In all on Tuesday, 174 horses were sold for a gross of $2,870,300 and an average price of $16,496. The median was $8,000. All those figures were down from the comparable session a year ago, when the 179 horses sold grossed $3,872,000 and averaged $21,631. The median last year was $10,000. This year's buy-back rate was 31%, with 78 of the 252 yearlings offered failing to find new homes.Through two sessions this year, 357 horses have sold for a gross of $5,790,400, an average of $16,220, and a median of $7,700. The two-day figures for last year were 376 sold for a gross of $8,167,300, an average of $21,722, and a median of $10,000.Tuesday's session was interrupted for approximately 15 minutes when a buyer collapsed and apparently suffered a seizure in the sale pavilion. Emergency medical personnel were called, and the man was conscious when he was carried to the ambulance. Paul Wilhelm, a Fasig-Tipton ringman who is a paramedic, treated the man until more help arrived.In other news, Donald Litz, who consigned Monday's $150,000 sale topper for breeder Barbara Cross Graham, said the Not For Love -- Chattin colt had been sold to Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos' Marathon Farm for the price listed in Fasig-Tipton's sale summary. In a confusing series of events, trainer Jimmy Murphy, who was sitting with Graham, said immediately after the hammer fell that Graham had bought back the colt. Then, Fasig-Tipton officials reported that Graham and Litz had told them that a half-interest in the colt had been sold to Joe Keelty of Dumbarton Farm.Rodney Jenkins was the agent in the deal with Angelos, according to Litz. Dale Jenkins, who is Rodney's brother, confirmed that the transaction had indeed taken place.
An End Sweep --She's My Choice filly was bought by Jan, Mace, and Samantha Siegel for $180,000 as the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale continued Wednesday. Samantha Siegel, who had been at the sale earlier in the week but made the winning bid by phone from California, said the final price was "maybe a little bit higher than we wanted to go to. She's good looking and a well-balanced filly." Siegel said the filly will be sent to the Asmussen family in Texas to be broken, as are all the Siegel horses.Earlier in the session, a Touch Gold filly was purchased by B. Wayne Hughes for $150,000. The filly, a half-sister to the good sprinter Disco Rico (by Citidancer), was purchased by trainer Al Stall Jr., on behalf of Hughes. She was bred in Maryland by her consignor, Ron and Carolyn Green's Green Willow Farms.A son of first-crop sire Grand Slam brought $140,000 to top the second session of the sale on Tuesday. Cam Allard, bidding on the phone through Fasig-Tipton's Dennis Lynch, won the battle for the colt. The immediate underbidder was Samantha Siegel, who bid on the phone through adviser Pat Payne."We've been battling a pretty long time since we've been here, and that's the first time really he (Allard) has made a strike," said Dale Jenkins, who oversees Allard's pinhooking operation. "He (the colt) was one of the better individuals of the day. He's kind of a speed on speed type, and it looks like he'll do the job at a 2-year-old sale. We're not really sure where (we'll sell him) yet, but he's a Florida-bred, so I guess that's something to think about. That was more than we wanted to give for him. To be honest, we were thinking maybe $100,000 or $125,000, but I guess that's close enough."Said Payne: "If he had been a Kentucky-bred, she (Siegel) probably would have gone a little further. She doesn't run in Florida. She has horses in Kentucky, New York, and California. And if she'd been here at the sale, she probably would have gone further."Siegel, who had been at the auction earlier in the day, was sitting on an jet at BWI when the colt came into the ring, according to Payne.Consigned by Summerfield, as agent for breeder Lynne deK Russo, the colt is the first foal produced from the 5-year-old unraced Dehere mare Minister Abbey, who is a half-sister to Louisiana Downs Handicap (gr. III) winner Gallant Archer (by Nijinsky II). The colt was bought back for $95,000 when offered this past July at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's select yearling auction.
