Fasig-Tipton July Sales Conclude with Record-Breaking Horses of Racing Age Results
The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale shattered records Tuesday night when stakes-winning 2-year-old Romeo (Honor A. P.) commanded $1.7 million as the final horse through the ring. Mahmud Mouni secured the juvenile for Tagermeen Racing.
Despite featuring just 70 entries—down from 123 last year—the Horses of Racing Age segment delivered unprecedented results. With only three horses failing to meet reserves, 51 horses sold for $8,037,000, producing a record average of $157,588 and median of $95,000. The average increased 52.7% while the median rose 53.2% from 2023 figures.
“I am not going to say we knew it was going to be this strong, but we knew it was going to be strong,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “We really, really tried to recruit some top-quality horses over the last 60 days.”
The auction delivered a seven-figure topper for the second consecutive year with Romeo’s sale from the Paramount Sales consignment.
Earlier Tuesday, the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearling Sale produced results largely consistent with 2023. A total of 156 yearlings grossed $16,828,000, averaging $107,872 with a median of $90,000. The average dipped slightly from last year’s $112,461, while the median remained unchanged. The buy-back rate improved to 28.1%, down from 33.3% in 2023.
“It was a solid start to the yearling sales season,” Browning noted. “The numbers are virtually identical to last year. Trade was solid with no craziness taking place in this sale.”
A colt from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Jack Christopher topped the yearling segment at $350,000, purchased by CHC, Inc. and Maverick Racing from Buckland Sales’ consignment.
## $1.7-Million Romeo Ends Horses of Racing Age Sale with a Bang
Mahmud Mouni, representing Libyan partnership Tagermeen Racing, secured stakes-winning juvenile Romeo for a sale-record $1.7 million as the final offering at Tuesday’s Horses of Racing Age Sale. The colt was consigned by Paramount Sales.
“We are planning to send the horse to Steve Asmussen,” Mouni said after his son handled much of the bidding. “We would like to have a chance with the next few races and to the Breeders’ Cup this year. But our main plan is for Saudi Arabia next year and maybe the Derby in Dubai.”
Regarding the final price, Mouni admitted, “I was shocked. We were expecting $750,000 to $1 million.”
Romeo, who RNA’d for $14,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale, made three starts for owner Joseph Lloyd and trainer John Robb. After winning his May 3 debut at Laurel, he finished third in the June 5 Tremont Stakes before setting a new stakes record in the June 29 Bashford Manor Stakes.
The colt’s sale materialized thanks to Paramount’s Paddy Campion, who contacted Lloyd through social media.
“I got in touch with the owner on Facebook and we arranged a call,” Campion explained. “I thought it would be a good idea to put him in this sale just coming off that win.”
Campion first saw the horse in person on Sunday. “I kind of breathed a sigh of relief when I saw him off the van because he’s beautiful also. Then I realized he was the whole package.”
“He [Lloyd] is a smaller-time guy. He lives in Baltimore and has four kids. He had a nice filly in the past, but this is a huge result,” Campion added with a smile. “And I need to add him as a friend on Facebook now.”
## Red Route One Off to Stud, Destination Undecided
Emmanuel de Seroux paid $550,000 to acquire multiple graded winner Red Route One (Gun Runner) and confirmed the 5-year-old’s racing career is complete.
“We bought him for stud duties,” de Seroux said. “We don’t know where yet. We have many options. We have to sit down and decide where he is going to go.”
Bred and raced by Winchell Thoroughbreds and trained by Steve Asmussen, Red Route One won the GIII Essex Handicap in March, as well as the 2023 GII New Orleans Classic, GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker, and GIII West Virginia Derby. He retires with six wins from 28 starts and earnings of $2,165,107.
Red Route One, consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, is out of the unraced Red House (Tapit), a full-sister to champion Untapable.
“He’s by Gun Runner out of a Tapit mare,” de Seroux noted. “He made $2 million like the auctioneer reminded us. And he’s a beautiful horse. He has quite a lot of attributes to be a successful stallion.”
De Seroux later acquired Rosie Jeeks (World of Trouble) for $300,000. The 4-year-old filly, consigned by Elite, agent, recently won the Goldwood Stakes at Monmouth Park for Team Hanley, Thirty Year Farm, and trainer Chad Brown.
“She is going to run in Del Mar hopefully,” de Seroux said.
## Jack Christopher Colt Tops July Yearlings
The first yearlings by multiple Grade I winner Jack Christopher (Munnings) made a strong impression Tuesday, with a colt (hip 35) commanding the auction’s top price of $350,000 from China Horse Club and WinStar’s Maverick Racing. The chestnut was bred by Susan King and consigned by Zach Madden’s Buckland Sales from Above the Crowd (Discreetly Mine).
“He was our favorite horse of the sale,” said WinStar’s Elliott Walden. “We stretched a bit for him, but he was a beautiful colt.”
The partnership later purchased another Jack Christopher colt (hip 87) for $110,000 from Taylor Made Sales Agency.
“We just thought they were both athletic,” Walden said.
Jack Christopher, who RNA’d for $145,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton July Freshman Sire Showcase before selling for $135,000 at the October sale, won the 2021 GI Champagne Stakes at two and returned at three to win the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial and GI Woody Stephens Stakes.
Trainer Ken McPeek purchased the second-highest priced yearling by the sire for $270,000 from Lane’s End’s consignment, while Flying Dutchman paid $200,000 for a colt from Taylor Made Sales Agency.
The stallion, who stood the 2024 season for $25,000, had nine yearlings sell Tuesday averaging $162,778.
“He was a highly accomplished racehorse himself, a three-time Grade I winner,” said Coolmore’s Adrian Wallace. “He always showed an awful lot of speed in his career. He was a precocious 2-year-old himself.”
Wallace noted the first crop’s consistent appearance: “They are stamped very much, you can almost pick them out of a crowd. They are generally chestnuts with big white blazes, athletic fast-looking horses with plenty of strength with good hip and shoulders.”
## ‘We Loved Her’: Epicenter Filly a Score for Beamish
Stephanie Beamish acknowledged the $185,000 she and her partners received for an Epicenter filly (hip 61) represented one of her best pinhooking results in three decades.
“We were really looking for $100,000, so we are very pleased with where she ended up,” Beamish said. “This is one of the better ones that I’ve had.”
The bay filly, purchased by Winchell Thoroughbreds—which campaigned her champion first-crop sire—was acquired by Beamish, Keiber Rengifo, and Mike Rose for $43,000 at last year’s Keeneland November sale. Four Star Sales consigned her Tuesday.
“Her conformation. She just had a very, very balanced body with a nice neck,” Beamish said of the filly’s initial appeal. “She had a beautiful walk even as a baby.”
The partners sold five additional yearlings Tuesday, including a Munnings colt (hip 110) for $190,000 to Arroyo Bloodstock, agent for FTF Racing; a Volatile filly (hip 143) for $160,000 to Osiris Racing Stables; and a Corniche filly (hip 168) for $72,000 to Doble Jak Inv. A Liam’s Map colt (hip 250) brought $175,000 from Rengifo’s Golden Rock LLC.
