July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale a “Breakthrough” in Fifth Renewal

The July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale celebrated its fifth year Monday night with a banner renewal that posted significant gains across the board.

“It kind of felt like this was a little bit of a breakthrough,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “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.”

The sale featured two offerings which exceeded last year’s top price ($575,000 for Grade 1 winner Stormy Lucy): Grade 2 winner Distinta (Hip 423), who topped the sale at $600,000 when sold to Medallion Racing from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, and multiple stakes winner Adorable Miss (Hip 403), who was purchased by Bluewater Sales, agent for $585,000 from the consignment of newcomer Elite Sales.

Nine horses sold for $200,000 or more, up from five in 2016. Three horses eclipsed the $500,000 mark, attained only by the sale topper last year. The top colt, Benefactor (Hip 409) sold for $275,000, nearly doubling the top price for a colt in 2016 ($150,000).

“Obviously, we’re very pleased with the results of the sale today,” said Browning. “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.”

Notably, Elite Sales and WinStar Racing offered their first consignments with success: Elite Sales sold 11 of 12 offered for $2,799,000, while WinStar Racing sold all seven of their offerings for a total of $741,000.

“It’s meaningful that we had some new faces that supported the sale this year with some quality horses. That means the world to [Fasig-Tipton],” continued Browning.

Overall, 84 horses sold for $8,083,000, good for an increase of 60.1% over 72 sold for $5,048,500 in 2016. The average was $96,226, a 37.2% percent improvement on last year’s average of $70,118, and the $56,000 median was 33.3% percent higher than $42,000 in 2016. The RNA rate was 15.2%, down from 20.9% last year.

Full results are available online.