First day of Fasig-Tipton sale sees declines
Hip 195 brought a winning bid of $175,000. Photo by The Racing Biz.
by Frank Vespe
Despite some robust sales, including a $600,000 Medaglia d’Oro colt, day one of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training sale closed with declines versus the prior year’s first day. Day two will take place tomorrow at the Timonium fairgrounds, with bidding slated to open at 10:00 a.m.
Overall, 157 hips were sold for a combined total of more than $10.7 million and an average of $68,253. Seventy-two hips through the ring did not find a buyer.
Those numbers trailed 2015, when 127 hips sold on day one for a total of $13,047,000 — a nearly 18 percent decline versus the prior year in gross sales, with the average dropping fully one-third. In each of the last two years, the second day’s average has fallen by more than 25 percent versus the first day.
In addition, the number of buy-backs also rose, from 38 (23 percent of offered hips) to 72 (31 percent).
Among the buy-backs were a number that, had they been completed sales, could have taken a significant bite out of the day’s declines. They included a trio of Tapit colts, offered by three different consignors, that RNAed at $700,000, $375,000, and $225,000. All told, nine of the day’s RNAs drew high bids of at least $100,000, versus six that did so in the two days of the 2015 sale.
Hip 21, a Medaglia d’Oro colt out of the stakes-producing Lemon Drop Kid mare Kid Majic, topped the first day with a high bid of $600,000. The bay colt was consigned by Cary Frommer and purchased by Rockbridge Bloodstock and Brett Santangelo.
The top-selling horse bred in the region on day one was Hip 170, a Maryland-bred Ice Box colt out of the stakes-producing Meadowlake mare Rey Lake. Consigned by Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree Stables, the bay colt fetched a top bid of $200,000 from Ellen Charles’ Hillwood Stable LLC. Hillwood, whose horses typically are trained at Laurel Park by Rodney Jenkins, also signed the ticket for Hip 173, a Malibu Moon colt, for $275,000.
Among horses bred in the mid-Atlantic, Maryland-breds enjoyed perhaps the greatest success on day one, with 34 sold for a total of $774,500, an average of $22,779. Only six of 40 Maryland-breds through the ring were bought back.
[su_table]| STATE | SOLD | TOTAL | AVERAGE | NOT SOLD |
| MARYLAND | 34 | $774,500 | $22,779 | 6 |
| NEW JERSEY | 6 | -$94,000% | $15,667 | 0 |
| PENNSYLVANIA | 20 | $220,000 | $11,000 | 8 |
| VIRGINIA | 3 | $70,000 | $23,333 | 2 |
| WEST VIRGINIA | 4 | $90,000 | $22,500 | 0 |
