by Stefanie Grimm & Dan RossKeeping with recent trends, the Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings Sale saw records tumble Wednesday at Fairplex in Pomona.The sale saw 137 horses change hands in the single-day session totaling $4,863,700, a 5.1% boost over last year despite fewer horses selling (143 in 2025) and a higher RNA count (108 in 2026 vs. 95 in 2025). The buy-back rate rose from 40.8% to 44%.The average jumped 19% to $35,501 while the median held steady at $15,000.“It was an encouraging sale today,” said Fasig-Tipton President & CEO Boyd Browning. “We had a record top price today for the California Sale. The average price was up, the median price was level and the RNA rate was just slightly increased. I think that can be attributed to what I can refer to as a little protectionism from the consignors cause they've got some racing opportunities and the breeder's awards that are still in place for Cal-breds. So they're going to protect those horses maybe a little more than they would in other markets.”The day's top honors went to an Arabian Lion colt purchased by Marc Gunderson's MWG Enterprises for a record-breaking $525,000. A son of Justify, Arabian Lion's first yearlings ranked him eighth in the standings by cumulative average price for stallions standing in North America through Keeneland September.Four yearlings broke the $200,000 barrier Wednesday, beating last year's figure of three. All told, 12 hips earned a six-figure bid, also an improvement over the 2025 numbers.“The one thing I was very encouraged about was that most of the leading California trainers were in attendance on the sales grounds and worked hard,” Browning said. “We all know its important to have a cooperative approach to the sales and the racing here in California right now. We recognize the challenges. That's why its so important to us to serve the market. But it's encouraging when the men and women whose future depends on California racing show up and participate. We're making every effort we can to be supportive of the California market. Hopefully the next 12 months continue to have some positive momentum. [California racing] is vitally important to the entire North American thoroughbred industry.”Gunderson Roars For Record-Breaking Arabian Lion ColtStriking late in the session, Marc Gunderson's MWG Enterprises went to a record-breaking $525,000 to secure a California-bred colt (hip 202) from the first crop of GISW Arabian Lion.The amount far surpasses the previous record set when an American Pharoah filly brought $350,000 back in 2021.Hip 202 | Fasig-TiptonBred and consigned by Barton Thoroughbreds, the colt is the most recent out of MSP Imperial Pippin, a mare Richard Barton purchased for just $16,000 as a broodmare at Keeneland November in 2020. That mare, who carries a perfect five-for-five record of runners to winners, is also responsible for MSW Pushiness (Kantharos), a fellow Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearling graduate to Mike Repole who she sold with in utero at the 2020 auction.“Marc [Gunderson] expressed an interest in supporting California racing,” trainer Mike McCarthy, who signed the ticket, said. “[We] certainly weren't expecting to go that high. He mentioned that this was the horse that he wanted. We thought he was the best horse in the sale. I was fortunate enough to train his sister, Pushiness, and had quite a bit of success with her. Physically I thought he was one of the top three or four horses in the sale. He's got a big, wonderful shoulder and a smart look about him.”Gunderson kept the momentum rolling off a busy Keeneland September Sale where he added 15 yearlings to his barn totaling $5.84-million. Largely new the California sales scene, he admitted that the lure of the $500,000 Grade-I bonus drew him in Wednesday.“[The bonus] was the reason that I decided that we'd come out here and give it a shot,” Gunderson said. “This was a good opportunity and I like Mike and the way he does business. So this was a good chance for us to get together. [The horse] will go down to Ocala where I have a lot of them broken and then he'll come back to California so that [Mike and I] can start getting a good relationship started by having a good animal underneath us.”The $525,000 final bid was the highest price paid for an Arabian Lion yearling, surpassing the price of the 65 hips sold at Keeneland earlier this month. While the price was admittedly higher than Gunderson expected to pay, he was happy to come away with what he felt was the best horse in the sale.“We thought he was the best colt and [hip 62] was the best filly,” Gunderson said. “And as we did that, we decided we'd only go for one of them and just go for the very best. This turned out to be horse Mike chose, because he had trained the half-sister previously. I've found in the regional sales, especially with the bonuses and all, you're better off trying to locate the very best one and go get it. And that's what we did.”No Mo Mo A Perfect Fit For RepoleFor the first time since 2023, prominent owner and breeder Mike Repole is on the board in California, striking the winning $300,000 bid for a filly named No Mo Mo (hip 62) from his late champion Uncle Mo's final crop.Trainer Mike McCarthy, who bid on behalf of Repole Wednesday and has previously acted as his agent when purchasing three hips at the same sale in 2023, signed the ticket for the California-bred daughter of MSW/MGSP Tomlin.