Phoenix Thoroughbreds among big spenders at inaugural Santa Anita Sale

Barely 15 minutes into the inaugural Santa Anita Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale at Santa Anita Park on Thursday, Tom Ludt, head of US operations for Phoenix Thoroughbreds, made his way to the sunny paddock and began to bid.

After a few furious rounds, Ludt was declared the new owner of hip 12, a chestnut colt from the first crop of Darby Dan Farm's Tapiture , for $350,000. The price was the second-highest paid for a juvenile during the one-day session.

"In a small boutique sale, he stood out," said Ludt. "I knew he was going to be expensive just because he was the best-looking horse with the best breeze in the sale. He's got a good walk. It's later in the year, but he's got a good, smooth stride and looks fast."

View Santa Anita Sale results and buyers

Consigned by agent Tom McCrocklin, the colt is the fourth foal out of the Awesome Again mare Awesomekaylee. Bred in Kentucky by Ginny McKinlay, he is a half brother to stakes winner The Money Monster and is from the extended family of graded stakes winner Christmas Boy.

During Tuesday's under-tack show, the colt was clocked for the fastest quarter-mile in :21 1/5.

"He went 21 1/5 for a quarter-mile and did it well. Let's hope he carries it further than a quarter-mile," laughed Ludt.

The final price was more than triple paid for the colt less than a year ago during the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was purchased by McCrocklin for $100,000 on behalf of the pinhooking partnership Solana Beach Sales.

"He was one of our favorites for a long time," said Little Red Feather Racing's Gary Fenton, who consigned the colt with McCrocklin under the Solana Beach banner. "We thought he'd be one of the top horses in the sale. He was very popular. Just about all the buyers looked at him.

"We don't race any of them. It's a complete separation of church and state. The Solana Beach is a separate situation (from Little Red Feather). Solana Beach is all pinhookers. We sell everything (owned by Solana Beach).

It gets a little tough sometimes because half of our partners are true pinhookers and the other half are racers. When we have nice ones like this, I get calls: 'Maybe we should race this one. Maybe it's time.' But it's important that we have church and state so buyers know we are going to sell everything."

The colt was the sole purchase made by Phoenix during Wednesday's sale. Ludt said he was pleased with the professionalism of Fasig-Tipton's first venture into the California two-year-old sale market.

"It's the first year here, and they are working through some of the kinks," said Ludt. "It's hard because it's hot. But it's at the track - they're running them here. I hope it does well. They'll build on it every year."

Bernardini filly enjoys top billing

Kings Equine's Raul Reyes, who grew up in California and moved to Florida, was rewarded when horses from his consignment achieved three of the top four prices at the sale.

Reyes topped the sale with a filly by Bernardini who sold for $420,000. He also sold a daughter of Uncle Mo for $280,000 and a son of Curlin for $250,000. Only Tom McCrocklin's son of Tapiture who sold for $350,000 kept Reyes from sweeping the top spots.

"My mother lives here, and I like to come here and sell horses where she can see it," said Reyes. "Plus, I love California, and as long as I can help them, I'm going to help them."

The sale topper was a classic pinhooking home run. She cost only $11,500 when purchased at the October Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky yearling sale.

"The Bernardini was a steal when I bought it," said Reyes. "She was kind of small in size, and she grew. She turned out to be a very fast filly."

Bred in Kentucky by the Don Alberto Corporation, the filly is out of the winning Dansili mare Elbe, a half sister to stakes winner and stakes producer Posteritas. At the under-tack show on the Santa Anita main track, the filly went a furlong in :10 1/5, the fastest time of any horse in the catalogue.

Donato Lanni, conferring with trainer Bob Baffert, purchased her for Sarah Kelly. Lanni has helped select many horses who have gone on to excel in the Baffert barn.

"I thought she had an exceptional work," said Lanni. "I'm not the only person to have seen that - she brought a lot of money. She's a really classy filly. Bob and I both liked her. She's pretty straightforward and a really cool filly."

When asked if he saw her at the October Sale, Lanni responded with, "I wish I had."

Market check

Fasig-Tipton brought a full complement of staff to California for the sale, which was held in the Santa Anita walking ring in the bright June sunshine. With a catalogue of 169 reduced by 61 withdrawals, the sales company sold 69 for a gross of $3,769,500 at an average of $54,630 and a median of $30,000. With 39 not sold, the buyback rate was 36 per cent.

"I thought it was a successful initial effort for a two-year-old sale at Santa Anita," said Boyd Browning.

"I thought that, overall, the horses sold fairly and reasonably well. I thought there was a wide group of buyers at various price ranges. Hopefully, we established a foundation that would provide some confidence for participants in the California marketplace that there is a viable sales market in California in 2019."

Regarding the buyback rate, Browning said he thought it was in line with other two-year-old markets.

"I think if you look historically in the California marketplace, that might be better than normal," he said. "Strong state-bred programs result in higher RNA rates because the owners of those horses have options to go racing. We'll see some horses that were RNAs here run at Del Mar."

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