The 2025 Fasig-Tipton Sale Marks the 100th Anniversary of the Phipps Family’s Beginning in Thoroughbred Racing
Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – The 2025 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale has a special place in history, as it is the 100th anniversary of Glady Mills Phipps beginning her family’s multi-generational racing dynasty with the first purchase of a Thoroughbred. At the 1925 Saratoga Sale, she purchased a filly sired by Claiborne Farm’s imported French-bred stallion Sarmatian. Named Sturdy Stella, the filly brought Phipps’s Wheatley Stable its first win the following February.
A century later, Phipps Stable continues to have a significant impact at the highest levels in Thoroughbred breeding and racing. In addition to the Phipps family’s multitude of Hall of Famers, champions, and grade and group 1 winners, those rare occasions when Phipps-bred mares have been sold have provided owners and breeders with highly sought-after bloodstock.
For example, a highlight of this year’s Saratoga Sale will be the first crop of Horse of the Year Flightline whose second through fifth dams are Phipps-breds (the family of Blitey / Lady Pitt). Additionally, an ultra-impressive 112 graded stakes wins in the U.S. and Canada over the last three and a half years (2022 to present) have been won by horses from Phipps families, many of which were purchased at the Saratoga Sale.
So far this year, an impressive 14 graded stakes and dozens of additional listed stakes have been won by horses from Phipps families, including grade 1 Gamely Stakes winner Be Your Best (IRE), a tail-female line descendant of Baby League. Last year, grade 1 wins for horses from Phipps families included: Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey (family of Phipps foundation mare Helvetia), California Crown Stakes winner Subsanador (ARG) (family of Baby League), Natalma Stakes winner And One More Time (family of Grey Flight), and Ogden Phipps Stakes winner Randomized (family of Erin).
This year’s Saratoga Sale features a select group of ten yearlings from Phipps families that are attractive to potential buyers. The group includes six colts and four fillies, all sired by top stallions, including two each by Life Is Good and Quality Road, and one each by Constitution, Cyberknife, Gun Runner, Into Mischief, Liam’s Map, and Nyquist.
The Phipps family’s century of success has made their bloodlines among the most sought-after in the stud book. The stable’s occasional culled mares and their progeny have provided owners and breeders with rare opportunities to buy into these coveted families. This success will continue on Monday at the start of the Saratoga Sale, a century after the family bought it first yearling there.
2025 SARATOGA SALE YEARLINGS FROM PHIPPS FAMILIES
HIP #53 – dkb. c. (KY) Quality Road – Bourbonesque, by Dynaformer (Versailles Treaty branch of Ten Cents A Dance), consignor Bedoin Bloodstock, Barn 1
HIP #94 – ch. f. (KY) Nyquist – Fend, by Street Sense (High Voltage branch of Erin), consignor Darby Dan Farm, Barn 1
HIP #109 – b. c. (KY) Constitution – Good on Paper, by War Front (Finder’s Fee branch of Lady Pitt), consignor Lane’s End Farm, Barn 7C
HIP #131 – dkb. f. (KY) Quality Road – Just Talkin, by Midshipman (Striking Brach of Baby League), consignor Lane’s End Farm, Barn 7C
HIP #145 – b. c. (KY) Liam’s Map – Loving Promise, by Into Mischief (Family of Adventurous), consignor Runnymede Farm, Barn 7C
HIP #174 – b. c. (KY) Gun Runner – Nonna Mela, by Arch (Get Lucky branch of Baby League), consignor Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms, Barn 2
HIP #197 – b. f. (KY) Life Is Good – Seek and Destroy, by Verrazano (Vowed branch of Belle Histoire), consignor Indian Creek, Barn 6
HIP #209 – b. f. (KY) Life Is Good – Smart Shopping, by Smart Strike (Lady Be Good branch of Helvetia), consignor Mill Ridge, Barn 5
HIP #210 – dkb. c. (KY) Cyberknife – Somasch, by Johannesburg (Relaxing branch of Big Hurry), consignor Taylor Made Farm, Barn 7B
HIP #218 – b. c. (KY) Into Mischief – Stellar Sound, by Tapit (Versailles Treaty branch of Ten Cents A Dance), consignor Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms, Barn 2
Photos: From the Phipps family of Blitey and Lady Pitt, undefeated Horse of the Year FLIGHTLINE sold as a yearling for $1 million at the 2019 Saratoga Sale (courtesy of Jason Brooks); Charles Christian Cook, “Ogden Mills and Gladys Livingston Mills Phipps,” The Keeneland Library).
Phipps Stable Fan 