Led by a Corniche filly sold for $250,000, the Fasig-Tipton California yearling sale on Tuesday had higher average prices than the corresponding sale in 2024.
The Corniche filly, a California-bred, was purchased by Pete Parrella’s Legacy Ranch from the consignment of Barton Thoroughbreds, agent. The filly is from the first crop by Corniche, the champion 2-year-old male of 2021, and is a half-sister to Carmelita’s Man, the winner of three stakes for California-breds at Del Mar and Santa Anita in 2022 and 2023.
According to statistics on Fasig-Tipton’s website, 143 horses were sold for $4,617,900, or an average of $32,293. The average price increased 10 percent from the 2024 auction at which 163 horses sold for an average price of $29,334. The 2023 sale had an average of $31,089.
There were 95 horses listed as not sold on Tuesday, or 39.9 percent of the horses that went through the ring. In 2024, 34.8 percent of the prospects that went through the sales ring were listed as not sold.
This year’s average price was the highest for a Fasig-Tipton California yearling sale since 2021, when the average was $39,173.
The median price on Tuesday was $15,000, equal to the 2024 auction.
On Tuesday, 11 horses were sold for $100,000 or more, compared to 12 in 2023 and eight last year.
Two colts, California-breds by Good Magic and Maxfield, were sold for $225,000 to the partnership of John Moroney, Thomsen Racing, and Steve Knapp from the consignment of Terry Lovingier’s Lovacres Ranch, agent.
The colt by Maxfield is out of Lost Bus, the winner of the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes in 2016 and the dam of the stakes winner Bus Buzz. The colt by Good Magic is out of Noble and a Beauty, a Noble Causeway mare who won the 2015 Cicada Stakes at Aqueduct.
Tuesday’s sale, held at Fairplex in Pomona, was the only yearling sale in California this year. The California Thoroughbred Breeders Association discontinued the Northern California yearling sale in Pleasanton this year. There has been no racing in Northern California since December, although some proponents are hoping to revive racing in that part of the state in 2026.
A previous version of this article misstated the increase in average price at the 2025 sale. It was 10 percent, not 12.4 percent.
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