Thoroughbred Sales and Yearling Prep the Mill Ridge Way

Attending your first yearling sale is an exciting first step into the world of thoroughbred ownership. To newcomers, the sale can feel intimidating and foreign, with its own language and processes. That’s why, whether you’re looking for thoroughbred racehorses for sale or planning to sell your own, it pays to have a trusted and experienced team on your side. 

Here we’ll give you a brief look at how we prep yearlings for sale and provide you with a peek into one of the intricacies of raising thoroughbreds. 

Mill Ridge has raised some of the world’s best racehorses and has raised or sold 36 Grade 1 winners since 2000.

Table of Contents

Why Buy a Yearling?

Where Do You Buy (or Sell) a Yearling?

The Mill Ridge Way: Raising and Selling a Thoroughbred Racehorse

Why Buy a Yearling?

There are four main types of thoroughbred racehorses for sale. Your decision on which to buy will depend on your desired level of investment with both time and money.

Broodmares

Broodmares are female thoroughbreds who are finished with their racing career and are producing offspring. While initial investment on an unproven mare may be low, you will have to consider the boarding, vet, and other fees for both the mare and her unborn foal. Other considerations should include future stallion fees when your mare is ready to get back in foal and the time it will take to see a return on your investment.  

Weanlings

Weanlings are young thoroughbreds who have been weaned and separated from their mothers. The first weanling sale in North America takes place in November, making the horses generally between 8 and 10 months old. At that age, they are unbroken except for wearing a halter, being led on a lead rope, and being groomed. Most people will buy weanlings to sell them as yearlings or two-year-olds in a process known as “pinhooking” while others will retain ownership through the horse’s racing career.

Yearlings

Yearlings are, as their name suggests, one year old. Regardless of a thoroughbred’s foaling date, when January 1 of the year comes, all weanlings in North America “turn one”. Most yearlings are mature enough to allow buyers to imagine what they will look like as a racehorse and have come into their personalities.

Two-Year-Olds

At age two, a racehorse has already begun training by the time you purchase, and they are, in theory, ready to head to the racetrack to start their racing career. Buying a two-year-old tends to be one of the priciest investments, but can offer a quick return on investment if they succeed on the racetrack post-purchase.

While it’s admittedly hard to know how well a yearling will do at the races, there are two great benefits to purchasing a yearling, especially for first-time buyers.

First and foremost is price. A yearling normally won't cost as much as a two-year-old, because there’s less certainty about how it will perform. The tradeoff for taking on more risk is a lower price. 

Secondly, you will have more control over the development of the horse. You get to determine where it’s raised, where it trains to race and other important early decisions. 

As mentioned with weanlings, pinhooking a yearling and selling it as a two-year-old is another investment strategy.

It’s important to remember that you aren’t looking for a finished product at a yearling sale or auction. While most yearlings have gone through the sales prep process, few have been trained to have a rider and their speed can only be seen when they are racing in their fields.

No matter what, it’s always a good idea to work with a skilled bloodstock agent when buying any thoroughbred racehorse. They can help you form a purchase plan that aligns with your goals and resources. 

Yearling Lost Raven peaks over the fence at Mill Ridge Farm.

Where Do You Buy (or Sell) A Yearling?

There are four major annual sales for yearlings in the United States, held by the two major players in the field: Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland. Both sales companies also host auctions in other categories throughout the year.

While Fasig-Tipton holds a mixed-age sale in February that includes yearlings, the official yearling sale season kicks off each year with the Fasig-Tipton July Sale in Lexington, Kentucky. Fasig-Tipton then takes advantage of the famous summer meet at Saratoga Race Course to host its Saratoga Sale in New York. The season traditionally wraps up back in Kentucky with the Fasig-Tipton October Sale.

In September, Keeneland hosts the largest and arguably most famous of the yearling auctions. Together with the three Fasig-Tipton sales, this makes up the majority of the yearling sales calendar here at Mill Ridge.

Fasig-Tipton’s July sale and Saratoga sale are known as “select” sales. A team at Fasig-Tipton carefully analyzes each submitted horse’s pedigree and conformation. After it has been determined the horse fits the predetermined criteria, it’s entered into the sale.  Select sales bring a level of comfort for first-time horse buys as all of the horses offered have been analyzed by professionals.

While Keeneland September is not considered a “select sale,” it often produces the highest priced yearling sold every year. Based on similar criteria to the select sales, yearlings entered into the September sale are placed into “books,” which will be printed as sales catalogs and determine the order that yearlings will be sold. Generally, Keeneland offers 6 books, placing yearlings with the best pedigrees and conformation in book 1. This sale provides the opportunity to shop for value horses in books 5 and 6 that the “big buyers” overlook.

Fasig-Tipton October offers a smaller selection of horses that were not sold at either of the first 3 sales. Generally, the sale produces the lowest sale prices. However, plenty of good racehorses have come from this sale. “FT Oct” allows sellers to showcase horses that had ailments that prevented them from selling earlier in the year and allows buyers to snatch good yearlings that others may overlook.

To read more about how thoroughbred sales work from a layperson’s perspective, we recommend this introductory article from the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association.

The Mill Ridge Way: Raising and Selling a Thoroughbred Racehorse

Located just outside Lexington, Kentucky—the horse capital of the world—Mill Ridge Farm has a long tradition of breeding, raising, and selling thoroughbreds. It’s a history that spans generations, from Alice Chandler, who founded Mill Ridge in 1962, to her son and grandson who now help oversee the farm. We offer a variety of services, including boarding and sales, and consulting through Nicoma Bloodstock.

If you ask folks in the business, the way we prepare yearlings for sale has come to be known as “The Mill Ridge Way.” We make calculated choices of which select sale is right for the horse, and we enter the horses appropriately.

Our method was developed over decades, starting with Alice Chandler, who founded Mill Ridge Farm after the death of her father, Hal Price Headley, in 1962. Starting with four mares and 286 acres, Alice insisted on the utmost attention to the health, safety, and socialization of the horses in our care.

The Mill Ridge way begins at conception. A thorough analysis of pedigree and conformation leads us to the perfect match between stallion and mare and our team of veterinarians aids us in getting our mares in foal and keeping them healthy.  After a careful and successful foaling, we allow our foals (and eventually weanlings) to play and socialize to bring out their natural, competitive spirit. Regular inspections and top-notch veterinary care are standard.

Discussions on which sale will best showcase each horse being around the time the foals are being weaned. During the winter, weanlings are separated by sex and what sale they are being pointed to. By March of a horse’s yearling year, they are being regularly inspected by Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland. As stated earlier, the Fasig-Tipton team will be looking to accept or deny the horses submitted for their select sales and Keeneland will be looking to accurately place them into their books. 

Sales preparation, referred to as simply “sales prep,” begins approximately 60 days before a yearling’s respective sale. During this time, yearlings are hand walked or placed on a walker every weekday. Horses are also bathed and groomed daily. Yearlings are kept in the barns and out of the sun for most of the day and are turned out at night.  

Mill Ridge has raised some of the world’s best racehorses and has raised or sold 36 Grade 1 winners since 2000. By delivering the highest quality of care, we work diligently to nurture the athlete while preserving the intimate nature of the horse and take great pride in the results they produce.

Finding the right Kentucky horse farm to raise your thoroughbred racehorse doesn’t have to be a complicated endeavour. Contact Mill Ridge Farm, 2800 Bowman Springs Road, Lexington, Kentucky, for more information about boarding your racehorse, or call us directly at (859) 231-0606.