LEXINGTON, Ky. – Stakes winners Front Run the Fed and Stilleto Boy, both of whom brought recent form to the sales pavilion, sold for $440,000 and $420,000, respectively, to lead the way as Fasig-Tipton offered an eclectic group of horses to kick off its July sales at its Newtown Paddocks headquarters. Fasig-Tipton opens the North American yearling marketplace with its Kentucky July auction on Tuesday. Accompanying that sale since 2013 has been the July horses of racing age sale, a market destination that has grown in scope and popularity since its inception. This year was no exception, with Front Run the Fed and Stilleto Boy leading the way Monday as the sale posted double-digit year-to-year gains in average and median. This year, Fasig-Tipton added a breeding stock sale section to the auction, which also took place Monday. The horses of racing age session finished with 79 horses sold for gross receipts of $5,905,500. At last year's sale, which was a stand-alone event as Fasig-Tipton was forced to scuttle its summer yearling sales due to the coronavirus pandemic, 81 horses sold for $5,072,000. The session's average price was $74,753, rising 19 percent from $62,617 last year. The median was $50,000, spiking 67 percent from $30,000. The buyback rate also improved, finishing at 25 percent after checking in at 32 percent last year. "A very active market, very, very, very competitive bidding throughout the day," Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. "Lots of good commerce and good trade. . . . It was not crazy; I don't think there were any prices where people said, 'Oh my God, the horse sold for double what we thought it would.' But [it felt like] vibrant trade." Front Run the Fed was purchased by George Sharp from the consignment of Elite Sales, as agent. The owner, who bid sitting alongside his trainer, Caio Caramori, said he would have gone as high as $500,000 for the horse. "I got tired of being outbid," said Sharp, an Arizona resident who races in various locales. "I want to go to the Breeders' Cup this year. I've got some nice 2-year-old fillies I think I'll get there with, but this one is hopefully, certainly, going to get me there." Sharp, who said he was seriously interested in 10 to 12 racehorses at the sale, ultimately made the single sale-topping purchase, describing a competitive marketplace. "There was some crazy pricing today," he said. Front Run the Fed won four times from his 13 outings for Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown, earning $392,150. The 5-year-old son of Fed Biz won the 2019 Better Talk Now Stakes going a mile at Saratoga and then finished second in the English Channel Stakes at Belmont. Last year, he emerged as a solid turf sprinter when shortened in distance. He finished second, beaten a neck by divisional standout Imprimis, in the Grade 3 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs. Off that effort, he went to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland and was beaten just 2 1/2 lengths while sixth in the full field. Front Red the Fed has started twice this year at Belmont and came into this week's sale with recent graded form. He finished second, beaten a head by subsequent Grade 1 winner Casa Creed, in the Elusive Quality Stakes off a layoff of nearly six months. He most recently finished third behind Grade 1 winners Oleksandra and Raging Bull in the Grade 3 Poker Stakes on June 20. "He's a champ," Sharp said. "He was the best horse in the sale, bar none, in terms of performance. . . . [And he] vetted out perfectly, and it showed in the price he brought. So we're pretty happy. A little nervous, but pretty happy." Sharp said Front Run the Fed, who will be trained by Caramori, may race at Del Mar, the site of the 2021 Breeders' Cup, during its upcoming summer meeting, but he will "almost certainly" target the rich September meeting at Kentucky Downs with the horse, who has form over the course. The Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint will be contested on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Front Run the Fed, an intact horse, is out of the winning Posse mare Lawless Miss, dam of two winners from as many starters. Lawless Miss, a half-sister to stakes-placed Unbridled Tale, is from the family of Grade 1 winner Jackson Bend, as well as graded stakes winners Fort Loudon and Lottsa Talc. Stilleto Boy, last-out winner of the Iowa Derby, was purchased by Steve Moger, bidding through Fasig-Tipton's online platform unveiled