Electric, bursting at the seams, remarkable, and fast and furious are just a sprinkling of the vivid descriptions for Fasig-Tipton’s November Sale printed over the years in the pages of BloodHorse magazine. 

Billed decades ago as the “Night of the Stars” sale in the afterglow of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, the November sale has morphed into much more than a Thoroughbred breeding stock auction. It is an event. Come for the “stars,” savor the fireworks.

Fasig-Tipton works hard to recruit the best broodmare and racing prospects fresh off the racetrack, including horses shipping in immediately after competing at the Breeders’ Cup. It’s a relationship built on the trust of their clients.

“It all begins with the horse,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning told BloodHorse after a record-setting 2012 edition of the sale. “It’s very gratifying to have people bring you a quality product and to have them walk out of your arena with broad smiles on their faces.”

Those current racing stars plus elite established broodmares and a high-quality selection of weanlings – including the chance to evaluate the first crop of foals from new stallions – make “Night of the Stars” a can’t-miss evening at the sales pavilion off Newtown Pike near Lexington.

Fasig-Tipton has sold 25 horses for $5 million or more at this auction alone, including seven at $7 million or higher, and there have been plenty of unforgettable moments along the way.

Better Than Honour at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton sale. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

The 2008 November sale established a benchmark against which all future breeding stock auctions will be measured as it set not one, but two world records.

Better Than Honour, a graded stakes winner by Deputy Minister, had far exceeded her racetrack exploits in the breeding shed as the dam of 2006 Belmont Stakes winner Jazil and 2007 Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches, the first filly to win the famed “Test of the Champion” since Tanya in 1905. The 2007 Broodmare of the Year was viewed as a rare jewel indeed.

Better Than Honour was consigned at Fasig-Tipton by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, agent for the partnership of Southern Equine Stable and Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms, and Mike Moreno’s Southern Equine bought out his partner at a world-record price of $14 million.

“She’s a Picasso; you can’t sell a mare like this,” Moreno reasoned after breaking the previous record for a broodmare ($10.5 million for Playful Act at the 2007 Keeneland November sale).

Earlier that night, another world record fell at Newtown Paddocks when that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Stardom Bound, from the first crop of Tapit, sold for $5.7 million from the consignment of Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency.

Nick Sallusto, agent for IEAH Stables, signed the ticket for Stardom Bound at a record price for a 2-year-old filly at auction for Michael Iavarone’s IEAH Stables, which had won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes earlier that year as a co-owner of Big Brown. Stardom Bound won a pair of Grade 1 races in 2009 and now is a broodmare in Japan.

Four years later, another record fell at the 2012 November sale thanks to Havre de Grace. In 2011, the then then 4-year-old won five of seven starts that year, including a victory against males in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, to become the third straight female to take home the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year, following Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and Zenyatta in 2010.

Havre de Grace starred at the 2012 sale. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

Havre de Grace won the New Orleans Ladies Stakes in March 2012 at Fair Grounds but was subsequently retired with an ankle injury. She was not finished as a showstopper, however, and significant buzz built as the daughter of Saint Liam was led into the auction ring that November.

Quoting Shakespeare, Fasig-Tipton auctioneer and director of marketing Terence Collier said after highlight video of Havre de Grace’s racing exploits: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Havre de Grace is a mare that was both born great and achieved greatness.”

New buyer Mandy Pope clearly agreed with Collier’s assessment, outbidding Frank Stronach and Benjamin Leon Jr. to purchase Havre de Grace for $10 million, the highest price ever paid for a broodmare prospect and the third-highest ever for a broodmare/broodmare prospect behind only Better Than Honour and Playful Act.

“You look at her and she’s everything a racehorse should be, and she has a wonderful attitude,” an emotional Pope told BloodHorse after the eight-figure purchase from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency. “She’s the epitome of what we are all trying to breed as far as conformation and racing ability.”

In terms of on-track accomplishments, the 2017 edition of November sale must be regarded as a truly elite one as the broodmare prospect roster was led by two-time champions Songbird and Tepin (both future Hall of Famers). The sales pavilion was positively bustling that evening. BloodHorse’s Ron Mitchell described the setting: “In an atmosphere more akin to Fasig-Tipton’s August yearling sale at Saratoga, a boisterous crowd of racing fans, owners, buyers, and consignors packed the Fasig-Tipton sale pavilion.”

Graded stakes winners Quidura, Catch a Glimpse, and Miss Temple City were among six horses sold for $2.5 million or more as Fasig-Tipton reported then-record total sales of $74.2 million, but Tepin and Songbird undoubtedly stole the show.

Songbird at the 2017 November sale. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

Songbird, a 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro filly with nine Grade 1 wins, two Eclipse Awards, and nearly $4.7 million in earnings to her credit, was the first of the two to enter the ring wearing a red blanket emblazoned with her accomplishments. Collier called her the “gold standard,” and the bidding began at a million dollars and rose swiftly. Whisper Hill Farm’s Pope, by now an established fixture in the Thoroughbred industry, raised the bar from $9.2 million to $9.5 million to end the bidding war for Songbird, who was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm. 

The auction of Tepin, like Songbird, was preceded by a video of career highlights for the two-time champion. The then-6-year-old Bernstein mare’s six Grade/Group 1 wins included the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile and the 2016 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, defeating males in both victories. Bidding again started at seven figures and did not stop until M.V. Magnier landed the turf heroine for $8 million from the consignment of ELiTE Sales, agent for Robert Masterson.

It was an electric and emotional evening, especially for Browning. A close friend of Porter, Browning had followed Songbird’s career closely as had his father, Boyd Browning Sr. The elder Browning learned of Porter’s intent to sell Songbird at the November sale but passed away Sept. 11 at age 84.

“[Selling] Songbird was kind of bittersweet, but for one of my good friends, it was one of the most magnificent horses that we ever had the privilege to sell, and it was a great experience,” Browning told BloodHorse.

The 2018 Fasig-Tipton November sale easily eclipsed the previous year’s total sales record with $89,473,000 for 140 horses sold, led by Lady Aurelia at a sale-topping $7.5 million. Lady Aurelia’s breeder, Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, bought out partner Peter Leidel to secure the stakes winner in the U.S., England, and France from the consignment of Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency.

Monomoy Girl sold for $9.5 million in 2020. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

A global pandemic in 2020 slowed life as we know it to a standstill, but true star power shone through the cloud of economic uncertainty that November. Monomoy Girl, consigned by ELiTE Sales and offered one day after winning the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland to cap an unbeaten championship season, sold for $9.5 million to Spendthrift Farm to tie Songbird for the third-highest price in the auction’s history.  She was kept in training and made two starts in 2021, including a Grade 3 win, before being retired that fall.

The Fasig-Tipton November record for total sales reached a new mark in 2021 as the auction reported $103,699,000 in receipts. Total sales reached nine figures again in 2022 and 2023, and last year the November sale produced 26 seven-figure purchases.

“Night of the Stars” will be held Nov. 3, 2025, in Lexington, two days after the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar. The sales catalog will include the first weanlings from new stallions such as champions Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, Forte, and Arcangelo as well as 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage. But make no mistake, the November sale is ladies’ night. Prepare to be dazzled.