With apologies to Thomas Wolfe, this year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of New York-bred yearlings proved that you can, indeed, go home again. Absent from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 2020 because of the coronavirus, the sale returned this year, recording gains in all metrics.

Sellers of New York-bred horses last year were forced to set up shop elsewhere, as Fasig-Tipton incorporated the annual, dedicated sale into a kind of omnibus yearling sale held in Kentucky last September, a month later than those horses would ordinarily sell. An additional cohort of New York-bred yearlings was scheduled to be offered at the Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale in October, but that, too, was cancelled.

The two-day sale on Aug. 15 and 16 compared favorably to the totals from 2019. Gross receipts rose 14% to $18,556,500 from $16,200,000, with the average price rising nearly 6%, from $87,097 to $92,172. The median price of a yearling rose nearly 17% from $60,000 to $70,000, while RNAs dropped 29%, to 57 head from 80 two years ago. 

Consignors, breeders, sales executives, and buyers all expressed relief and happiness that the sale had returned to its rightful home. 

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