last year during the pandemic and now integrated into all of the company's live auctions. The 3-year-old Shackleford gelding, a May foal, is bound for the barn of Moger's brother, Ed Moger Jr., during the summer meeting at Del Mar. Stilleto Boy, a May foal, was bred in Kentucky by John and Iveta Kerber, and raced for those breeders, in partnership with trainer Doug Anderson, Michael Coleman, and Aaron Kennedy. He was being sold at public auction to dissolve that partnership, and was consigned at Fasig-Tipton by Paramount Sales, as agent. Stilleto Boy has won twice from seven outings to date, only once finishing worse than third, for earnings of $249,675. He finished fourth in the Prairie Mile Stakes in June in his stakes debut for that only unplaced outing. He then rebounded with a 4 1/4-length, front-running win in the Iowa Derby on July 2. Preceding the horses of racing age sale was the new section of broodmares and broodmare prospects, led by stakes winner Jeweled Princess, who sold for a healthy $225,000. The addition of a breeding stock component to the July sale was conceived when a partnership supporting the young stallion Far From Over – whose sudden death following a seizure was announced on the eve of this sale – elected to disperse its holdings. Fasig-Tipton provided a platform to quickly sell their broodmares that had supported the stallion, some of those with foals at heel, rather than waiting for the traditional November mixed sales. With the dispersal, which ultimately accounted for 15 broodmares through the ring, secured, Fasig-Tipton then opened the catalog to additional broodmares or broodmare prospects. In the span of about two hours on Monday, 44 mares were sold, with just seven other horses through the ring failing to meet their respective reserves, a buyback rate of just 14 percent. They accounted for gross receipts of $2,012,000. The average price was $45,727, with a median of $31,000. "I thought it was really interesting," Browning said, adding that ultimately his own predictions "missed the market" somewhat. "I was really surprised with how well some of the in-foal mares sold that weren't part of the dispersal, and how well broodmare prospects sold. I was probably a little surprised that some of the mares with foals at their side didn't bring a little bit more money." Jeweled Princess was purchased by the Stoneriggs Farm of Florida businessman Robert Slack to lead the catalog. Earlier this year, Slack purchased the former Kilflynn Farm, once part of Stone Farm, in Paris, Ky., and renamed it Stoneriggs. Jeweled Princess, a 4-year-old daughter of Cairo Prince, was consigned by Gainesway, as agent. She sold carrying her first foal, to the cover of Horse of the Year Gun Runner, the leading freshman sire by earnings through Sunday. Gun Runner is represented by seven individual winners to date, including stakes-placed Wicked Halo. "It seems like if you have something of quality, and in foal to a quality horse – [Gun Runner is] top of the first-crop sires right now – they're gonna buy them, and I don't think it matters whether it's now or in November," Gainesway's Brian Graves said. "They're gonna buy them." Jeweled Princess, trained by Ken McPeek for Walking L Thoroughbreds, won 4 of 15 career starts for earnings of $216,276, with all four of those wins coming last year as a 3-year-old. She wrapped up that productive campaign with a game victory in the She's All In Stakes in December at Remington Park, rallying along the inside to win by a head. Jeweled Princess was unplaced in two stakes starts in the first quarter of this year before being bred to Gun Runner in April.  Jeweled Princess is out of the winning Scat Daddy mare Jersey Jules, a half-sister to stakes winner Miss Brazil, Grade 2-placed Hammers Vision, and stakes-placed First Goal. Champion Military Attack appears on the catalog page, along with fellow Grade/Group 1 winners Al Bahathri, Gladiatorus, Spanish Fern, and The Hangman. Fasig-Tipton said prior to this sale that it would use the auction as a barometer to evaluate the viability of selling breeding stock in July going forward. Browning said it is too early to consider the prospects for 2022 and beyond. "We haven't gotten to that stage yet," he said. For hip-by-hip results for Monday's horses of racing age sale, click here. For complete results from the breeding stock section, click here. The Fasig-Tipton July sale's yearling session begins at 10 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday.