LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale, which produced dramatic increases from 2024 to 2025, opened with a day of solid, if unspectacular, results Monday in Lexington. For the session, 265 yearlings grossed $15,294,000. The session average of $57,713 dipped 9.0% from last year's opening session, while the median rose 23.3% to $37,000. With 87 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 24.7%.“It was a solid opening session to the October sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. