After being conducted in early December for the past several years, Fasig-Tipton Company stages its winter mixed sale Sunday at their Timonium complex, with officials hoping that relocating the single-session auction will prove popular with the buying public.
“Last year with the schedule being so jam-packed, we felt that by the time every one got through all the sales, there was a fatigue factor and we just thought that people could use a break,” explained Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's Director of Sales Paget Bennett. ” We thought we'd give people some time off to regroup and try this spot,” she said, adding that at one point the company conducted sales in late December and mid-winter.
In spite of Winter Storm Jonas, that blanketed the region with up to 2 1/2 feet of snow last weekend, Bennett said that if there were any plans of postponing the sale, “I wasn't aware of it.”
“Everyone was concerned with the weather, and luckily the weather came last weekend and it's supposed to be nice Sunday,” Bennett proclaimed. “We are thankful that people were able to get their horses here. We had two farms in West Virginia that weren't able to get here. It was quite a challenge [to clear all the snow], but luckily the manager of the grounds has contact with someone with the largest equipment from Westminster. They drove down Sunday night began removing snow, 30 inches of it, and it took until [Saturday] to clear the snow. It was quite an undertaking, but luckily their people didn't stop to accommodate our people. Its nothing short of a miracle that we're ready to roll. Pavement is dry, people are here and able to look at horses.”
A total of 167 horses of all ages have been catalogued for the sale, a decrease of 17.3% from the 202 booked into the most recent renewal of the event in late 2014. The day begins with a draft of 74 broodmares or broodmare prospects followed by 65 short yearlings. The sale concludes with 28 racing/broodmare prospects and horses of racing age.
The 2014 Midlantic Winter Mixed Sale was topped by then 4-year-old filly Delaneys Star, a Latent Heat half-sister to champion Declan's Moon, who sold in foal to Majestic Warrior for $60,000. She was purchased by Wolver Hill Farm. The 2014 top-selling foal was a colt by Shackleford–Pier Sixty Six (Cozzene), who fetched a final bid of $48,000 from Machmer Hall. Some 110 horses changed hands in 2014 for gross receipts of $954,800, an average of $8,680 and a median price of $4,000.
Bidding begins Sunday at 11 a.m. ET. For additional information, visit www.fasigtipton.com.
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