Three days into his Saratoga stay and two days before he went through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings, the lone member of the Stone Farm consignment needed a break.
Hip 174, a colt by Curlin out of Grade 3 winner America, didn’t pick the best time for a late-morning snooze with plenty of prospective buyers eschewing a lunch break and still combing the sales grounds. He also didn’t pick the worst time in Arthur Hancock III’s opinion.
“He just laid down, look at there,” Hancock said as the chestnut colt bred by celebrity chef Bobby Flay settled into a thick bed of straw. “He hasn’t laid down all day, he hasn’t been able to.”
Just as Hancock said those words to his wife Staci and daughter Lynn, representatives from two leading racing operations finished inspections at the Warrendale Sales consignment and walked toward the Hancocks.
“Can you come back? He just laid down,” Hancock said.
“Sure. No problem. We’ll do Hunter Valley quickly and come back,” said Michael Wallace, the primary agent for China Horse Club. Wallace and Elliott Walden, WinStar Farm’s president and chief executive officer, went on their way to inspect the Hunter Valley yearlings.
“Thanks. He’s a good one Elliott. He’ll appreciate it,” Hancock said.
The colt certainly needed the rest as one of the talking horses on the grounds before the 99th annual Saratoga sale. The presale buzz lived up to the hype Tuesday night when a flock of prospective buyers battled for the colt shortly after the midpoint of the strong session. Bids came from inside the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion and the back walking ring populated with trainers and tourists, professionals and wannabes, breeders and consignors and everything in between.
Terry Finley, representing his West Point Thoroughbred and six other partners, landed the winning bid when the hammer dropped at $1.5 million, a price that co-topped the session and the sale.
To read the rest of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale recap, download Thursday’s digital edition of The Saratoga Special presented by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.
