American Pharoah makes a splash at Saratoga sales

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

This daughter of American Pharoah, hip No. 26, sold for $1.2 million on Monday.

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The kids are alright.

At least that was the opinion of buyers toward the 10 yearlings sired by 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah who were bought at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale held on Monday and Tuesday.

The auction in general was a smashing success, notching record gross sales of $62,794,000 and the second highest average price per horse, $369,376.

American Pharoah had 15 babies listed in the catalogue, of which three were scratched and two did not meet their reserve price, which is the minimum at which the consignor was willing to sell.

The other 10 were sold for a total of $5,545,000, for an average of $554,500 and a median of $425,000.

Of those, a filly out of the two-time Grade I winner Life At Ten, hip No. 26, sold for $1.2 million to OXO Equine on Monday, followed shortly by hip 62, a colt of Party Silks that trainer Bob Baffert, who trained American Pharoah, signed for $1 million as agent for M.V. Magnier.

“Hopefully, he can follow in his daddy’s footsteps,” Baffert told The Blood-Horse magazine.

There were a total of five yearlings who went for at least $1 million.

As usual, the stallion Medaglia d’Oro was one of the stars of the sale.

Only seven of his yearlings sold, but three went for seven digits, and the average sale price for the seven was $785,000.

He sired the sale topper, a colt out of Coco’s Wildcat that went for $1.35 million to a partnership that includes West Point Thoroughbreds, Robert Masiello, Chris Larsen and Siena Farm.

Another Medaglia d’Oro, a daughter of Dawn Raid, sold for $1.3 million to Phoenix Thoroughbred, and a filly out of Veracity went for $1 million to Roy and Gretchen Jackson of Lael Stables, best known as the owner-breeder of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay spent over $1 million at the sale, on a Tapit filly for $875,000 and a Bernardini filly for $325,000.

Reach Gazette Sportswriter Mike MacAdam at 518-395-3146 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @Mike_MacAdam.