By DRF.com
POMONA, Calif. (Sept. 22, 2023) — More than likely, there will be a significant number of yearlings sold for $100,000 or more at Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton California fall yearlings and horses of racing age sale at Fairplex in Pomona, Calif.
The final number in that category may determine whether buyers are paying higher prices overall than in past years for racing prospects or unveiling an occasional bargain.
In 2021, 17 yearlings were listed as sold for $100,000 or more at the Fasig-Tipton California sale compared to 14 in 2022. The 2021 sale averaged $39,173 compared to $30,522 last year. Those average figures are considerably higher than the 2020 figure of $22,504 when the sale was held at Los Alamitos in Orange County because of coronavirus crowd restrictions.
Tuesday’s sale, which begins at 11 a.m., has a catalog of 360 hips before withdrawals, including a sizeable segment of horses of racing age.
The Fasig-Tipton sale is the leading annual yearling auction in the state. In August, the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association’s Northern California sale of yearlings and horses of racing age had higher figures in gross, average, and median prices compared to 2022.
The Fasig-Tipton sale is held days after the marathon Keeneland yearling sale, which through Thursday had gross prices slightly below record figures in 2022.
Tuesday’s sale is dominated by yearlings, with a majority bred in California. There are yearlings by Grazen, Stay Thirsty, and Smiling Tiger, the three leading stallions in the state by progeny earnings.
There is a large list of yearlings by first-crop sires, including Bodexpress, Breakers Isle, Country House, Game Winner, Higher Power, Honor A. P., Improbable, Instilled Regard, Maximum Security, Oscar Nominated, Point Piper, Promises Fulfilled, Thousand Words, Volatile, and Yorkton.
Several of those first-crop stallions are based in Kentucky but have California-bred yearlings in Tuesday’s sale since the dams were bred back to stallions in the state.
Yearlings began arriving on the sale property on Thursday and Friday.
The horses of racing age segment includes the 3-year-old colt Henry Q, winner of the Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park in February.
Henry Q, by Blame, is winless in his last four starts, including a third in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park in May and a well-beaten fifth in a field of six in the Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds on Sept. 3 at Del Mar.
Prominent owners Paul and Zillah Reddam, Rockingham Ranch, and Phil Lebherz have sizeable consignments of horses of racing age in the auction.
The leading hip of the 2022 sale, a filly by Big Slew purchased for $250,000, has yet to start. She had four published workouts at Santa Anita and Del Mar during the summer.