Fasig-Tipton

The two-day under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale--with no timed workouts from the sales company and new whip restrictions--begins Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. The show had originally been scheduled over three days, but was condensed to sessions just Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of an expected rain storm in the area later in the week. Consignors at the auction have the option to breeze or gallop their horses at the under-tack show, but "Fasig-Tipton will not time the...

"As a baby, he was mean," recalls Vickie Hewitt. "When we were prepping him for sale, as a short yearling, he would charge the door, ears back, rearing up." How they handled him on Cambrey Farm, back then, may have a lot to do with the fact that Trendsetter (Modernist) heads to the GIII Peter Pan Stakes on Saturday as a breakout winner of the GIII Lexington Stakes. "We didn't step in there and start yelling at him, or raise our hands," Hewitt recalls. "We'd be very patient. You don't...

With the announcement that Golden Tempo (Curlin) will be skipping the GI Preakness Stakes, the GI Kentucky Derby winner's jockey Jose Ortiz has picked up the mount on Chip Honcho (Connect) in the May 16 Classic. Ortiz rode the Steve Asmussen-trained colt to his maiden win at Churchill Downs last November. Paco Lopez rode the colt to victory in the Dec. 20 Gun Runner Stakes and Luis Saez was aboard for his runner-up effort in the Feb. 14 GII Risen Star Stakes and fifth-place finish in the Mar. 21 GII...

Fasig-Tipton has added 26 supplemental entries to its upcoming Midlantic May Two-Year-Olds in Training sale. The latest entries, catalogued as hips 594-619, include 2-year-olds in training by Army Mule, Bolt d'Oro, Constitution, Corniche, Curlin, Girvin, Golden Pal, Highly Motivated, Justify, Liam's Map, Mandaloun, Maxfield, Mitole, Nashville, Not This Time, Olympiad, Pinehurst, Practical Joke, Tapit, Vekoma, and Yaupon. Supplemental entries may be viewed online and will also be available in the equineline sales app. Print versions will be available on the sales grounds. The Midlantic May Two-Year-Olds in Training sale will...

Two of our top five were in action at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby day card. 5) COUNTER MOVE, BAQ, 5/2-11th, 6fT VIDEO Beyer Speed Figure-87 (g, 4, Spun to Run--Gypsy Angel, by Silver Train) O/B-Sequel Racing/Sequel Thoroughbreds (NY). T-George Weaver. J-Dalila Rivera. After eight starts with two seconds and four third, but no wins, Weaver and owner Becky Thomas decided to try grass. Counter Move had little turf heritage. Spun to Run's progeny stats are solidly better on dirt, but you wouldn't know by the result. Counter Move...

In terms of the horses themselves, Americans of due adventure could hardly have more compelling incentives to prospect the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. Last year's auction was staged immediately after Kentucky-bred Ruling Court (Justify) vindicated his status as the record-breaking sale-topper of 2024 by winning the G1 2,000 Guineas, while GI Preakness Stakes winner War of Will (War Front) is among those American-bred graduates to have excelled back on native soil. But this time round there is a fresh spur to American interest. Because even as sires like Justify have finally...

Keeneland Association, Fasig-Tipton Company Inc., Ocala Breeders' Sales Company Inc. and a group of leading North American stallion farms announced a significant expansion of their financial commitment to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance in a press release Monday morning. Beginning with the 2026 Fasig-Tipton July Sale, the three sales companies will double their contribution to the TAA, allocating 0.1% of each sale's gross proceeds. Participation in the program will also become mandatory for both buyers and consignors at every sale, with each contributing 0.1% of their respective transactions. Based on 2025...

1st-AQU, $86k, Alw/Opt. Clm., 4yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 1:10 p.m. ET MATILDA (GER) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) belied odds of 25-1 to defeat the boys in last year's G2 German 2000 Guineas at Cologne in May for owner/breeder Volker Kaufling and was purchased privately thereafter by Peter Brant. Subsequently turned over to Francis-Henri Graffard, the bay filly was as short as 6-1 facing older females in the G1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville in August, but finished well down the field in 10th behind the very talented Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot...

The 2026 Fasig-Tipton April Digital Sale closed Tuesday evening with gross sales of $2,056,000 for 94 horses sold and a clearance rate of 83%. The auction topper was the half-sister to GISW Percy's Bar (Upstart), Fasig-Tipton said in a press release Tuesday evening. The online sale opened Thursday, Apr. 16. Offerings included horses of racing age, racing/broodmare prospects, broodmares--including mares with foals at foot--2-year-olds in training, and 'short' yearlings. Citizen Judy (hip 15), a half-sister to recent GI Central Bank Ashland Stakes winner and GI Kentucky Oaks hopeful Percy's Bar,...

Bayne Welker and Boyd Browning--Fasig-Tipton's executive vice president and president, respectively--were chin-wagging in the car recently when the conversation turned to how much the industry has changed, and Fasig-Tipton's role in that evolving landscape. "I think that's what separates us from the others," Welker said, of what the two men agreed was Fasig-Tipton's predominating strength: "our ability to quickly adapt, quickly make a change and go with the times." A prime example of that adaptability, said Welker, is Fasig-Tipton's March Digital Selected Sale launched in 2022, which ushered in an...

Five runaway winners top this week's rankings: their average margin of victory was 8 1/2 lengths. 5) HELEN'S REVENGE, AQU, 4/18-9th, 6f VIDEO Beyer Speed Figure-81 (f, 4, Solomini--Sign Off, by Distorted Humor) O-Les Blake. B-McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds & Spruce Lane Farm (NY). T-Linda Rice. J-Jose Lezcano. Already this year she had dominated in two starter races, for which she qualified by virtue of her December 2024 maiden win for $35,000 claiming and her 0-for-3 record in allowances and stakes. And now she delivers a career-best effort in dominating...

Maybe a touch earlier than expected, the rematch that the horse racing world pined for has arrived as reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief) will once again square off against the 2025 GI Preakness Stakes winner Journalism (Curlin) in the GII Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday. Both colts will be making their much-anticipated 4-year-old debuts in Hot Springs. Sovereignty turned in a spectacular season last year when he won the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI DK Travers Stakes. The Bill Mott trainee came down with a...