Bolt d’Oro has top-priced colt at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic opener

The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale continued the hot start to the stud career of Bolt d’Oro, with a colt by the freshman sire bringing a top bid of $675,000, second-highest price paid during Monday’s opening session of the two-day sale.

Hip No. 30, who had breezed a bullet 10-second flat furlong during the Under Tack show, was consigned by Pike Racing, agent, and purchased by Frank Fletcher Racing and Spendthrift Farm.

“He will probably go to [trainer] Brad Cox,” Spendthrift’s Ned Toffey said. “We tried to get one or two down at OBS and couldn’t get anything, but we are always looking for people to partner up with on colts. Frank is a quality guy who has been doing this for a long time. We are really honored to do something with him.”

The bay colt, bred by Mark Toothaker & Keith Crupper, is a half-brother to stakes winner The Grass is Blue and is out of Shine Softly, whose dam Soaring Softly was champion grass mare and the winner of more than $1.2 million.

Bolt d’Oro already has a pair of winners on the track, and his sales average of $253,049 is second-best among all First-Crop sires with at least 10 lots sold.

“This is as good a start as you could ask for from a young sire,” Toffey said of the young Spendthrift stallion. “It is really remarkable how well they’ve been received, how they have performed at the sales so far, how they are already performing on the track. It’s one thing to do it here, but he’s got two winners already. You couldn’t ask for him to get off to a better start.”