ONCE again it was a night of highlights as Fasig-Tipton kicked off the November sale season in Kentucky. Though this year’s catalogue was smaller than that of 12 months ago, it produced an almost identical turnover, again in excess of $100 million, and an average and median that were both well ahead of their corresponding figures in 2022.

Gamine’s sale for $7 million to M.V. Magnier was the highlight last time, while this year’s high of $6 million was reached twice, firstly by Nest (Curlin) and then by the weekend’s Breeders’ Cup winner Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper).

Both of the sale-toppers were Eclipse champions in 2022, and Goodnight Olive looks certain to add another to her impressive roll of honour. They were the stars on an evening when 10 lots sold for $3 million or more, and the turnover grossed in excess of $100,000,000 for the third consecutive year.

Remarkable evening

“Just another remarkable evening of horse sales, literally from start to finish,” said Fasig-Tipton’s president Boyd Browning. “We had a wonderful collection of horses here on the sales grounds. You could feel the energy building since Sunday. I’m blown away that we grossed over $100,000,000 again this year. It’s remarkable, beyond our wildest expectations.”

Nest, last year’s Eclipse champion three-year-old filly, was the first of the joint sale-toppers through the ring when offered from Highgate Sales. Mike Repole had the final say at $6,000,000 to secure the four-year-old daughter of Curlin, whom he previously campaigned with co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and trainer Todd Pletcher.

A six-time graded stakes winner at two and three, Nest’s championship campaign included three victories at the top level, in the Alabama Stakes, Ashland Stakes and Coaching Club American Oaks. Repole intends to race Nest again in 2024.

In addition to a superlative race record, Nest’s pedigree is also a standout. One of three stakes winners from the A.P. Indy mare Marion Ravenwood, she is a full-sister to the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby winner Idol, and a half-sister to the recent Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes winner Lost Ark. Marion Ravenwood is herself a stakes-winning daughter of the Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed Andujar.

Goodnight Olive

The reigning Eclipse champion female sprinter Goodnight Olive, fresh from a successful defence of her Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint title on Saturday at Santa Anita, matched the top price when offered by ELiTE. Gavin O’Connor, acting for John Stewart, signed the $6,000,000 ticket for the five-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper.

Campaigned for First Row Partners and Team Hanley by Chad Brown, Goodnight Olive won or placed in all 12 of her career starts to date, with nine victories and earnings of $2,196,200. Her resume includes four Grade 1 victories, and in addition to back-to-back victories at the Breeders’ Cup, she won last year’s Ballerina Handicap and this year’s Madison Stakes.

O’Connor and financier Stewart, prolific buyers at the sale with seven purchases for a total of $13,350,000, doubled the $6 million they spent on Goodnight Olive with a pair of $3 million purchases, both within minutes of each other.

Again buying from the ELiTE draft, they secured the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock), and she was sold in foal for the first time to the multiple champion US sire Into Mischief.

Pour Moi

Also runner-up in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at two and placed in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes last year, Pizza Bianca is out of the unraced Galileo mare White Hot, a half-sister to the Derby winner Pour Moi, Gagnoa who was placed in the French and Irish Oaks, and a full-sister to Group 3 winner Dawn Patrol who was placed in the Irish Derby.

Also on the O’Connor and Stewart buying list at $3,000,000 was one of the first mares sold in foal to the unbeaten Horse of the Year, Flightline. The 10-year-old Queen Caroline (Blame) was a multiple stakes winner, but her principal attraction was the fact that her first produce is Forte, last year’s champion juvenile with three Grade 1 wins, and he recorded a fourth this year with success in the Florida Derby.

Japanese spending millions on broodmares

NARVICK International’s Emmanuel de Seroux was acting for Japan’s Grand Stud when signing for the French Group 1 winner Sauterne (Kingman), offered for sale through Nicky Drion Thoroughbreds, when the gavel fell at $4,200,000.

The three-year-old has obvious appeal to the Japanese, as her dam is an unraced half-sister to the six-time Group and Grade 1 winner Stacelita. That mare bred the dual champion and Japanese Oaks winner Soul Stirring, and is grandam of last year’s Oaks winner and Japanese champion, Stars On Earth.

De Seroux said: “She has a fantastic pedigree, is beautiful, and she was a great racehorse. Her form is outstanding.” The decision to retain Sauterne at the Goffs London Sale in June was vindicated when she went on to capture the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.

Grand Stud will also be home to the Grade 1 winner And Tell Me Nolies (Arrogate). She is the best of seven winners out of a graded stakes-winning half-sister to Macho Again. De Seroux again signed the buyer’s docket for her at $2,300,000.

Yoshida’s purchases

Katsumi Yoshida made his presence felt with the purchase of Search Results (Flatter) for $3,600,000, and Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief) for $3,200,000. They were among a trio of seven-figure purchases by Shingo Hashimoto on behalf of the owner of Northern Farm.

Grade 1 winner Search Results was yet another from the ELiTE draft, and the five-year-old won the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at three and finished runner-up in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. She won almost $2 million during a career that saw her place many times at the highest level.

That sale came minutes before Hashimoto struck again, this time for the champion juvenile filly Wonder Wheel, successful last year in the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She now joins the broodmare band at Northern Farm as the winner of $1.6 million. Also featuring on Yoshida’s buying list was Armony’s Angel (To Honor and Serve), and she cost $1,800,000 and was sold in foal to Gun Runner. Armony’s Angel is the dam of this year’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby winner Angel Of Empire.

Rare Godolphin purchase made

BETTER known as major buyers in the yearling market, Godolphin made a couple of rare forays into the market for a proven performer, and spent $4,000,000 to secure the Grade 1 winner Faiza (Girvin) for their broodmare band.

Michael Banahan explained the purchase and said: “She was a very good racehorse and had a lot of quality about her” This was the third time the sales company sold Faiza, obtaining $90,000 for her as a yearling, $725,000 as a Fasig Midlantic juvenile, and now as a proven runner.

Her headline successes came in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes and the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks. The filly’s dam, the Grade 1-placed Sweet Pistol (Smart Strike), was purchased for only $33,000 by Brereton Jones in 2016.

Secret Oath (Arrogate), successful in last year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, led the purchases made by Spendthrift Farm after selling for $3,000,000. The farm’s Ned Toffey indicated afterwards that she will visit Into Mischief. “She’s a really special mare and we need to get that kind,” he said, while also suggesting that they might have paid more for her.

Spendthrift also secured the graded stakes winner Travel Column (Frosted) for $2,000,000, and gave the same amount for another graded stakes winner Merneith (American Pharoah), in foal to Flightline. DM Racing Ventures completed the list of $3,000,000 purchases, paying that mount for Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Moira (Ghostzapper). The Canadian Horse of the Year, who ran third at the weekend in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, won the Queen’s Plate last year over colts.