$375,000 Colt Puts Classic Empire On Top

The first session of the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Sale saw Classic Empire top all first crop sires with a $375,000 colt sold to BSW/Crow Bloodstock.

Selling as Hip 323 through Gainesway, the colt out of stakes placed Rever de Vous saw a collection of updates after the catalog was released. Both his siblings to race improved upon their earnings while his dam’s 2-year-old half-sister Dreaming Of Dew finished second in the Listed Catch a Glimpse Stakes just a few weeks before the sale.

The colt’s first three dams are all stakes winners or stakes placed with third dam Silver Maiden a winner of the Grade I Frizette Stakes and the dam of three stakes horses with three of her daughters producing stakes horses.

Sold for $185,000 as a weanling last November, the colt was bred by Steven and Brandi Nicholson, the same breeder as his sire.

Champion at two and a Grade I winner at three, Classic Empire’s first yearlings have been well received with his first five sold averaging $173,500. That follows up a strong sales season last winter where his first weanlings averaged $108,925, topped by a $285,000 colt.