Record $89m spent on mares and foals on 'remarkable night of sales'

If there was any question about what Fasig-Tipton would do for an encore following last year's blockbuster November Sale, it was quickly answered with this year's edition on Sunday.

With Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings going to $7.5 million to purchase full interest in the European champion Lady Aurelia, the one-day auction in Lexington attracted a large and diverse group of domestic and international buyers that pushed prices to a record gross.

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From 250 lots entered in the regular and supplemental catalogues, Fasig-Tipton reported 140 were sold for a record $89,473,000, an average price of $639,093 (fourth-highest in sale history), and a $327,500 median (second-highest).

The 53 horses that went unsold represented an RNA (reserve not attained) rate of 27.5 per cent.

Last year, topped by two-time champions Songbird ($9.5m) and Tepin ($8m), the auction grossed $74,200,000 for 115 horses sold, at an average of $645,217 and median of $250,000.

The 26 horses that did not sell produced an RNA rate of 18.4 per cent.

There were 22 individuals sold for seven figures this year, compared with 19 a year ago.

Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said the sale was an overwhelming success.

"It was a remarkable night of sales this evening," he said. "When you are able to assemble a catalogue with as many quality horses as we had this year, it makes for an exciting and interesting evening.

"There is tremendous demand for quality," Browning continued. "The buyers are willing to pay for quality, but they still paid for quality with some level of restraint. They don't bid recklessly, they don't bid with abandon. They bid aggressively. The most encouraging thing is there was tremendous diversity in the buying group."

Browning credited breeders, consignors, and the Fasig-Tipton team for the sale's success.

"It's testament to the men and women who own the horses and consign the horses that they entrust their very best with us, and they were genuinely rewarded tonight," he said. "We have a really good team, a group of people that work really hard and care about the customers and care about the business."

Trained by Wesley Ward for breeder Stonestreet and partners George Bolton and Peter Leidel, Lady Aurelia won the prestigious Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes and was honoured with a Cartier Award as Europe's champion juvenile filly.

She returned to Royal Ascot the following year and defeated older males in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes.

During the waning moments of the nearly eight-hour sale, Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm went to $4.4m to purchase three-time Grade 1 winner Stopchargingmaria and $1.9m for the mare's 2018 filly by Pioneerof The Nile, a record price for a weanling at this sale.

The mare, who won nine of 18 starts and earned more than $3m, and her foal born February 2 of this year were consigned as hips 234 and 233, respectively, by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

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