$4 million Beholder colt tops Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings sale

Tuesday night’s session of the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings sale produced stellar results, with none better than a colt out of Spendthrift Farm’s multiple champion Beholder that sold for $4 million to agent Donato Lanni on behalf of Zedan Racing.

Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency for Spendthrift, hip No. 165, a son of Curlin, was the first offspring of Beholder to be offered at auction.

Beholder’s latest foal to the races is 3-year-old filly Teena Ella, who won this year’s Senorita S. (G3) for Spendthrift Farm and trainer Richard Mandella.

“It is very difficult to find these kind of bloodlines,” Amr Zedan said. “It’s a rarity to find them at auction. Coming in here and seeing that quality–it took some time to actually take a look at him and really appreciate who he is as an individual. We hope he makes us proud when he becomes a stallion. He could actually be as impactful as his predecessors–as his mother and his father. We are so blessed and privileged to have him and can’t thank the boss [Zedan’s trainer Bob Baffert] right here enough.”

Beholder, who was a four-time champion and won over $6 million, is a half-sister to Spendthrift Farm’s four-time champion sire Into Mischief. Remarkably, the second and third-highest prices of the auction came on Tuesday: $3.2 million and $1.5 million for colts, both by Into Mischief.

“We thought he would be in the $3-million to $4-million range,” Spendthrift’s Ned Toffey said. “When we got to three, I was a little relieved and when we got to four, I was pretty happy. But that’s a nice colt and that kind doesn’t come along very often. A colt that looks the part with that kind of pedigree, he’s a special horse. We are really happy that Amr Zedan got him.”

Taylor Made’s Duncan Taylor added his own superlatives for the colt.

“Taylor Made has never sold a yearling that had so much stallion power,” the consignor said. “Into Mischief, Beholder’s half-brother, has been the leading sire in America four years in a row. So when you have that sire power and the father of the yearling is Curlin, who has had Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, Malathaat, Clairiere and Nest all running in the same year and he still can’t get ahead of Into Mischief, you know you have one yearling with a lot of stallion potential. If he wins a Grade One, it’s a $75-million syndication.”