SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A $2.4 million colt by five-time reigning leading sire Into Mischief topped a powerhouse Tuesday session at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale as the 103rd edition of the boutique auction smashed its records across the board. “Remarkable two nights of selling horses,” Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning Jr. said. “Just hard to imagine the level of activity, the level of support, the energy, the excitement.” Fasig-Tipton reported shortly after the close of business Tuesday that a total of 154 yearlings had changed hands over two days of activity at its Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion for gross receipts of $82,160,000. At last year’s sale, 154 yearlings sold for a then-record $75,055,000. Both sets of figures include a handful of private sales, conducted on the sale grounds after horses did not meet their reserve in the ring. This week’s figures are for yearlings only and do not include the $510,000 sale of a share in leading freshman and juvenile sire Complexity on Tuesday night. Led by the $3.4 million Not This Time colt who topped Monday’s opening session and, ultimately, the sale overall, and the $2.4 million Into Mischief colt who led the way Tuesday and finished as the second-highest price overall, a total of 12 juveniles sold for seven-figure prices at the Saratoga selected sale. Ten horses reached that threshold last year. Moreover, competition was fierce at the top. The top two prices of the 2023 sale were a $4 million son of Hall of Famers Curlin and Beholder and a $3.2 million Into Mischief colt, but no other horses sold for more than $1.5 million. This week, five horses sold for more than $1.5 million. Bolstered by those top lots, the cumulative average price for this sale was a record $533,506, rising 9 percent from the previous mark of $487,370 established last year. The median was $425,000. That bettered by 13 percent the previous record of $375,000 set in 2022 and matched in 2023. The buyback rate through the ring, prior to any of the private sales, was 21 percent, against the comparable figure of 26 percent. Buyers served notice early on that Tuesday’s session was going to be a hotly contested affair, as the first three horses through the ring sold for $975,000, $1.5 million, and $900,000. On Monday, it took until the 25th horse through the ring before one changed hands for seven figures. “It was great competition throughout,” Browning said. “That momentum carried throughout the entire evening, but the reason the momentum carried was because of the quality of horses. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The success of the sale is completely dependent upon the quality of horses that our consignors give us the opportunity to sell. And we felt very confident coming here this year that the quality of horses in this catalog was the best we’ve ever had, and I think the buyers proved us right.” The robust activity came on an improved day for Wall Street. Monday’s opening session of the Fasig-Tipton sale took place on a turbulent day for the U.S. stock markets, as three major indexes – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq composite – all dropped. The Dow and S&P 500 each recorded their biggest daily percentage loss since 2022. On Tuesday, the Dow rose 0.8 percent from the day prior, while the other two indexes both gained 1 percent. The gains were not enough to recover all the losses from Monday, but the upward trend was welcomed. Still, Browning had said he was not worried about the stock market’s performance in regards to this boutique sale. “I think our world’s gotten used to a little volatility, particularly in the markets,” he said. “And a lot of the people that are participating, particularly at the upper end of the market, are a little bit more immune to fluctuations, but they’re also used to fluctuation.” As Browning noted, buyers at the upper end of the market are more insulated from the economic concerns that play a larger role in the middle and lower markets. That sentiment was echoed by John Stewart, whose Resolute Racing has emerged as one of the leading auction players over the last year. “I think [the market fluctuation] probably has hit a little bit here for some people,” said Stewart, who bought nine yearlings for a total of $9,085,000 this week. “For me, it doesn’t really make a difference in the way I think about these decisions.” In other economic indicators this week, figures distributed by Equibase on the opening day of the sale showed that average wagering and average purse per race for Thoroughbred races at U.S. tracks both dropped marginally for July compared to July 2023. However, a different number of weekend dates in the month contributed to skewing those figures. “Money that’s on offer, with the purse money you can run for, stallions that you can sell, fillies that you can retain and sell [foals] out of, you know, the game is in a great spot,” bloodstock agent Jacob West said of the overall picture of the industry. “I say that because other people say that it’s in a bad spot. I don’t think it is – we're in a great spot. . . . We have great purse structure – we have less horses than we’ve ever had in our industry running for more money than we’ve ever had in our industry.” Marette Farrell signed the ticket on the session-leading Into Mischief colt on behalf of Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner’s Speedway Stables. With industry personality Zoe Cadman standing alongside her, on the phone with the stable principals and signaling her to keep bidding, Farrell slugged it out in increments of $50,000 at a time over the last several moments the colt was in the ring. “I’m still shaking, because I love this horse," Farrell said. “We’re thrilled we got him, hate that we had to pay that kind of money, but he’s a stallion in the making and I really think he’s a fabulous horse. “We absolutely loved this colt,” Farrell continued. “I felt he commanded the room. He was the king. He’s by Into Mischief, who we all know is an amazing stallion.” The colt is out of the stakes-placed Awesome Again mare Sweet Sting, who in turn is out of Eclipse Award champion turf mare Perfect Sting. The latter also is the dam of Grade 3 winner Smart Sting and Grade 2-placed Perfect Bullet. The colt was bred by the late Marty Wygod, who died in April at age 84, and his wife, Pamela Wygod, in Kentucky. He was consigned by Lane’s End, as agent for Pamela Wygod and the Wygod Family Revocable Trust. Representing the family at the sale on Tuesday was their daughter Emily Bushnell. “We’re totally overwhelmed,” Bushnell said. “He came up, he was super professional, he did the right thing every step of the way. Just happy that so many people really liked him as well. Hopefully, he’ll show us all how tough he is on the racetrack, also.” :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  Farrell was complimentary to both the Wygods’ breeding program and to the role Lane’s End played in raising and preparing the colt. “Very good breeders, very good consignors, was raised at an amazing farm in Lane’s End, very good land,” Farrell said. “We love all the connections. We love to honor Marty Wygod and to have bought a really good horse [from his program] because he was such a big supporter of our Thoroughbred business.” Lane’s End also consigned, as agent, the night’s second-highest priced horse, a $1.9 million Gun Runner colt who tied for the third-highest price of the sale overall when he was purchased by the partnership of Coolmore and White Birch Farm. The colt, who was bred by Summer Wind Equine, is from the immediate family of champion Rahy’s Attorney and fellow Grade 1 winners Angela Renee, Mozu Ascot, and To Honor and Serve. Overall, Lane’s End sold three seven-figure horses. “The confidence was instilled in us early on up here, just because of the amount of traffic that’s been here,” said Allaire Ryan, director of sales for Lane’s End. “We have been busier than I think I ever remember being up here, and credit to the sale company for putting together a great catalog, and just the fact that this sale has such an excellent reputation.” Along with the $3.4 million Not This Time colt, the $2.4 million Into Mischief colt, and the $1.9 million Gun Runner colt, the Saratoga sale’s seven-figure yearlings were a $1.9 million Curlin filly out of stakes winner Matera, purchased by West Bloodstock as agent for Robert and Lawana Low; a $1.7 million Gun Runner half-brother to Grade 1 winner Leofric, purchased by Resolute; a $1.5 million Gun Runner filly out of Grade 1 winner Pure Clan, purchased by Whisper Hill Farm; a $1.5 million Tapit colt out of Grade 2 winner Mopotism, purchased under the stable name of Flying Dutchmen; a $1.5 million first-crop Charlatan half-brother to Complexity, purchased by Resolute; a $1.2 million Ghostzapper filly, purchased by Resolute; a $1 million Into Mischief colt, purchased by Grandview Equine; a $1 million Justify colt, purchased by Godolphin; and a $1 million Into Mischief colt, purchased by Coolmore and White Birch. 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