“Mike Repole is obviously a huge supporter of Uncle Mo and they're not making them anymore,” McCarthy said. “This was the one [he] wanted. She was a wonderful physical. She's a nice, medium-sized filly with a lot of balance to her. Quite a bit of presence here in the ring. She'll head to Florida to be broke and then come back [to California].”Hip 62 | Fasig-TiptonMcCarthy admitted that the $500,000 bonus, offered to the first sales graduate to win a Grade I in the country, could be a nice incentive for Repole's return to the California sales scene.“You never know with Mike,” McCarthy said. “It's obviously nice to think about something like that.”Repole has seen success with his prior Fasig-Tipton California Yearling grads. His priciest 2023 purchase at $115,000, a daughter of the recently Florida-bound sire Kantharos, turned into MSW Pushiness, a filly who finished seventh to 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) in the 2023 GI FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante Stakes.No Mo Mo was consigned by Havens Bloodstock Agency as agent for Fairview LLC, who purchased the now 10-year-old Tomlin for $200,000 as a Keeneland September Yearling grad in 2017. The mare is a Distorted Humor half to young sire Beau Liam (Liam's Map) along with the dams of MSW Sea Foam (Medaglia d'Oro), GSW/GISP Great Stuff (Quality Road) and GSW Coffee In Bed (Curlin). She banked more than $251,000 on the track before retiring to the paddocks where she has one winner from a pair to the track, a 4-year-old Medaglia d'oro filly named Seven Emmys.No Mo Mo, who was bred in California by Tom Bachman's Fairview, was initially catalogued for the Keeneland September Sale earlier this month but had to withdrawn due to a minor injury before the sale. Bachman was quick to give credit to Andy Haven's Haven Bloodstock Agency for helping to re-route the filly to this sale.“We figured we'd give it a shot [after her pre-KEESEP injury] to be a big fish in a smaller pond,” Bachman said. “Andy was instrumental in that after doing such a great job selling my horses in Kentucky.”Bachman, who said he is trying to keep his broodmare band around eight to 10 mares, already has another Uncle Mo mare in that group and was happy to support the Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearling Sale once it became clear that No Mo Mo would be unable to make her date in Kentucky.“She got kicked in the hind leg [in the field],” Bachman said of the injury. “I didn't want to put her on a van and my options were to either keep her at home or sell her out here which is what we decided to do. I don't know if I would've gotten more for her in the wildness that was Keeneland but [the price[ is just fine and what I expected for her. I've kind of got a pipeline already for my future mares so everything added up to say, 'let's sell this filly.' I feel good about her going to Mike McCarthy and staying in California, all of those are positives. I feel good about the sale.”Little Spunshine Another Havens Success StoryConsignor Havens Bloodstock added a second $300,000 sale to the afternoon when the filly Little Spunshine (Hard Spun) (hip 251) equaled the amount selling to IJJ Racing.Trainer John Sadler, who handled the ticket duties, spoke alongside the filly's new owner, Dottie Ingordo-Sherriffs. The IJJ Racing acronym stands for Jeff and Jim Jones, the nephews of Ingordo-Sherriffs.Hip 251 | Fasig-TiptonThe family has been on a tear of late both on the track and in the sales ring. First dam Miss Segura, while unraced herself, was a full-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Structor. Additionally, another of her siblings, half-sister Always Carina (Malibu Moon), produced GI Longines Kentucky Oaks winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Always A Runner (Gun Runner) and another 'Rising Star' in Forever Carina (Gun Runner) while yet another half-sister, Ana's Gun (Gun Runner), saw her yearling Not This Time colt bring $1.5-million at Keeneland September to RTM Racing.“I thought she was really solid,” Sadler said. “With Hard Spun, the pedigree is good. Nice-looking filly, looks like she'll handle training well. You have to pay up for ones you really like, that's what the theme of the day is.”Sadler admitted that a separate ownership group, of which he was bidding on behalf of, had been the underbidders on the sales-topping Arabian Lion colt.“You've got to get in on the ones you like,” Sadler said. “And they cost. But this is a nice filly. She'll go to Legacy Ranch and get broken up with Terry Knight and then she'll come back into the Cal-bred program this March or April.”City of Light Filly Set For CA Return To Mark GlattA California-bred colt will be returning home after wintering in Florida for trainer Mark Glatt as JPM Bloodstock, acting as agent for Blinkers On Racing Stable, secured a City of Light colt (hip 116) for $245,000.Bred and consigned by Richard Barton through his Barton Thoroughbreds, the colt is a half-brother to another Cal-bred stakes winner in Kangaroo Court (Dads Cap) from a four-for-four dam Barton purchased for just $7,000 as a broodmare at Keeneland November in 2017.“Mark [Glatt] and [bloodstock agent] Joe [Moran] liked the horse,” said Scott Sherwood of Blinkers On Racing. “He's the right size, he's well balanced, and he vetted perfectly clean. We like the sire. There's activity down on the dam's side. So he checked all the boxes. We looked at a lot of horses and he was the top horse on our list. He's going to go to Florida to Paul Sharp's to be broken and we'll get him back out here sometime in the spring. Then he'll go to Mark.”The post Records Fall In ‘Very Encouraging’ Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.