Joseph O'Brien among the first-time visitors at Saratoga Sale

Although the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale might always be primarily focused on American sires and likely dirt runners, this year's edition could one day be viewed as a turning point.

The relatively few European-type horses in the slim catalogue seemed to generate stronger than usual interest, and with purse-money increasing for turf stakes in America and the allure of international events including Royal Ascot growing, there could be more demand in the future for yearlings with grass-oriented pedigrees.

At the same time, some international buyers seem to be more willing than in the recent past to focus on horses offered at Saratoga. Attendees at this year's sale included first-time visitors in Irish-based trainer Joseph O'Brien and Shane McGrath, who oversees Aquis Farm in Australia.

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O'Brien is one of the young professionals in the business who seems open to new ideas, bloodlines and ways of doing business.

"It's good to be here," he said of his exploratory visit to the Saratoga sale. "I have a number of clients and owners that are here and it's obviously beautiful weather and there are lots of very good-looking horses.

"If I have horses good enough to come and race here, then we will. It's always a pleasure to come over here. The racing is very competitive and there is great prize-money."

As a native of Ireland and the North American representative for Arqana, Tony Lacy of Four Star Sales has a keen view of business on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Historically, Saratoga has been a tough place to sell a turf horse, but you can see a change where it is now a viable option," he said.

He cited good sales for both a colt from the first crop by European champion Air Force Blue and a filly by 2015 leading European freshman sire Zoffany as concrete indicators of shifting trends, with interest in both yearlings expressed by Americans and Europeans alike.

"We had tried before with a little bit of turf pedigrees a few years ago and it really fell flat on its face," Lacy said of the Saratoga marketplace. "Now, this year, we felt like there was a decent price for both of them. I was encouraged."

Irish trainer Fozzy Stack was listed as the buyer of the Air Force Blue colt for $280,000.

Bred by the Coolmore-affiliated Rhinestone Bloodstock and a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Analyze The Odds, the colt has a second dam who is a sister to El Gran Senor and Try My Best, while his pedigree also includes influential American broodmare and Grade 1 winner Blush With Pride and 2018 Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye.

Lacy said: "He was a really good-moving, very balanced colt, a very smooth mover. A lot of the Americans loved his physical, the way he moved. I think with the Air Force Blue angle, since he was such a good racehorse in Europe, he's a horse that could really fit back there. It's great to see there was a lot of action on the horse, broad-based interest from the US and from the European buyers who were here."

The Zoffany filly, bred in Ireland by Newstead Breeding and out of a half-sister to Group 2 winner Antonius Pius, was sold for $250,000 to American-based Sanford Bacon.

Lacy continued: "She was a little bit of an outlier for an American audience, but you could see that the Americans liked her athleticism. Obviously, they recognised the stallion as a very high-class stallion in Europe. But the European really liked her also."

Another interesting yearling was sold near the end of the auction, with Hip 210, a colt by Galileo who is a half-brother to multiple Group winner Besharah, drawing a final bid of $400,000 from Drew Nardiello, representing Bob Lothenbach's Lothenbach Stables, which is based in America's Midwest region.

The Galileo colt, bred by Coolmore, had been a €170,000 purchase at the Goffs November Sale by a group including consignor Taylor Made Sales Agency. Mark Taylor of Taylor Made described the entry of the Galileo colt at Saratoga as "an experiment" the like of which his agency had not previously tried.

Nardiello said of the colt: "I thought he was very attractive, athletic. We don't worry about what they paid for him [earlier]. We're just looking for a big-time horse."

Fasig-Tipton is also looking for big-time results, and president Boyd Browning jnr said the company makes an effort to include diversity in the sale catalogue to try to appeal to everyone as much as possible.

"Our goal is to put together a very good and wide representation of primarily North American stallions - we know that's what our bread and butter is at Saratoga - but we want to have some international flair and international appeal to pedigrees," he said.

"The world continues to shrink in the thoroughbred industry and we recognise that and we'll continue to try to be innovative and creative and have great representation among our stallions.

"One of the great keys to this sale's success for a long time has been the diversity. It's one of the things we sell our consignors on, that we're going to have an array of horses, as well as one of the things we sell our buyers on. You're going to come here and be able to find something you like regardless of what your ultimate goals are as a buyer or as an owner."

Lacy observed that, within the past ten years, Americans have become more aware of European bloodlines while Europeans have often made money by selling pinhooked young horses acquired in America.

He said: "When I first started with Arqana ten years ago, it was really difficult to get [American[ people to come to European sales to spend money. It wasn't something that anybody ever really considered or wanted to do.

"Within the last ten years, we've seen the market shift to where people you would not even expect would ever travel to Europe are now familiar with European families, and they're coming to the sales and are very active over there, looking to diversify their bloodlines, their broodmare bands and even partnering with European breeders.

"We can't be isolationists with what we're doing because the bloodlines are great for integration, and it's not just about mixing only bloodlines, but also encouraging foreign owners and trainers to communicate on a global platform. I think this is only going to increase."

More from the Saratoga Select Sale:

Diverse international group has final nod to secure Curlin colt for $1.5 million

Beginners' luck for Charles and Susan Chu with first horse they bred

Curlin yearlings helps Saratoga Sale reach record heights again