‘Proof of Concept’: 2-Year-Olds in Training Added to Fasig-Tipton February Digital Line-Up

[Wandering Eyes]

The Fasig-Tipton February Digital Sale, which runs from Feb. 20-25, will include the company's first online sale of 2-year-olds in training. The boutique offering of 16 juveniles, presented with gallop videos, but no timed workouts, are a “proof of concept,” according to Fasig-Tipton's Director of Digital Sales Leif Aaron.

“It felt like there was a large enough segment of the market that wanted to see more of an untimed sort of 2-year-old sale, so we felt the digital platform would be the perfect opportunity to provide those buyers with that product,” Aaron explained.

As an example of that demand, Aaron pointed to the results of the Lothenbach dispersal which was part of last year's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March sale. The group, only offered after the sudden death of Bob Lothenbach the previous November, all galloped up to the auction. D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and C J Stables teamed up to buy the top-priced offering of the dispersal at that auction, the $1.2-million Sandman (Tapit), who is now on the Kentucky Derby trail after his troubled runner-up effort in the Jan. 25 GIII Southwest Stakes.

Sandman before selling at OBS in 2024 | Photos by Z

Fasig-Tipton officials made the deliberate decision to start their first 2-year-old digital sale off with a small number of offerings.

“We didn't make the entry process public or tell people that we were even doing this,” Aaron said. “We reached out to some of our core clientele and said this is what we are thinking about doing, would you be interested in trying it. We wanted this to really be a well-curated, hand-holding process, so that people felt very comfortable in the buying process. It is very similar to how we started the whole digital platform. We started off small and we are going to try to grow it slowly, not too much at once. We don't want expectations blown through the roof.”

Aaron said it was left to the consignor's discretion which horses to offer at the digital auction.

“We left that totally up to our consignors, the only rule is that nothing is timed,” he said. “We let them choose what they thought worked best. For us never having conducted a sale like this, it would have been silly to say this is what we want. We don't know what is going to work.”

Of the 16 initial offerings, Aaron said, “There is sire power in there from leading consignors year in and year out. It's a good representation for this, what I am calling, just a proof of concept because that's kind of what I think it is.”

While there will be no timed workouts up on the Fasig-Tipton website when the catalogue is unveiled Thursday at noon, there will still be plenty of information for potential buyers.

“They can expect to see good gallop videos, walking videos, conformation shots,” Aaron said. “I haven't seen all of them so far, but some of them that I have seen have shown how the horse is getting tacked up, how the horse is in the barn. And to be honest, it might be a little more information than you would normally get from a 2-year-old sale, some things you might not see. That's what we are starting with.”

Leif Aaron | Fasig-Tipton

Looking ahead to possible additions, Aaron said, “We love the idea in the future of putting a camera on a jockey, putting a microphone on a jockey. Who knows? There are different things that we would like to do in the future. We just have to see if this is going to work or not. That's the bottom line. We are going to make sure the horses are very well-represented and that we have the right buyers in line to come see them.”

In addition to the media available on each horse, buyers will also have access to typical vet reports.

“Vet reports will be available to registered bidders just like a normal digital sale,” Aaron said. “We will also have the repository available, just like a traditional sale. All the horses will be available for inspection before the sale. Registered bidders will find contact information for the consignors on the website.”

The Fasig-Tipton digital platform conducts auctions monthly, but Aaron is not yet ready to commit to having a 2-year-olds in training portion at any upcoming sales.

“I think it's more than anything figuring out what the market wants right now and trying to serve our clients every way we can,” Aaron said. “And that's exactly the stance we took with digital in the beginning and I think that's exactly the kind of stance that needs to happen with 2-year-old sales. It's the first sale of its kind where you are saying, there are no timed breezes, so let's see how the environment reacts to that.”

The traditional 2-year-old in training sales season begins in Ocala in March and will include Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's May sale.

“We are still committed to the timed in-person 2-year-old sales, the brick and mortar ones, we absolutely are,” Aaron said. “This [digital sale] is just serving a segment of the market that has not been served yet and seeing if it can get legs. We are excited about it. We are excited to see how it goes.”

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