Justify Yearlings Impress at Saratoga

The first yearlings by Triple Crown hero Justify were a highlight during the first session of the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale on Monday with a colt from Bar of Gold selling for $825,000 ($A1.12 million).

Consigned by Sequel New York, Agent for Chester and Mary Broman, the chestnut was the subject of spirited bidding before Travis Durr, agent for David Hudson, silenced the opposition with a bid of $825,000, the highest price for a first season sire at the sale.

The colt is a half-brother to this season’s smart 2yo Coinage, who opened his winning account with a seven and three-quarter length romp at Belmont Park last month for trainer Mark Casse.

He is the second foal of Group I winning Medaglia D’Oro mare Bar of Gold.

"It's always really special for me to sell for the Bromans," Becky Thomas of Sequel told Bloodhorse.

"Particularly with these kinds of families. I broke and trained the colt's mother and grandmother. It's just so nice, so special.

"He's a big, beautiful colt. He looks like Justify. He stands over a lot of ground and this guy has a great mind."

Justify also had strong results with a filly from Essential Rose selling for $625,000 ($A853,394) and a colt from Dorothy’s Aura fetching $470,000 ($641,758).

The sale continues on Tuesday.

Justify returns to Australia this spring at a fee of $55,000 and his first Australian bred yearlings are selling in 2021.