More and more people are beginning to sell their horses through digital sales.
Commuted, Sale topper at $150,000 (photo from Fasig-Tipton)
Selling in a digital sale means no shipping cost for getting the horse to the sale, no daily fee for someone to show the horse st the sale and no agent's fee.
The usual daily fee is $150, and horses have to be there at least two days before the sale to be shown, so that's $600 right there, and the minimum agent's commission is $800.
Digital sales are really good for horses expected to sell for $8,000 or less.
Digital sales are a much easier was to sell horses, plus they are being sold to a much larger market.
For instance, at the Fasig-Tipton October Digital Sale there were over 830 registered bidders, many more than there are at regional sales.
Plus, horses from California and Texas were sold, a huge saving in shipping costs,
THE FASIG-TIPTON October Digital Sale closed Wednesday evening, Oct. 9 with 224 horses sold for $3,466,300.
Bidding opened on Oct. 3 and began to close Tuesday, Oct. 8.
After a technical issue suspended selling mid-afternoon on Tuesday, selling resumed Oct. 9.
The catalogue featured horses of racing age, breeding stock, which included mares with foals-at-foot, weanlings, and yearlings.
The sale drew more than 830 registered bidders.
Commuted (Hip 47), a 3-year-old son of Gun Runner, topped the sale when sold for $150,000 to Agent Willowbrook Stables from the consignment of Gainesway, agent for Part of the Walking L Dispersal.
Commuted broke his maiden going 1 ¼ miles on the Churchill Downs dirt on Sept. 29.
Offered as a horse of racing age, Commuted has earned $81,429 to date.
“I want to say a big thank you to all participants for working through some unexpected technical issues with us,” said Fasig-Tipton Director of Digital Sales Leif Aaron, referencing Tuesday’s unexpected service outage on the platform. “We were able to sell 224 horses at a 75% clearance rate. Our impromptu Day 2 had robust action. We are looking forward to a tremendous December Digital Sale.”
Rounding out the top three offerings were:
Lambeth (Hip 16), a colt from the final crop of the late Arrogate, sold for $135,000 to Bigman from the consignment of Juddmonte.
Offered as a horse of racing age, Lambeth is a winner at 2 and 3, with earnings to date of $85,250.
Northern Flame (Hip 360), a G2 placed son of Flameaway, sold for $125,000 to G.O.A.T. Racing Stable from the consignment of Gainesway, agent.
A winner at 2 and 3, Northern Flame was third in this year’s G2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on the Kentucky Derby trail.
Offered as a horse of racing age, Northern Flame has earned $349,057 to date.
Full results are available online.
The next Fasig-Tipton Digital Sale will be the December Digital Sale, which opens Dec. 5 and closes Dec.10.
Nominations close Nov. 20.
