Mendelssohn Colt Tops Historic Renewal of Midlantic Fall Yearlings

Tuesday, October 5, 2021
mendelssohn colt
Fasig-Tipton Photo/Eclipse Sportswire

The 2021 Midlantic Fall Yearlings sale ended Tuesday evening in Timonium, MD, with numbers greatly surpassing those posted in 2020. Steady, enthusiastic trade over the course of the two-day sale resulted in new all-time sale records in average and median.

For the second day in a row, the session topper was a colt (Hip 415) from the first crop of Breeders' Cup champion Mendelssohn. Scanlon Training & Sales purchased the chestnut colt for $235,000 from the consignment of Northview Stallion Station (David Wade), agent (video). Hip 415 is out of Grace Is Gone, a Malibu Moon daughter of Grade 1 placed winner Grace Anatomy, and hails from the immediate family of champion Soaring Softly and Grade 1 winner Plenty of Grace. The colt was bred in Kentucky.

A pair of well-related fillies sold for $200,000 during Tuesday's session to tie for that top spot. The first through the ring was Hip 295, a daughter of Street Sense purchased for $200,000 by Charles Zacney's Cash Is King and consigned by Chanceland Farm, agent (video). The filly is out of Belterra (Unbridled), a Grade 2 winner who has produced four winners to date, including this filly's full sister, stakes winner Taketheodds. Hip 295 is also a half-sister to Sheave (Mineshaft), dam of 2016 Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Cathryn Sophia, who was purchased by Zacney at this sale in 2014. The Maryland-bred filly was produced from a similar cross to Cathryn Sophia, by that classic winner's breeder Robert T. Manfuso.

A daughter of last year's leading first-crop sire Nyquist, offered as Hip 441, also sold for $200,000 (video). The bay filly was purchased by Cary Frommer from the consignment of Becky Davis Inc., agent. Hip 441 is the second foal out of the winning Not For Love mare How My Heart Works; her first foal is Maryland Million Classic winner and graded stakes placed Monday Morning QB (Imagining). The immediate family includes Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Well Armed, as well as Grade 1 winner American Patriot. Hip 441 was bred in Maryland by Bowman & Higgins Stable.

Rounding out Tuesday's top five were a pair of yearlings by well-established sires:

  • Hip 378, a filly by Hard Spun out of Fairytale Ending (IRE), which sold for $125,000 to P. Lawley-Wakelin, agent for Cambus-Kenneth Farm, from the consignment of Audley Farm Equine. The dark bay or brown filly is a half-sister to recent Brookmeade S. winner Urban Fairytale (Distorted Humor), from the immediate family of Group 1 winners Airwave (GB) and Churchill (IRE). Hip 278 was bred in Kentucky by the consignor.
  • Hip 506, a colt by Munnings out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Compulsion, which sold for $120,000 to New Day Training Center from the consignment of Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, agent. The gray or roan colt hails from the immediate family of multiple Grade 1 winner Spoken Fur. Hip 506 was bred in New York.

Over the course of the two sessions, 381 yearlings sold for $11,269,400 – the sale's fifth highest gross all-time and its best since 2007, when 574 horses sold for $13,331,400. The gross rose 23.6% over receipts of $9,120,700 in 2020. The average was $29,578, a record for Midlantic Fall Yearlings, good for a 22.9% increase over last year's average of $24,065. The median, also a record, held steady at $20,000 throughout the sale, and marked a 42.9% increase over last year's median of $14,000. The previous records for both categories were established in 2013, when 289 yearlings sold for an average of $25,847 and a median of $17,000. The RNA rate was 16.4%, the lowest at this sale since 2013.

Full results are available online.