Which foals from the first generation caught your eye?

Each year, the Fasig-Tipton July sale offers buyers the first chance to see a new crop of yearlings. Many buyers saw the yearlings of these breeders for the first time this week, and although it is early, we conducted a quick survey to get their first impressions.

The group includes: Basin, Beau Liam, By My Standards, Charlatan, Core Beliefs, Essential Quality, Independence Hall, Knicks Go, Known Agenda, Leinster, Lexitonian, Maxfield, Modernist, Raging Bull, Rock Your World, Silver State, Tacitus, Uncle Chuck and Yaupon.

LIZ CROW: Tacitus (Tapit), Taylor Made, 2022 stud fee: $10,000
Beau Liam (Liam’s Map), Airdrie Stud. 2022 stud fee: $6,000.
I don’t think anyone can say who the best freshman sire is going to be, especially at this point. We’re just looking at them in July and they’re so immature that you only see a small handful of them. Constitution was eighth on the average freshman sire price list, so obviously we were all wrong about him. So I’m just going to go with what my eye has liked so far, knowing that I could very well be wrong.

I liked Tacitus’ yearlings. I’ve seen 10 or 12 of them. They seem to have nice form, nice lines. I probably left most of that first stallion on my short list. That’s really the first group I saw. I haven’t seen any of them on the farm, and he seems to be the first stallion I come across most often these days.
The other one is Beau Liam. I’ve seen quite a few that I like. They have nice big hips. He was obviously very fast and I think you can see that in his offspring so far. They have all the makings of being fast and precocious at two years old from what I’ve seen so far.

BELL AWARD: Beau Liam
I’m going to answer the question based on the ROI for stud fees. I’m really impressed with the Beau Liam foals that I’m seeing. I think his stud fees are really attractive and I think he’ll have the best ROI on stud fees of the first crop. I’m betting he’ll average $55,000, so I’m guessing it’ll be 9x, which I think will be impossible for Charlatan or most others to achieve, just in terms of pure math.

CONRAD BANDOROFF: Charlatan (Speightstown), Hill ‘n’ Dale, 2022 stud fee: $50,000
Charlatan will be the top freshman sire. We sold him as a yearling. He made $700,000 in September in Book 1. He was an absolutely stunning specimen. I see a lot of his athleticism in his progeny, and a lot of the poise and brilliance that Charlatan showed early and in his racing career. I’m going to go with Charlatan, but that being said, this is the closest year we’ve seen in a while. I was very impressed with the Maxfields (Street Sense) (Darley, 2022 Stud Fee $40,000). They’re very strong, advanced, mature-looking horses and they physically made me stop and look. The Essential Qualities are also good, and I think when we finish the year, you’ll look and it’ll be a pretty tight race at the top.

DAVID INGORDO: Charlatan
I like the Charlatans. They all look pretty uniformly like good horses, with balance. They are fast and should be precocious and quality, which is what we need. The Maxfields look pretty good. They look like two-turn horses, and I was impressed with their hindquarters. They are really strong. I thought Maxfield was magnificent when he ran, and the colts look a lot like him.

JACOB WEST: Yaupon (Uncle Mo), Spendthrift, 2022 stud fee: $30,000
I’ve only been to four barns, but if I could name one, it would be Yaupon, from what I’ve seen in four barns and what I’ve seen on the farm. He’s a beautiful horse and he’s got some incredible traits. He’s Uncle Mo’s son who was very fast. Everybody loves speed in America and I think what he has here is a pretty good representation of what he is and what he could be.

HUBERT GUY: Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), Spendthrift, 2022 stud fee: $10,000.
So far I have liked Rock Your Worlds. He is a son of Candy Ride. They look very thoroughbred and they all move quite well. Candy Ride has had such success as a sire of sires that he is a real possibility. I have also seen a lot of nice Beau Liams.

LAUREN CARLISLE: Yaupon and Knicks Go (Paynter), Taylor Made, 2022 stud fee: $30,000.
Yaupon stood out. They look fast. They are more in the Uncle Mo line. Sometimes they have problems with their knees, but these horses are very beautiful and seem to be good movers.
And the Knicks Go. I’ve seen some good horses at Taylor Made. They look fast right off the bat. I’d say he’s going to be a pinhooker horse, just because of his speed. That’s what they’re looking for. Those stood out to me. Good horses, well put together, solid and fast.

OLIVIA PERKINS-MACKEY: Tacitus
From what I saw today, and it didn’t catch my eye as weanlings. Unspoken. I think people are going to make money. They didn’t pay a lot for them, or sell them, and they all have good looks. They just look like good horses that will be fast at the two-year-old sales.

JAY KILGORE: Tacit

It’s Tacitus right now. I haven’t seen enough of them. I only saw them this morning, but they are remarkable. I like them. Most of them are pretty cool. But my sample is still very, very small.

STEVE ASMUSSEN: Yaupon

He was beautiful and his babies are beautiful. They have extremely racy lines. They have a very athletic look.

PHIL HAGER: Lexitonian (Speightstown), Calumet, 2022 Entry fee: $10,000
There are a few that I liked, but I would say the most consistent body type I saw was Lexitonian as a stallion. They all look like they have a racing body, good height, good shoulders, good hips, so he impressed me the most.

SUSAN MOULTON: Independence Hall (Constitution), WinStar, 2022 Entry fee: $10,000
Our new favorite stallion is Independence Hall. They are big, have smooth movements and are well balanced. They look like racehorses. I like the Beau Liams and the Rock Your Worlds. The Rock Your Worlds, there are two or three that I really like, and because it’s Candy Ride, they are bigger than I expected.

JAMES KEOGH: Charlatan and Yaupon
I was very impressed with the Charlatans. They are very athletic, very athletic horses. I am very excited about some of them that we have to sell, so Charlatan would definitely be the horse that comes out of this year’s crop. For me, Yaupon was a very fast racehorse and a very exciting prospect, and I have no complaints about his horses that I have seen so far.