Inside Information (G2) winner DISTINTA (Summer Bird) led a robust session when selling for $600,000 at Monday evening’s Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale at Newtown Paddocks near Lexington, Kentucky.
Offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, as Hip No. 423, the five-year-old mare was purchased by Medallion Racing. While Medallion was created under the Taylor Made banner earlier this year, as a partnership opportunity to buy into and campaign distaffers, its personnel are different from those on the consignment side, as Mark Taylor explained to the Blood-Horse’s Ron Mitchell.
Not only did the $600,000 price outstrip last year’s sales topper, Stormy Lucy (whose $575,000 purchase price reflected a private sale), but numbers were significantly up across the board. Fasig-Tipton reported that 84 horses realized $8,083,000, a 60.1 percent skyrocket from the $5,048,500 realized by 72 sellers in 2016. The average spiked 37.2 percent, from $70,118 to $96,226, and the median climbed from $42,000 to $56,000, a rise of 33.3 percent.
“It kind of felt like this was a little bit of a breakthrough,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said in a release. “It says, ‘This is an established sale.’ It fills a great niche and a need in the marketplace. It’s a great opportunity for people to buy and sell horses.”
“Obviously, we’re very pleased with the results of the sale today. It’s really no secret. At the end of the day when you have a nice group of horses, it really gives you an opportunity to attract the proper buyers and create an atmosphere that’s conducive to a strong sale, and it was certainly a strong marketplace tonight.”
Distinta is an auction veteran, and her price has kept increasing over the course of her life. A $7,000 Keeneland November weanling, she brought $30,000 as an OBS August yearling, and appreciated to $80,000 by the time she toured the OBS ring as a March juvenile.
Distinta has been in career-form at Gulfstream Park this year for owner Veb Racing Stable Corp. and trainer Victor Barboza Jr. Runner-up in the July 1 Princess Rooney (G2) in her first start since the March 18 Inside Information, she sports a mark of 23-4-8-3, $346,715. That reflects a handful of additional stakes placings, notably the January 28 Hurricane Bertie (G3).
The Florida-bred is out of the Storm Cat mare Miss Kitty, an unraced half-sister to multiple graded-placed stakes winner Gold Dollar (Seattle Slew), from the further family of Grade 1-winning sire Purim (Dynaformer).
The other major story was the terrific sales debut of Elite Sales as a consignor. Founded by Bradley Weisbord and Liz Crow, Elite sold the second through sixth on the leaderboard, and six of the top 10.
The trend started early on with multiple stakes-winning sophomore ADORABLE MISS (Kitten’s Joy), the third horse through the ring as Hip 403, who sparked a bidding war up to $585,000. Bluewater Sales, agent, prevailed for the promising turf filly from the Todd Pletcher barn.
Adorable Miss, a $155,000 Keeneland September yearling, won three of four for Mathis Stable. Her lone loss was a third in the June 3 Penn Oaks, bookended by Gulfstream scores in the Honey Ryder and Martha Washington. The full sister to Grade 3 winner Noble Beauty was produced by the unraced Money Huntress (Mineshaft).
Fellow Elite consignee HAPPY MESA (Sky Mesa), who sold to Out of This World Racing for $525,000, has a similar profile as the winner of last fall’s Selima S. as well as the May 19 Hilltop in her latest. The daughter of the stakes-placed Broken Vow mare Happy Choice was a bargain $20,000 purchase at Keeneland September.
Also hailing from the Elite Sales consignment were stakes-placed LADY ALEXANDRA (More Than Ready), snapped up by Heider Family Sales for $375,000; recent Lady Canterbury near-misser INSTA ERMA (Pioneerof the Nile), a $290,000 buy by David Meah, agent; and English Channel S. hero BRONSON (Medaglia d’Oro), who ranked as the sale’s top colt at $275,000. Three Diamonds Farm secured the well-bred son of Cambiocorsa (Avenue of Flags), thus a half-brother to Grade 2 winners Schiaparelli (Ghostzapper) and Moulin de Mougin (Curlin), Grade 1-placed Vionnet (Street Sense) and multiple stakes scorer Alexis Tangier (Tiznow).
“It’s meaningful that we had some new faces that supported the sale this year with some quality horses,” Browning said. “That means the world to (Fasig-Tipton).”
Aside from Elite Sales, Browning was also alluding to WinStar Racing’s first consignment, whose seven lots were led by the $225,000 colt UPPER ROOM (Harlan’s Holiday).
Complete results are available at fasigtipton.com.
Newtown Paddocks will be buzzing again Tuesday for the July Sale, with the yearling trade commencing at 10 a.m. (EDT).
