Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Yearling Sale on Par With 2019
Average and median prices in line with last year’s auction
The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale conducted at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium held its own despite dealing with the ongoing pressures of Covid-19 and final numbers were close to those seen during normal circumstances.
From 573 entries in a catalogue much larger than last year, the sales company reported 379 yearlings were sold for gross receipts of $9,161,200 (approx. AUD$12.69milion) at an average price of $24,172 (approx. AUD$33,750) and a $14,000 median price (approx. AUD$19,500). The 105 head that went unsold represented an RNA rate of 21.7 per cent.
In 2019, 300 yearlings averaged $24,253 on gross sales of $7,275,900, with the median also $14,000. Last year’s RNA rate was 21.3 per cent.
The number of six-figure transactions this year was 11, identical to 2019.
“Under the circumstances, with Covid-19 and its impact on 2020, we’d have to say the sale was a tremendous success in terms of being able to accomplish similar results to last year and it was a pretty good year last year,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. “The market is still not easy. When there is a median of $14,000, nobody who sells a horse for $14,000 or less is making any money, we all know that. But it’s not significantly different, if much different at all, from this marketplace last year.”
Browning said attendance at the sale and the level of trade over the last two days reflected on the resiliency and professionalism of horsemen and women in the region.
“I continue to be shocked every year by the depth and diversity of buyers at the Timonium sales, both at the two-year-old sales and the yearling sales” he said. “It was well-attended and the sale felt good throughout both days and plenty of commerce was conducted. I think in relative terms of Covid-19 and the calendar year 2020, we are very, very pleased with the results. We have been able to maintain the status quo, which I think is a win in the world we are living in right now.”
The sale-topper was a colt from the first crop of Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride) purchased by Bobby Lambe’s Lambe Bloodstock for $270,000 (approx. AUD$377,000) from the offerings of Becky Davis, agent. The colt, Hip 371, is out of a half sister to two stakes winners including Melody Lady (Unbridled’s Song), the dam of recent Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (Gr1, 6f) winner Volatile (Violence). The colt’s second dam is the Mutakddim (Seeking The Gold) millionaire Lady Tak, whose ten wins in 19 starts included the Test Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) and Ballerina Handicap (Gr 1, 7f)
Danzel Brendemuehl of Classic Bloodstock said Lambe bought the colt to be re-sold as a two-year-old next year, and that they are moving toward quality with their pinhook prospect purchases.
“We saw him and fell in love with him,” she said of the colt, adding that she and Lambe tried to scare off the competition with an opening bid of $100,000. “He ticked all the boxes for us. We tried to steal him by opening up at $100,000. It’s his (Lambe’s) birthday and he gave himself a present. He never told me to stop. That horse looked so fast to me. The Gun Runners are first-year horses going to the two-year-old sales so they’ll love him.
“I don’t want to pinhook the way I have in the past,” said Brendemuehl. “If I have to sell horses I only want to do it at the top end. We’re trying to find horses that check off all the boxes, especially this year when you’re aware of how things can go wrong.”
Lambe and Brendemuehl hit a home run earlier this year when a Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) colt they had bought for $40,000 at last year’s Midlantic yearling sale sold for $650,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Among the six-figure horses sold during the closing session was a Street Sense (Street Cry) colt purchased by West Bloodstock, agent for Mike Repole’s Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stables, for $240,000 (approx. AUD$335,000).
Cataloged by Chanceland Farm, agent, as Hip 383, the colt was bred in Maryland by Mrs Robert Manfuso and Katharine Voss and is a half brother to stakes winners Cordmaker (Curlin), Las Setas (Seville), and Corvus (Dance With Ravens).
“He was one of the top horses here,” said agent Jacob West. “He looked like a big two-turn horse, like a classic-distance horse. That’s what Mr Repole and Mr Viola are looking for, and we had to come here to find him. But a good horse can come from anywhere. We have a team and when it all comes together, it benefits the breeder.”
Considering market demand for quality, West said he was not surprised at the price.
“It was a fair price for a nice horse,” West said. “That is what he was worth. Being offered at public auction everybody had a chance to buy him so that’s what he’s worth.”
The sale was conducted with pandemic-driven protocols, with seating in the sale pavilion limited to less than 75 per cent capacity. There were also masking and social distancing safeguards in place.
Given the uncertainties within the marketplace due to concerns over the coronavirus, the polarization that has been present in all equine sales the past several years is even more pronounced now, said consignor David Wade of Northview Stallion Station.
“It’s very similar to what it’s been the last few years, except magnified,” Wade said. “The top is there, but once you start getting down below that, it’s rough for everybody. Except for three, four, or five horses, we’re getting them sold but we’re not making any money and that’s probably true with all the consignors here.”