LEXINGTON, Ky.--A $775,000 Curlin colt topped the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed sale, held Monday, Feb. 3, while William Pape's Boxwood was the second highest priced and the highest price mare.
Curlin coltBoxwood (hip 228), in foal to Nyquist, sold for $650,000 to Steven W. Young, agent, from the consignment of Royal Oak Farm, agent for William L. Pape Dispersal.
Boxwood is the dam of last season’s speedy juvenile stakes winner Keep It Easy, by Hard Spun.
Keep It Easy is on the Derby trail, and his next anticipated start is in the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes on March 1 at Gulfstream Park.
"We were very pleased," said Braxton Jones Lynch of Royal Oak Farm, who also sold Pape's last remaining mare Figgy for $75,000. "Bill Pape was thrilled."
Lynch, who as agent sells regularly at thoroughbred sales, takes after her father and her Uncle Russell Jones of Unionville, Pa., whose Walnut Green was one of the top sales agents before his retirement.
Pape owned many top steeplechase horses, including Eclipse Award winner Divine Fortune and four time Eclipse Award winner Flatterer, bred with Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard, raised on Pape's 90 acre My Way farm in Unionville, Pa. and trained by Sheppard.
After marrying his wife Anne, Pape turned his interest to flat racing, but following Anne's death Pape decided to disperse his thoroughbred stable.
THE PRICE for the Curlin colt was the highest for a short yearling, one not yet fully a year old, in the sale’s history.
The Curlin colt (hip 395), out of G1 winner Unbridled Mo, consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa, agent for Dispersal of Red Oak Stable, sold to Maverick to top the single-session sale.
In addition to his Apple Blossom H. (G1) winning dam, the chestnut colt hails from the immediate family of G2 winner Big Booster and graded stakes winner Unbridled Essence.
“It was a very encouraging sale today,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “There was plenty of bidding activity from start to finish. Obviously, there were some highlights, particularly in the Red Oak Dispersal. It’s always great to have an opportunity to sell a horse as high quality as the Curlin colt.”
Rounding out the sale’s top five offerings were three fillies and mares:
Forever Dixie (hip 299), a broodmare prospect, sold for $525,000 to Shimokobe Farm, Polo Green Stable, agent, from the consignment of Grovendale sales, agent.
A 5-year-old daughter of Quality Road, Forever Dixie is a multiple graded stakes placed stakes winner.
Ready for Candy (hip 94), a racing/broodmare prospect, sold for $400,000 to West Bloodstock from the consignment of Shannondoe Farm, agent.
Ready for Candy is a graded stakes placed and multiple stakes placed 3-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy.
Allez Lele (hip 193), in foal to Constitution, sold for $385,000 to Determined Stud from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Black Ridge Stables.
The Strong Mandate mare is a half-sister to stakes winners Workaholic and Legalize and 2025 Busanda S. winner Running Away.
The immediate family includes Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Summerly.
“Our goal is to serve the market,” said Browning when asked about the sale’s single-session format. “There are certain folks that are much more comfortable selling at a live auction, and that’s great. There are other folks who really prefer to sell on the digital platform, and that’s great, too. The sales are complementary to each other. We’re trying to serve the whole marketplace and hopefully doing a pretty good job of that.”
Overall, 260 horses sold for $11,945,500 for an average of $44,213.
The median was $16,000 and the RNA rate was 19 percent.
The comparable numbers from last year’s sale include 62 horses sold as part of the Lothenbach Dispersal of Breeding Stock, of which 23 sold for $100,000 or more.
In a more apt comparison, the 2023 Kentucky Winter Mixed sale averaged $35,088 with a median of $15,000.
