Written July 9th in the TDN By Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis
LEXINGTON, KY–It was a lively afternoon of trade at Newtown Paddocks Monday with another strong renewal of the Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale.
“It was a very successful day,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said of the sale’s sixth edition. “I thought horses sold very fairly. Consignors and buyers were both happy with the level of commerce that took place. We had a really interesting catalogue, lots of horses with lots of appeal both domestically and internationally. It really helps when you have consignments from racing operations like Stonestreet, WinStar, the Phippses/Claiborne were new this year. We saw ELiTE’s introduction to the marketplace last year, which has certainly added a jolt of energy. They raised the bar in the horses of racing age sale arena.”
A total of 100 horses traded hands for a gross of $9,318,000, compared to last year when 84 Thoroughbreds brought $8,083,000. The average was down slightly from $96,226 last term to $93,180 and the median also decreased a bit, from $56,000 to $50,000 this term. There were 19 horses who failed to meet their reserves, four more than last year.
The evening was topped by stakes winner My Miss Tapit (Tapit) (hip 485), who recently finished third in the GII Princess Rooney S. The 4-year-old filly was purchased by Breeze Easy and was consigned by relative newcomers ELiTE Sales, which made its debut as the leading consignor at last year’s Fasig July HORA Sale and followed up again as leading seller in 2018.
“It was fun to come back for year two,” ELiTE founder and president Brad Weisbord said. “Year one we had a lot of pressure and obviously, when it works, you have a lot to live up to and this year we have the topper. I want to give a lot of credit to my partner Liz Crow. She recruited Blazen Betsy (Speightstown) (hip 412), who brought $325,000. Who would have thought a filly could bring that money out of Thistledown? But, she’s fast and pretty and by Speightstown.”
In total, ELiTE sold 13 of its 17 horses for a total of $2.53 million.
“It was a fantastic night,” Weisbord said. “We are so lucky to be in this position. We have a concept we thought would be unique. We believe we know this product of racehorses better than everybody else. We have hundreds of racehorses under management and we stare at speed figures every day. This is exactly what we do.”
He continued, “We are thankful Fasig-Tipton puts on horses of racing age sales and we are super thankful for Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown, who are big supporters, Todd selling My Miss Tapit and Chad selling seven with us. Also thankful to their owners, Seth Klarman, Bill Mathis, Sol Kumin and Mike Dubb, some of whom support us in our daily program.”
The second-highest priced horse of the day was a late addition to the sale, the 3-year-old filly Alter Moon (Alternation) (hip 574), who sold to bloodstock agent Steve Young for $675,000. Consigned by Taylor Made, she scored an impressive victory in the Azalea S., becoming the first stakes winner for her sophomore sire, on the same day as My Miss Tapit’s effort in the Princess Rooney. A total of 10 horses sold for $200,000 or more to 10 individual entities.
Selling continues Tuesday at Newtown Paddocks with the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale beginning at 10 a.m.
My Miss Tapit Breezes Through July Sale
My Miss Tapit (Tapit), fresh off a third-place finish in the GII Princess Rooney S., will be staying in the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, but will make her next start in the colors of Sam Ross and Mike Hall’s Breeze Easy after the operation purchased the 4-year-old filly for $700,000 during Monday’s Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age Sale.
“They are looking for racehorses and she’s a racehorse,” said Breeze Easy advisor Randy Hartley. “They thought she was a beautiful filly and she was one of the top horses here. We’re also building a broodmare band. We have 27 mares now and we are breeding to all the best we can get to and we’re trying to buy the best.”
Bred by Gainesway, My Miss Tapit (hip 485) was purchased by Pletcher on behalf of Bill Mathis’s Mathis Stable for $550,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September sale. The filly was catalogued in last year’s July sale, but was withdrawn and made three additional starts for the Mathis family, finishing fifth in the GIII Monmouth Oaks last summer and winning an optional claimer at Gulfstream Park in April. She finished third behind Stormy Embrace (Circular Quay) in the June 30 Princess Rooney. Runner-up that day was Rich Mommy (Algorithms) who RNA’d for $495,000 during Monday’s sale.
My Miss Tapit is out of graded stakes winner Sindy With An S (Broken Vow) and she is a full-sister to graded stakes placed I’ll Wrap It Up and Rattataptap. She was consigned to Monday’s sale by Elite.
“She is going to stay in training,” Hartley confirmed. “She’s going to go back to Todd because there is no sense is starting over. They are going to head to Saratoga and try to have some fun up there. They don’t have a lot of racehorses, they have a few 2-year-olds, but we are trying to build a broader stable and get more horses across-the-board, different distances and older horses. Sometimes it’s hard to develop that, but this was here now.”
Hartley said the West Virginia-based Ross had called a last-minute audible to come to the July sale.
“[Ross] wasn’t supposed to come to this sale,” Hartley said with a laugh. “He drove up here yesterday and he studied this thing like crazy. He loves it.”
Breeze Easy purchased the top-priced yearling at Fasig-Tipton’s July sale two years ago, going to $475,000 to acquire a colt by Curlin. They reoffered the youngster at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale where he sold for $1.5 million. Racing in partnership with Breeze Easy and John Oxley, Curlin’s Honor is a stakes winner and came up a neck short of Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) when second in the Paradise Creek S. at Belmont Park.
Breeze Easy enjoyed international success when Shang Shang Shang (Shanghai Bobby) won the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot.
Shang Shang Shang was purchased by Susan Montanye on behalf of Bill Heiligbrodt’s East Hickman Bloodstock for $110,000 at the 2017 OBS January sale and Breeze Easy purchased the youngster for $200,000 at this year’s OBS March sale.
“That was one of those things that was just meant to be,” Hartley said of Breeze Easy’s acquisition of Shang Shang Shang, who was bred by Lorenzo Del Giudice. Del Giudice owns Roma Restaurant in Ocala.
“We knew the foal from a baby,” Hartley said. “Mike [Hall] tried to buy her as a yearling because Lorenzo will never let them buy dinner there. So he said, ‘I’ll bid on your horse.’ He bid $100,000 and then Susan, our breeze rider who rides for us, bought her. They still liked her as 2-year-old and we just walked up there and he bought her. So it was just meant to be for them to have that horse.” —@JessMartiniTDN
