Records fell across the board during the second session of Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga yearling auction Tuesday evening. The two-night sale shattered previously established records for gross, average and median, including topping gross sales of $100 million for the first time in the sale’s history.
The $4.1 million sale topper was the most expensive Saratoga yearling sold since 2000, and the RNA rate was just 11.6%, the lowest at this sale since 1981. Sixteen yearlings sold for seven figures during the Tuesday session, a record for single-session million-dollar sales. A total of 25 million-dollar yearlings sold over the course of the two nights, annihilating the previous record of 14 million-dollar yearlings sold over two nights set in 2021.
The eventual sale topper came late in the second session when a colt by Into Mischief sold for $4.1 million to Coolmore & White Birch Farm from the consignment of Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa, agent for Don Alberto Corp. The bay colt, hip 218, is the first foal out of the Grade 2-placed and three-time graded-stakes-placed winning Tapit mare Stellar Sound. The immediate family includes multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Versailles Treaty and Grade 1 winners George Vancouver, General Assembly, Boisterous and Gold Fever. Hip 218 was bred in Kentucky by Don Alberto. The colt’s price was the third highest price for a yearling in the history of the Saratoga Sale and the highest since 2000.
The second highest-priced yearling of the evening also was a colt by multiple champion sire Into Mischief. Hip 178 sold for $3 million to Resolute Bloodstock from the consignment of Gainesway, agent for Stonestreet Bred for Brilliance. The bay colt is out of the Grade 1-placed winning Bernardini mare Lady Kate and was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings.
A Gun Runner half-brother to last year’s Demoiselle (G2) winner Muhimma sold for $2.9 million to Donato Lanni, agent for Zedan Racing, from the consignment of Four Star Sales, agent. The gray or roan colt, hip 179, is out of the course-record-setting, Grade 1 placed Tapit mare Princesa Carolina, a daughter of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Pure Clan. Hip 179 was bred in Kentucky by Three Chimneys Farm.
Another colt by Into Mischief, hip 163 out of the multiple Grade 1-winning multimillionaire I’m a Chatterbox, sold for $2.6 million to Spendthrift Farm from the consignment of Warrendale Sales, agent for Spendthrift Farm and Grayson Farm. The bay colt was bred in Kentucky by Carolyn Gray, Fletcher Gray and Spendthrift Farm.
A filly by Gun Runner sold for $2.6 million to Love/Linton, agent for Boyd Racing, from the consignment of Lane’s End, agent for Tranquility Lake Farms. The bay filly is out of the multiple Grade 1-winning Union Rags mare Paradise Woods, whose 11 3/4-length victory in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1) remains that contest’s largest margin of victory. The immediate family includes Eclipse champion and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense. The filly, hip 175, was bred in Kentucky by Pam & Martin Wygod and Oliver & Emily Bushnell.
