Cars waited at the corners of East and Union Avenues late Sunday morning. People of all ages walked through the entrance gates just beyond the cars stacked 20, 30 deep per row just inside the iron gates at Saratoga Race Course.
Horses made the short walk from the parking lot at Thorobred Feed Sales at the corner of George Street and East Friday afternoon, then did their best to look the part as they walked, walked and walked some more around the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds. Just another day in the summertime life of Saratoga Springs?
Not exactly.
The above scenario unfolded as the first weekend of October greeted those in town, with leaves falling, geese flying overhead and the kind of falling rain and slightly crisp temperatures that hint that winter is right around the corner. But there’s a little business to take care of first here in Saratoga and it starts at 11 a.m. Monday with the second annual Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed and horses of racing age sale.
The sales grounds buzzed throughout the weekend as prospective buyers got looks at the weanlings, in-foal broodmares and other offerings that make up this year’s fall mixed sale. Across the street at Saratoga Race Course, more than 700 runners of the two-legged variety braved the misty morning for a charity 5k that looped around the picnic and stable areas of the closed-for-the-season racetrack.
Fasig-Tipton cataloged 279 horses for the sale, not exactly pushing the stall capacity but pretty close.
The original catalog, trimmed by 36 with presale scratches, featured 110 weanlings and 103 in-foal mares.
The weanlings were the top attraction a year ago and 22 of those that sold for $456,200 in the inaugural fall mixed sale were resold as yearlings for $1,242,500 in 2013, a remarkable 172% rate of return before factoring in approximately 10 months of expenses. The weanlings sold for an average of $20,737 and were resold as yearlings for an average of more than $56,000.
The sale’s top pinhook was a Congrats colt sold by Vinery Sales for $37,000 at the fall mixed sale. The colt out of the Argentinean-bred Parade Marshall mare Relativa later brought $200,000 when consigned by Select Sales, agent, at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. Purchased by Xavier International Bloodstock, agent, the colt was the co-eighth most expensive yearling at the most successful New York-bred sale in history.
Another successful weanling-to-yearling pinhook was a colt by Freud out of Day Trading, by Capote, who sold for $33,000 at the fall mixed sale and later brought $110,000 on a bid from Amy Tarrant at the New York-bred yearling sale.
Check out the Fasig-Tipton fall mixed sale catalog.
Results from the inaugural fall mixed and horses of racing age sale.
