By Bloodhorse.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (June 5, 2019) — A California-bred son of Vronsky sold for $110,000 at Wednesday’s inaugural Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
The colt out of the Speightstown mare Copperopolis was bred by Donald Valpredo, consigned by McCarthy Bloodstock, agent, and sold to Blinkers On Racing Stable for $110,000.
McCarthy Bloodstock also consigned a Cal-bred gelded son of Clubhouse Ride that sold for $95,000 to West Point Thoroughbreds/Hollendorfer. He is out of the Huddle Up mare Team Decision and was bred by Harris Farms and Double D Farms.
Fasig-Tipton brought a full complement of staff to California for the sale, which was held in the Santa Anita walking ring in the bright June sunshine. With a catalog of 169 reduced by 61 withdrawals, the sales company sold 69 for a gross of $3,769,500 at an average of $54,630 and a median of $30,000. With 39 not sold, the buyback rate was 36%.
“I thought it was a successful initial effort for a 2-year-old sale at Santa Anita,” said Boyd Browning, Fasig-Tipton’s president and CEO. “I thought that, overall, the horses sold fairly and reasonably well. I thought there was a wide group of buyers at various price ranges. Hopefully, we established a foundation that would provide some confidence for participants in the California marketplace, be it breeders, agents, trainers, etc. that there is a viable sales market in California in 2019.”
Kings Equine’s Raul Reyes, who grew up in California and moved to Florida, supported his home state when horses from his consignment achieved three of the top four prices at the sale.
“My mother lives here, and I like to come here and sell horses where she can see it,” said Reyes. “Plus, I love California, and as long as I can help them, I’m going to help them.”
Reyes topped the sale with a filly by Bernardini (Hip 45) who sold for $420,000. He also sold a daughter of Uncle Mo (Hip 59) for $280,000 and a son of Curlin (Hip 41) for $250,000. Only Tom McCrocklin’s son of Tapiture (Hip 12) who sold for $350,000 kept Reyes from sweeping the top spots.
The sale topper was a classic pinhooking home run. She cost only $11,500 when purchased at The October Sale, Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky yearling sale.
“The Bernardini was a steal when I bought it,” said Reyes. “She was kind of small in size, and she grew. She turned out to be a very fast filly.”
Bred in Kentucky by the Don Alberto Corporation, the filly is out of the winning Dansili mare Elbe, a half sister to stakes winner and stakes producer Posteritas. At the June 3 under tack show on the Santa Anita main track, the filly went a furlong in :10 1/5, the fastest time of any horse in the catalog.
Donato Lanni, conferring with trainer Bob Baffert, purchased her for Sarah Kelly. Lanni has helped select many horses who have gone on to excel in the Baffert barn.
“I thought she had an exceptional work,” said Lanni. “I’m not the only person to have seen that—she brought a lot of money. She’s a really classy filly. Bob and I both liked her. She’s pretty straightforward and a really cool filly.”
When asked if he saw her at The October Sale, Lanni responded with, “I wish I had.”
McCrocklin, another Florida consignor, had the second-highest-priced horse and the top-priced colt. The son of Tapiture—Awesomekaylee, by Awesome Again, had the fastest quarter-mile, going in :21 1/5. Tom Ludt signed the ticket on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbreds.
“I knew he was going to be expensive,” said Ludt. “He’s got a good, smooth stride and looks fast.”McCrocklin sold the Tapiture colt for Solana Beach Sales, the pinhooking division affiliated with Little Red Feather Racing.
Andrew T. Andrews bought Reyes’ Uncle Mo filly, who was bred in Kentucky by Malibu Farm out of the Smart Strike mare Garnet. Sand Ridge Stables purchased Reyes’ Curlin colt. Also bred in Kentucky by Fred Hertrich III and John Fielding, he is out of the Yonaguska mare Drift to the Lead, also the dam of stakes winner Catch My Drift.
Andrews said he purchased the Uncle Mo filly with Kenny Martindale. Charles Treece is their trainer. Trainer Eric Guillot signed the ticket for the Curlin colt.
“I think some Florida folks who brought some quality horses out here were rewarded,” said Browning. “I think some of the traditional California-based consignors hopefully gained some confidence and realized that this will work going forward.”
Adrian Gonzalez’s Checkmate Thoroughbreds sold the highest-priced horse of California-based consignors. For Blue Chip Thoroughbreds, Gonzalez offered a son of American Pharoah—Loudly, by War Front. California trainer Jeff Bonde bought the colt (Hip 88) for $175,000.
Regarding the buyback rate, Browning said he thought it was in line with other 2-year-old markets.”I think if you look historically in the California marketplace, that might be better than normal,” he said. “Strong state-bred programs result in higher RNA rates because the owners of those horses have options to go racing. We’ll see some horses that were RNAs here run at Del Mar.”