as well. “We’ve got some interesting horses. We’ve got a lot of weanlings by new sires here in Maryland, so I think this is going to be a growing stage,” Bennet explained.
“We had yearlings by Friesan Fire, specifically, that sold well at the yearling sale, so I think that kind of gets everybody’s attention. Perhaps, people will be looking harder at the Friesan Fire weanlings, and then we’ve got the Cal Nations and a lot of the mares are in foal to new sires standing here in Maryland, so I think it’s just giving people a look at what’s new for the coming years here in Maryland. We’re just hopeful the physicals add up and everybody jumps through the hoops they need to jump through and they get in the right hands and make the sale proud.”
The sale will get underway at 11 a.m.