NY Breeding Spotlight: Sequel New York’s Carlos Manresa

From the windows of his childhood home in Ocala, FL, Carlos Manresa could see J.J. Pletcher’s training facility, and in the mornings, he would look out the back windows to see young Thoroughbreds training. “It’s a very vivid memory that I shared with my dad, which is really special,” said Manresa, sitting outside the Sequel…

Resolute Goes to $1.2M for Ghostzapper Filly

John Stewart’s Resolute Bloodstock got its third seven-figure yearling at Fasig-Tipton’s The Saratoga Sale, going to $1.2 million for a Ghostzapper filly (Hip 147) consigned by Gainesway during the Aug. 6 second session. Payson Stud bred the filly out of the Arch winner Seeking the Blue, who has already produced graded stakes-placed winner Janis Joplin (California Chrome) and stakes-placed…

Not This Time Colt Rockets to $3.4M at Saratoga

With his Churchill Downs suspension having been lifted, trainer Bob Baffert wasted no time in setting his sights on the first Saturday in May. For Zedan Racing, agent Donato Lanni signed a ticket for $3.4 million for Hip 72 after a protracted bidding battle on the first night of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale for a Not This Time colt…

Home Court Advantage for Saratoga New York-bred Sale

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…

“Nothing is normal” For New York-breds And Sales

There’s never a good time for a crisis, but it’s hard to imagine a less convenient time for Covid-19 to have hit the New York racing and breeding industries than mid-March. Mares were foaling and being bred; high-stakes races were on the calendar at Aqueduct; and the popular sales for two-year-olds in training were hitting…

100 Years of Fasig-Tipton Sales in Saratoga

“One of the chief subjects of discussion in the paddock was the sale of yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton company mart last night…”  The Daily Saratogian, Aug. 11, 1917 That time-honored Saratoga tradition began 100 years ago this month, when Fasig-Tipton held its first Thoroughbred sale in Saratoga. Established in 1898 to sell riding and driving…

At Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, Equine Yearlings And Sporting Art

Though several indicators were down from last year in Monday night’s first session of the annual Fasig-Tipton yearling sale, the evening did provide some fireworks, most notably when a half-sister to undefeated champion Songbird by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper brought $800,000, and again towards the end of the night, when a colt sired…