'He could be a Kentucky Derby horse one day' - $3.2 million Nyquist colt tops opening Fasig-Tipton Saratoga session

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Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Sale got off to a lively start on Monday, with 15 lots realising seven figures. The action was headed by a colt by Nyquist, who sold to Boyd Racing and Brittany Linton for $3.2 million.

The opening session produced a strong set of results, with 79 yearlings changing hands for $54,395,000, a 36 per cent increase year-on-year. The average price climbed 32.6 per cent to $688,544, while the median rose 25 per cent to $500,000.

"Tremendous start to the 105th Saratoga Yearling Sale tonight," Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said. "Literally from beginning to end, the energy was palpable. The bidding activity was very, very, very, strong.

“We were optimistic when we put together the Saratoga catalogue. We were more optimistic than when the horses unloaded off the vans and we saw them on the sales grounds. We got even more optimistic as we saw the level of activity on the sales grounds with people looking, got even more optimistic...in terms of repository activity. But despite our optimism, it exceeded our expectations."

Darley’s Nyquist has supplied six Graded winners on the track in 2026 and that record translated into sales ring success with the top-seller one of three by the stallion selling for $1 million or more.

Randy and Jenny Boyd of Boyd Racing are relative newcomers at the highest levels of the sport, having announced their arrival with a splash at the 2025 Saratoga Sale. From a stable numbering just a handful of horses this time last year, they have quickly emerged as major players at auction. Their growing involvement has also extended to the racetrack, most notably this year when they bought into multiple Grade 1 winner and Fasig-Tipton graduate Splendora.

Jenny and Randy Boyd have been making a splash around the worldCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photo

However, they chose to go against their usual strategy, snapping up fillies with elite pedigrees to use as future broodmares, and secure the son of Nyquist, who was offered by Gainesway on behalf of his breeders, Stonestreet.

"We came here with the strategy of buying two fillies, but we just fell in love with this colt," Randy Boyd told Bloodhorse. "As we say, we have a strategy and we stick to it, but every month we change the strategy, and today we changed the strategy. But it was just a colt that we couldn't pass up.

"I think he's going to be an amazing colt. We think he has a possibility of being a [Kentucky] Derby horse one day."

The colt is out of Slammed, a Grade 2-winning daughter of Marking, a half-sister to stakes-scoring trio Smash It, Smash Ticket and Roll On Diabolical.

"That exceeded our expectations, but the people here love the horse, and he was vetted as much as anything in our consignment," said Brian Graves, general manager at Gainesway. "The cream rises to the top. It exceeded our expectations a little bit, but we thought the horse was going to bring seven figures and well into it.

"He was a picture of a horse, just a leggy horse with a huge girth, and all the movement and athleticism you'd want to see. I'm sure the success of [Metropolitan Handicap winner] Nysos helped him along a lot this year, but he was everything you'd want to see in a horse. We're elated."

Brittany Linton bought the $3.2 million Nyquist colt for Boyd RacingCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photo

The Boyds have made a splash in both the North American sales scene over the last year, and overseas, with their purchase of Group 2 scorer Green Sense for £700,000 at the Goffs London Sale in June.

Boyd Racing's investment in high-end fillies has accelerated over the past year. In March, the operation went to $2 million for a juvenile daughter of Nyquist at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

At Saratoga last year, the Boyds purchased the sale's highest-priced filly, a daughter of Gun Runner out of Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods, for $2.6 million. They later added another daughter of Gun Runner, Grade 1 winner Vahva, for $3.1 million at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

"We're buying fillies for the long term," Boyd said. "We want to buy fillies who have great potential to be a broodmare, and hopefully they'll have a good career while they're racing. But the most important thing is to buy the broodmares."

That long-term strategy was again evident at Saratoga. Shortly after purchasing the top lot, Boyd Racing, with Linton as agent, went to $1.5 million for a daughter of Quality Road out of the Grade 3-winning Violence mare Talk Veuve To Me.

Talk Veuve To Me is a half-sister to Tiffany Case, the dam of 2025 champion three-year-old filly and recent Grade 1 Whitney Stakes runner-up Nitrogen.

Like the Nyquist colt, the filly was bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. She was consigned by Denali Stud.

The Gun Runner colt out of Shook Up sells to Wesley Ward for $2.3 million at the Saratoga SaleCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photo

Three additional yearlings reached or surpassed the $2 million mark on Monday. Two tied for the evening's second-highest price at $2.3 million, a chestnut colt by Gun Runner, purchased by trainer Wesley Ward, and a colt by Into Mischief purchased by Flying Dutchmen.

Ward has increased his presence at the upper end of the yearling market as he looks to acquire horses capable of targeting the American classics in the coming years.

His $2.3 million purchase was consigned by Taylor Made Sales, agent for breeder Three Chimneys Farm, which stands Gun Runner. The stallion was responsible for four seven-figure yearlings during Monday's opening session.

"He's some horse," Ward said of the colt, who will race for a partnership. "I go out every year [to Three Chimneys] and look at all of his yearlings in the sales, and this one stood out....We're really excited to get a colt like this. Everything that I like in a racehorse, he had."

The colt is out of 2015 Kentucky Oaks runner-up Shook Up. The Tapit mare has already produced Texas Derby winner and multiple Grade 3-placed King Ottoman and is herself out of Grade 1 winner Sugar Shake.

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