Fasig-Tipton

Charting a course then declaring 'here be dragons' when she made land in the seaside oval winner's circle, Explora (Blame--Collections Choice, by Bernardini) set sail from the gate and never looked back in a maiden-breaking performance on Sunday which earned her a 'TDN Rising Star' flag for her top mast. The heavy favorite established her lead up the backstretch and tacked around the far turn like she had even pulled out her pocket handkerchiefs. With rider Juan Hernandez playing the role of bosun, Explora went easy en route to win...

Renowned international bloodstock agent Michael G. Motion, who was an innovator in his field, passed away peacefully with his family by his side at his home in Middleburg, Virginia Aug. 14, 2025. He was 95. Although he grew up involved in pony club and foxhunting in England, Motion's interests initially were in cattle and farming. He attended the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester before migrating to Canada where took a job working with pedigreed livestock. The position led him to a two-year stint in South America running a receiving center...

The sixth installment in the 2025 OwnerView webinar series was held Aug. 12 and covered buying horses at sales and on digital platforms, according to a press release on Thursday from the series. Guests included Leif Aaron, director of digital sales, Fasig-Tipton; Conrad Bandoroff, vice president of Denali Stud; Cormac Breathnach, director of sales operations, Keeneland; and Jon Green, owner of D.J. Stable LLC. Hosted by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, and presented by Bessemer Trust, Keeneland, and Stoll Keenon Ogden, the panel was sponsored...

3rd-Saratoga, $90,000, (S), Msw, 8-13, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.16, fm, 6 lengths. SHE'S COUNTRY (f, 2, Combatant--Lunar Affair, by Malibu Moon) became the second winner overall and first on this circuit for her sire (by Scat Daddy), who sadly left behind just one crop after succumbing to colic while on dual-hemisphere duties in Chile in 2022. Sold for $80,000 at this year's OBS April sale after breezing an eighth of a mile in :10 1/5, the Mar. 20 foal bounced neatly from gate four and took up a spot...

6th-SAR, 100K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, 4:02 p.m. Bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe signed the ticket on SCHWARZENEGGER (Not This Time), a $950,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale grad one year ago who now races for a partnership which includes David Fennelly, Brook Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and Resolution Road Stables. It was the colt's second time at auction having first sold for $410,000 as a weanling at KEENOV in 2023 to Violet Stables. His winning Lemon Drop Kid first dam just passed through the ring herself, realizing $350,000 from Gainesway at KEENOV...

I'm not going to apologise for saying it again: in the old days, before veterinary science released the shackles, quality was locked into stallion books. To reach a top sire, you had to earn the right. In 1962, Hirsch Jacobs requested access to Swaps for Searching, a granddaughter of La Troienne, winner of 25 races, meanwhile in the Hall of Fame. After all, she had got to Swaps for her first cover, two years previously, and there was a nice filly duly entering training named Affectionately. But John Galbreath told...

A week on from the blockbuster Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, more records fell at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion Monday when the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale concluded with highwater marks for gross, average and a record-tying median. During two sessions, 199 New York-bred yearlings sold for a $23,870,000. The average was $119,950--up 15.1% from a year ago, while the median remained constant at $85,000. With 55 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 21.7%. It was 26.3% a year ago. "This sale hit the quinella," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The buzz from last week's select sale clearly carried into the new week, with the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale powering through its opening session Sunday night in Saratoga. During the session, 64 yearlings grossed $8,338,000 for an average of $130,281 and a median of $105,000. Those figures were well ahead of last year's opening session, when 66 head sold for $6,860,000 for an average of $103,939 and a median of $89,000. They were also ahead of last year's cumulative average of $104,178 and median of...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - After a few days to recover from a blockbuster Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, bidding returns to the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion Sunday evening for the first of two sessions of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale. The auction is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m with 100 catalogued yearlings set to go through the ring, and it will continue Monday at noon with an additional 203 catalogued head on offer. Buyers--both pinhookers and end-users, with new shoppers joining those that were shut out during the record-setting select...

Valerie Clement has arguably seen more horses in her lifetime than many of the younger bloodstock agents working this year's Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale. For the past 40 years, she has stood alongside her husband Christophe as he has inspected horses at countless sales, farms and racetracks around the world. Following her husband's passing in May, it would have been understandable if Clement had chosen to step away from the game, but to her that was never an option. In addition to running a thriving stable, Christophe was also involved...

On Wednesday came the news that Fasig-Tipton will offer a digital auction, to run Aug. 14 through Aug. 19, of 90 horses owned and bred by the late John Harris, who passed away in July aged 81. Harris leaves behind a towering legacy of Thoroughbred breeding and ownership in the state. The sale signifies a major reduction of Harris Farms' bloodstock and not a total dispersal, however, with the operation expected to continue with a smaller footprint going forward. Harris's reduction sale will take place just over a month before...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The record-smashing Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale steam rolled to its conclusion Tuesday night, setting highwater marks for every metric and culminating with a head-turning gross of $100,715,000. At the close of business, 160 yearlings had sold for an average of $629,469 and median of $450,000--numbers which dwarfed records set just last year when 154 yearlings grossed $82,160,000 for an average of $533,506 and a median of $425,000. It was the third straight year of across-the-board statistical records at the Saratoga sale....