Record Crusher: Fasig-Tipton October Sale Concludes with Massive Gains

[Wandering Eyes]

LEXINGTON, KY – Demand continued high right to the very end of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, which concluded Thursday in Lexington with new records for gross, average and median. Through four sessions, 1,097 horses sold for $71,843,500, dwarfing the previous record gross of $58,575,500 set just last year. The 2025 auction average of $65,491 eclipsed last year's previous record figure of $52,206, while the median of $30,000 broke the record of $25,000 set in 2022.

“It was a tremendous success,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said of the sale. “There was great interest and great activity on the sales grounds from Saturday until the end of the sale tonight. We are thrilled with the level of activity from various levels. Certainly the top of the market is very strong, but there was tremendous participation throughout. There was dramatic increase in the average, the median and in the gross. And there is a pile of private sales that haven't been processed yet. So there is tremendous post-sale interest on those horses that didn't get sold. It was very, very encouraging. It was a nice way to cap off the 2025 yearling sales with a record-breaking sale by all metrics, and by a large margin in all metrics, as well.”

The October sale was strong right from its outset on Monday, with a colt by Curlin attracting a bid of $900,000–the third highest-priced yearling in the sale's history. By the close of business Thursday, 90 horses had sold for $200,000 or more, up from 69 a year ago.

A filly by Yaupon consigned by Stoneriggs Farm brought the highest price of Thursday's final session when selling for $400,000 to Dixiana Farms.

Thank you for a record-breaking Kentucky October Yearlings sale! @btbrowning recaps #FasigKY. pic.twitter.com/guP9M5rteL

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) October 23, 2025

“We hope the sale continues–and we expect the sale to continue–to produce top-quality racehorses around the world,” Browning said. “If that happens, then we will continue to see continued growth and continued interest in the sale. It's been a pretty significant increase, if you chart the growth of the sale over the last 10 to 15 years and we are thrilled it has certainly solidified its place on the calendar as an important sale for both buyers and sellers alike. All signs are positive.”

'One of the Standouts': $400k Yaupon Filly to Dixiana

With time running out on the yearling sales season, Dixiana Farm manager Robert Tillyer made a $400,000 final bid to secure a filly by Yaupon (hip 1542) for William Shively's operation late in Thursday's final session of the Fasig-Tipton October sale.

“She is by a leading freshman sire and physically we thought she was one of the standouts for fillies in the sale,” Tillyer said. “She just had a beautiful frame and she was a very popular filly. She showed a lot. Every time we saw her, she was just very consistent. She seemed like she was very, very classy and she moved very well.”

Hip 1542 f. YAUPON o/o Ill Will sells for $400,000 at Kentucky October Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: Dixiana Farms
C/Br: Stoneriggs Farm#FasigKY @spendthriftfarm pic.twitter.com/VWmmMW8c6W

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) October 23, 2025

The yearling is the second foal out of Ill Will (Palace Malice). The mare's 2-year-old Reb Five (Vekoma) debuted with a fifth-place effort over the Woodbine turf in the Algonquin Stakes Oct. 5 and returned to graduate by five lengths over the Tapeta Oct. 19 for owner CJ Stables and trainer Mark Casse.

“Obviously, the half-brother just won impressively,” Tillyer said. “Mark Casse ran him in a stakes in his first start, so he thinks a lot of him. He came back and won. We hope he goes on and gets some black-type and long term, we are thinking a broodmare [with the yearling].”

The filly was bred and consigned by Robert Slack's Stoneriggs Farm. Slack claimed Ill Will for $6,250 at Gulfstream in 2021. CJ Stables purchased Reb Five for $50,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

Also this week at Fasig-Tipton, Dixiana purchased a filly by Nyquist (hip 972) for $300,000 and a filly by Not This Time (hip 394) for $260,000.

“We are kind of running out of time,” Tillyer said as the last group of yearlings prepared to go through the sales ring. “It's the last day and we are glad to get her.”

Tapit, Army Mule Colts Complete McPeek's October Haul

Kenny McPeek, who was busy throughout the week at the Fasig-Tipton October sale, purchased two of the six top-priced horses at Thursday's final session of the auction. The trainer went to $370,000 to acquire a colt by Army Mule (hip 1576) late in the day, adding on to the $350,000 he paid for a colt by Tapit (hip 1435) earlier in the session. Through four days, McPeek purchased 19 yearlings for $2,799,000.

Hip 1576 c. ARMY MULE o/o J La Tache sells for $370,000 at Kentucky October Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: @KennyMcPeek, agt
C: Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, agt#FasigKY @HillnDaleFarm pic.twitter.com/pcKQkxGPKB

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) October 23, 2025

Consigned by Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, hip 1576 is out of J La Tache (Harlan's Holiday), a daughter of graded stakes winner Palanka City (Carson City). Purchased by D.R. Investments for $32,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale, the yearling RNA'd for $60,000 at the Fasig-Tipton February sale earlier this year.

Hip 1435, purchased from the Gainesway consignment, is out of multiple graded stakes winner Gamble's Ghost (Ghostzapper).

