Through three days the gross is a record $55.5 million — up $9 million from last year —
and the average is over $95,000. With two sessions to go, the sale is just over $1 million
away from smashing last year’s jaw-dropping gross total of $56,687,500.

quotes by James Platz / story by Dave Briggs

Records, records and more records fell Wednesday (Oct. 5) during the third session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale at Fasig-Tipton.

Through three days, the sale gross of $55,494,000 is up 19 per cent from the previous record of $46,609,000 set in 2021.

With two sessions to go, the sale is just over $1 million away from smashing last year’s jaw-dropping gross total of $56,687,500.

This year’s cumulative average of $95,024 is a new sale standard and a record 189 yearlings have reached six-figure sale prices through three days — a record by a whopping 49 horses.

As for the third session alone, it smashed records for gross ($11,994,000, up 18 per cent), average ($51,038, up 11 per cent) for 235 yearlings sold and $100,000+ yearlings (25, up five yearlings from last year).

“For the last number of years, if you just look at the way the sessions are seeded… naturally the averages come down,” said sale co-manager David Reid, who runs the sale with Randy Manges. “There’s probably more of a blend of sires as we come down and the commercial value of the production of the mares, but we’re making those decisions in the spring time and early summer so things can change. As a whole, it does trend down, but tonight’s average is $51,000 and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

“(Thursday) night might trickle down just a little bit more, but it’s all about the process and try to place the horses in the right spot. Randy and I are firm believes that if you put a horse in the wrong spot, you can be penalized for that so that’s part of our job when we’re dealing with our consignors is to try to seed the sale and place the horses to maximize the horse’s value for all parties. Sometimes people have different opinions, but, at the end of the day, our goal is to have the best venue possible.”

Trainer Tony Alagna, the sale’s leading buyer, said the sale has been, “amazing. The book, to me, and the individuals we saw on the farms, they have played out exactly like we thought the sale would go. I didn’t think there was a million-dollar horse or $800,000 or $900,000 horse, but I thought there were a lot of horses that were going to fall into that $300,000 to $500,000 range.”

Manges said, “It’s a big plus that we’ve got the big crowds and with new people coming. It’s very encouraging. I’m expecting (Thursday) to be a good day. I ran into some guys today and they hadn’t been here in four years. They were Canadians and had been through three years of COVID, so it’s good to see them. And they were active in the bidding. One guy didn’t get any horses, so he’ll be active tomorrow.”

SESSION TOPPER BROUGHT $250,000

The session topper was Hip 528 Stella Volo, a Six Pack filly out of No I’m Not purchased by Fred Kruszelnicki of Brooks, AB for $250,000 from the Kentuckiana consignment.

“I was just interested in getting a trotting filly because I own some shares in trotting stallions and, down the road, I’d like to use her as a broodmare. I really loved the filly, so I came down to buy that filly,” Kruszelnicki said, adding it will be the only yearling he will buy in Lexington.

“I just liked the way she looks, the way she moves, the way she’s in the paddock… (Six Pack) was a great horse and he’s got to have a shot.”

Hip 396 Midwind Dolce, a Father Patrick filly out of Boccone Dolce, sold for $215,000 to Euro Stall SE of Berlin, OH from the Peninsula Farm consignment.

ALAGNA REMAINS TOP BUYER

Through three sessions, trainer Alagna has spent $3,014,000, total, to purchase 21 yearlings. He bought six more on Wednesday afternoon, spending $545,000 to do so.

“We’ve got Stay Hungry that we supported heavily last year and he had a great year this year, first year out, so we’re looking for more of those,” Alagna said. “We’re always going to support (Captaintreacherous). He’s been very good to us and we always want to keep that going. We had a really good year with trotting fillies and some trotting colts, so really wanted to get in on a couple of Greenshoes. I train a couple for Ken Jacobs and he bought a few very nice Walner colts. Then, basically, just filling orders for owners. Chapter Seven has been very good to us, so we stepped out on a couple of Chapter Sevens as well.”

Alagna said his strategy for yearling shopping in Lexington will change a bit in the final two sessions.

“I think you’re just a little more critical. We filled a lot of orders the first two days, but we also still continue to look because third day does not mean there’s not nice horses in there, it’s just that they are a little farther apart,” he said. “We bought the brother to Stay Hungry [Hip 520 The Dragon Reborn] tonight and we gave $100,000 for him. I thought that was a great buy. We bought two very nice Captain fillies from Brittany’s consignment that we saw at the farm turned out. They are really nice fillies. [Hip 419 Gifted One, $180,000; Hip 527 Ocean Way, $100,000].”

PREFERRED TOPS $10 MILLION

Preferred Equine has now surpassed $10 million in sales through three days and sits atop the consignor leaderboard with exactly $10,200,000, followed by Hunterton ($8,712,000) and Kentuckiana ($7,547,000). Preferred led all consignors in Wednesday’s session with $2,651,000 in sales for 51 yearlings.

“It was another solid night,” said Reid, Preferred’s owner. “We were strong with pacers tonight, sold a Stay Hungry really well, but right through we had regional sires, national sires. We had good luck with the pacing fillies tonight and the trotters have been holding strong.”

Hanover Shoe Farms, which sold all of its yearlings the first two days, still leads in consignor average with $194,174 for 23 yearlings. Hunterton is next ($128,118 for 68), followed by All American ($127,909 for 11).

WALNER LEADING ALL SIRES

Walner has a slight edge over Captaintreacherous in sire gross ($6,899,000 to $6,486,000, respectively) through three days. Chapter Seven is third with $6,383,000 and Greenshoe is fourth with $6,253, 000. The Captain leads in sire average with $154,429.

Manges said he expects the record-breaking trend to continue in today’s fourth session, which begins at 2 p.m. and will feature 164 yearlings.

“We had a huge crowd (Wednesday). We had a lot of new
people that came. I think it’ll be decent (Thursday) and Friday,” Manges said.