Fasig-Tipton has cataloged 195 horses for its Saratoga select yearling sale, which will be conducted Aug. 4 and 5 in New York. The number is down 8.9% from the 214 total in 2007, but is above the 180 cataloged in 2006.
“We're down just a touch,” said Fasig-Tipton president Walt Robertson. “But we always try to select as hard as we can, and that’s where we ended up. We’ve damn sure got good-looking horses, and we’ve got exciting young sires.”
The catalog includes seven yearlings from the first crop of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, four from the first and only crop of 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam, and nine from the second crop of 2004’s champion sprinter Speightstown . A.P. Indy, Distorted Humor , and Storm Catare among the veteran sires with offspring in the catalog.
Last year, the Saratoga sale suffered setbacks of 2.4% in gross revenue, 10.6% in average price, and 7.1% in median price as the yearling market, in general, lost momentum. One challenge this year will be the struggling American economy, but Robertson is optimistic that the type of yearlings offered at the auction, where the average was $289,310 a year ago, will be in demand.
“The market for horses in the $250,000-plus market was great during the 2-year-old sales,” he said. “The upper and upper middle markets have held up pretty well. There are lots of buyers for the $200,000 to $800,000 horse.”
This year's Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner, Da' Tara , is a graduate of the Saratoga sale. He sold for $175,000 during the 2006 edition of the auction.
