F-T New York Sales Opens Saturday

Fasig-Tipton will look to follow up on a power-packed renewal of its Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale when the company’s two-day New York-Bred Yearlings Sale begins Saturday evening at 7 p.m. in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. A total of 283 yearlings have been catalogued for the auction, which comes on the heels of a select sale which produced across-the-board gains and a gross up 40% from a year ago.

During a busy day of showing horses Friday, consignors were upbeat ahead of the New York sale.

“If it’s anything like the sale we just had, hopefully it will be really, really good,” said Select Sales’ Carrie Brogden. “Obviously, it’s a completely different set of buyers. We are seeing so many more trainers and end-users. The select sale is a very big end-user sale, too, but these are people trying to buy racehorses to try to break even and have a little fun, go through their conditions. It’s a very different feel to the sale than the big sale, where everyone wants to win the Derby. Here, people would be thrilled to win a nice maiden special weight and maybe a New York Stallion stakes race.”

With the advent of slots-infused purses, the New York sale has been growing in popularity each year. Last year’s auction saw a total of 176 yearlings sell for $14,099,000. The average of $80,108 was up 10.5% from 2013, while the median–$65,000–was up 18.2% from the previous year.

“It’s hard not to be optimistic if you have the right horses,” said Denali Stud’s Craig Bandoroff. “There is not going to be somebody for every horse–there never is, but [New York] purses are so good, the good horses are going to do really well.”

He continued, “Purses are the engine that pulls the train The purses here are good and the breeders awards are good, so that makes people more aggressive on the reserves and that helps the horses sell better, too.”

Brogden agreed.

“People know if you buy a $100,000 horse, if you go through two conditions, you’ve paid for him basically,” she said.

Both the New York purse levels and the activity in the barn area Friday had Kitty Taylor of Warrendale Sales optimistic ahead of Saturday’s first session of the auction.

“New York-breds are running for a lot of money and I think there is a high level of interest and it should be a good sale,” Taylor said. “It is a new group of buyers, but I believe the energy from the last sale will carry over. People have money to spend and, for the right horses, they’ll spend it.”

Eight yearlings topped the $200,000 mark at last year’s New York sale, led by a filly by Lookin at Lucky who sold to Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm for $270,000. Recent graduates of the sale include this year’s GII Holy Bull S. winner Upstart (Flatter), as well as graded stakes winner Startup Nation (Temple City) and Eclipse champion Dayatthespa (City Zip).

After its opening session Saturday, the sale continues Sunday with a final session beginning at 7 p.m.