Fasig Tipton July thoughts

BEC Bloodstock wound up sellers as opposed to our usual role as buyers at the recently concluded July yearling sale at Fasig Tipton in Lexington, Kentucky. We bred hip number #130, a filly by Medallist out of Traipse and consigned her through Highclere sales. She made a great appearance and brought a high bid of $90000 from Matthew Budden. Considering she was out of a mare we bought for $4000 and was bred on a $8000 stud fee, we were pleased with the final result.

I was not that thrilled with the pedigrees available in this book and even though we rarely buy much at this sale, I was not that excited by the prospects that I saw. The first year stallions that get so much attention were in my opinion not that exciting. I was surprised to see horses by Eurosilver sell so well. I saw lots of his weanlings at the winter sales and wasn't really impressed nor was most of the others I spoke too. Maybe they are later developers but I remain skeptical about the prospect of him becoming a good sire. What was really interesting was that most of the higher priced Eurosilvers weren't purchased by pinhookers but by racing operations.

Brian Graves hit another weanling to yearling pinooking homerun with hip #145 a yearling colt by Unforgettable Max. Graves seemingly does it every year and it is not like he is doing it with bulk purchases.

I think that way too much is made of market trends after one session or sale. Obviously the rough economy is going to affect the market in some way, shape or form. The next sale at Saratoga is not really a great indicator either because it is really the type of sale where most of the buyers are insulated from economic trends for the most part. Or in other words, the main buyers at this sale are too rich to worry much about the economy at least when it comes to their horse purchases. The real test, and for buyers opportunity, will be in the middle books of the Keeneland September sale. While the buyers may still have a lot of disposable income, many of the sellers are feeling the affects of the economy and as a result may be more reluctant to put high reserves or be willing to try the two year old sales or race if they don't get their price. Buyers will still have to fight for the AP Indy's and Distorted Humor's but the so-called "middle market" may be weaker than usual as sellers simply cut their losses in many cases. Though there will still be plenty of people looking to buy horses especially foreigners, the incidence of bidding against the reserve as opposed to actual "live" bidders may be lessened which makes for a much better buying atmosphere.

I am looking forward to the Saratoga sales and really interested in what Keeneland is going to look like as the rumors are that the sale is expanding once again. The more books, the more horses, the better in my view.

This is from the Racing post (UK) about the july sale. The last paragraph tells of the buyer who bought my filly.

"Also making a visit to the sale was Matthew Budden of Elite Racing. He paid $90,000 for a filly by Medallist and $22,000 for a colt by Bernstein"