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Sheikh Mohammed's return fuels Saratoga rise

Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:20 AM

SESSION TOPPER: MEDAGLIA D'ORO FILLY

PhotosByZ.com

by John P. Sparkman

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum returned to the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings for the first time in more than 20 years on Monday night, and his ravenous appetite for racing prospects helped push the average price to the highest level since the record year of 2001.

With 76 horses sold for $25,470,000 (up 40.3%), average rose to $335,132. While that remained well below the record average for the sale as a whole of $385,259 set in 2001, it was a 10.7% increase over the same session in 2008. The buy-back rate remained relatively low at 28.3%.

With the ruler of Dubai at his side, John Ferguson, the Sheikh's principal bloodstock agent, signed the ticket on the three highest-priced horses of the night, a filly by Medaglia d'Oro and two colts by Bernardini. Both sires now stand at Sheikh Mohammed's Darley in Lexington.

Ferguson outbid Charlotte Weber of Live Oak Stud at $1.5-million for the Medaglia d'Oro filly out of Cat Dancer, by Storm Cat, consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.

“She was a beautiful filly,” Ferguson said. “She floated along the ground. What do you need to say about Medaglia d’Oro fillies, and of course, the colts are doing it now, too.”

Ferguson purchased the sale-topping Medaglia d'Oro colt at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale of selected two-year-olds in training, and, under the name of Al Zir, he won his first start impressively last week.

“So you have one of those in the stable, you have the stallion, and you walk in here and see a filly like her, and you stretch," Ferguson said. "And at $1.5-million we were stretched.”

“When I looked at her in the spring out at Stonewall, I thought she might bring $400,000 or $500,000, but I didn't know, of course, what Rachel Alexandra and those other fillies were going to do,” said Mark Taylor of Taylor Made. “When she first got here, I thought maybe $750,000. But Rachel Alexandra has proved herself to be one for the ages, so she brings $1.5-million.”

Ferguson outlasted a persistent Nick Zito, bidding for Robert LaPenta, at $1.3-million for a Bernardini colt, the first foal out of champion Bird Town, a half sister to Belmont Stakes (G1) winner and classic sire Birdstone. Zito trained both Bird Town and Birdstone for the top-priced colt's breeder, Marylou Whitney.

“Just a champion racemare, winner of the Kentucky Oaks (G1),” Ferguson said. “Obviously, a sister to the sire of the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont [Stakes] (G1) winner.

“Those kinds of horses as we all know, if you end up having a racehorse that wins a top graded stake like that, with Birdstone high up in the pedigree, they are worth a great deal of money. So, therefore, yes it’s a lot of money to give for a horse, but there’s a little bit more logic to it when there’s a stallion of that caliber right up there in the pedigree. And this colt is a very athletic horse from a family that’s done very well.”

“It's not very often that you get a colt of that caliber and that pedigree that comes on the market,” said Neil Howard, of consignor Gainesway, agent. “Mrs. Whitney has put that family together over the years, so we're really happy for her.”

Led by Ferguson's six for $5,500,000, foreign-based buyers purchased at least 27 horses for $11,595,000, 45.5% of the total proceeds for the evening. At the 2008 Saratoga select sale, foreign-based buyers accounted for only about 20% of total receipts, according to Fasig-Tipton officials.

“We had good horses,” said Walt Robertson, Fasig-Tipton's chairman and chief auctioneer. “At the end of the day, that's what it's about. We had some blockbusters.

“We had the kind of horses that Sheikh Mohammed liked. We're happy that he participated at the level he participated, but we had several European buyers here. We worked hard to get them here and they bought.”

“You've got to have quality horses to have quality buyers,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning added. “No matter how good the facilities, no matter how good the racing, you have to have the horses. Our consignors really supported us this year and had faith in us.”

The sale continues at 6 p.m. EDT on Tuesday at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, New York.

John P. Sparkman is bloodstock editor of THOROUGHBRED TIMES and author of Foundation Mares. More of his work can be viewed at http://pedigreecurmudgeon.blogspot.com.