Spirited bidding drove a Tiznow colt up to a final price of $470,000 during day 2 of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds held May 21-22. The winning bid by the partnership of Zayat Stables and Mike Moreno wound up being the second-highest of the sale.
Tiznow currently ranks sixth on this year’s General Sire list, with more than $3 million in progeny earnings and graded stakes winners Gemologist, Ellafitz, Morning Line, and Tiz Miz Sue to his credit.
The dark bay or brown juvenile, hip No. 519, was bred in Kentucky by Gaines-Gentry Thoroughbreds, Dearborn Stables & Tom Van Meter from the stakes winning mare Horns Gray. He is a half-brother to Awesome Humor (by Distorted Humor), winner of the Grade 1 Spinaway S. and three other graded events.
Zayat and Moreno, who are partners on Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness S. (G1) runner-up Bodemeister, bought the colt from the consignment of Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds after he worked an eighth of a mile in :11 during the under tack show.
“He’s a super nice colt and I’ll tell you what, they got a great buy,” Hartley said. “He’s a million-dollar 2-year-old, in my opinion. He’s going to a great place and I hope he wins grade 1s for them and they’ll come back and buy some more horses off of us. They’re going to love him when they train him. He’s just awesome. He’s one of those horses that gives you chill bumps when you watch him go. I thought he was the best yearling that we bought last year.”