“For a Tapit, I thought he looked more like a Ghostzapper,” McPeek said of the colt. “And I am a big fan of Deputy Minister. He was inbred to Deputy Minister on the bottom line. I can give you a list of horses that I've handled that have a lot of Deputy Minister in them. The Tapit was just a bonus. I thought the price was quite reasonable.”

Hip 1435 c. TAPIT o/o Gamble's Ghost sells for $350,000 at Kentucky October Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: @KennyMcPeek, agt
C: @Gainesway, agt
Br: Tall Oaks Farm & Tapit Syndicate#FasigKY pic.twitter.com/sbcj5YjqRk

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) October 23, 2025

McPeek, who purchased Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) for $40,000 at the 2022 October sale, also purchased a colt by Liam's Map (hip 610) for $360,000 and a filly by Twirling Candy (hip 692) for $300,000 at the October sale this week.

“We are aggregating as many young horses as we can right now because I historically don't work 2-year-old sales. And so we are trying to get our work done now. We have a lot of great clients that we will be able to put these in front of. [Hip 1435] is probably going to be a partnership between a few different guys. And the dust hasn't settled on ownership on quite a few of them. But my job is to get out here and get them in pocket and worry about that later.”

Of the October market, McPeek said, “It's been very tough in some spots. There are some horses that we really had to pay for that we thought might bring a little more value and there are horses that we feel like we stole. We bought one for $25,000 [hip 1326, a colt by Raging Bull (Fr)]  earlier in the day who I think is a distance grass horse and those are hard for pinhookers to do anything with. But we are patient and we think he will be a really nice horse when he gets the right ground and the right distance.”

Justify Colt a Sharp Purchase

Paul Sharp, bidding on behalf of Joe Novogratz's Novogratz Racing Stable, went to $350,000 to acquire a colt by Justify (hip 1449) from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment Thursday in Lexington.

“We love the sire, obviously,” Sharp said of the yearling's appeal. “There is a lot of potential and a lot of upside for racing.”

Hip 1449 | Fasig-Tipton 

Bred by Fred Hertrich, the colt RNA'd for $225,000 at the Keeneland September sale last month. He is out of the unraced Gin Martini (Speightstown), a half-sister to stakes winner Best of Me (Super Saver) and from the family of Tamarkuz and Without Parole (GB).

Novogratz, involved in racing for some 30 years and a five-time leading owner at Canterbury Park, tasked Sharp with the purchase of a group of quality colts at the October sale.

“We bought a few for them,” Sharp said. “We are trying to target nicer colts. We are just trying to have a good group of colts and hopefully have Grade I winners. That's what we are looking for.”

Also at the October sale, Novogratz acquired a colt by Yaupon (hip 737) for $285,000 and a colt by Jack Christopher (hip 1427) for $275,000. In all, the operation purchased seven yearlings for $1,505,000.

Novogratz Racing Stables has been represented on the track by multiple stakes winner and two-time Grade I-placed Amy's Challenge (Artie Schiller), as well as multiple stakes winner and multiple graded placed Surly Furious (Upstart), but has yet to have graded stakes success.

Wrapping up the yearling sales season which concluded Thursday, Sharp said, “We have done well. We bought quite a few horses for different reasons: pinhooking and racing clients, from top to bottom. And it's been competitive, but I think if you are patient and you pick your spots, you can buy some really quality horses.”

McKinzie Filly Another Score for Estradas

Carlos and Sarah Estrada have a quick answer when asked what they liked about a filly by McKinzie they purchased in a pinhooking partnership for $95,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

“The walk,” Carlos says immediately. “She had a big walk. She was a strong filly. She looked like a colt.”

Returned to the sales ring Thursday at Fasig-Tipton through their C & S Thoroughbreds consignment, the filly (hip 1229) rewarded the couple when selling for $325,000 to Mayberry Farm.

Hip 1229 f. MCKINZIE o/o Cool and Stormy sells for $325,000 at Kentucky October Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: Mayberry Farm
C: C & S Thoroughbreds, agt#FasigKY @Gainesway @CandsTBs pic.twitter.com/235fLHopPV

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) October 23, 2025

The bay filly sold last November without reserve as part of the COLTS, LLC dispersal and was signed for in the name 'No Horses No Life.'

“I picked the name 'No Horses No Life' because what would we be doing without these horses,” Carlos explained.

The filly had been entered in the Keeneland September sale, but never went through the ring.

“We had her in September and her walk wasn't there,” Carlos said. “I think she was lost with all of the horses in there. We just did not feel comfortable, so we scratched her and made the call to take her here.”

The filly has only improved in the interim weeks, according to Sarah.

“She really blossomed in the past month,” she said. “She has put on more body and looked like an even stronger filly than she did in September. She shined here.”

C & S Thoroughbreds concluded its 2025 October sale with another nice result when a filly by Cupid (hip 1256) sold for $40,000 to Jose D'Angelo. The strapping gray had been purchased by Jay Morgeson for $3,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Digital October sale.

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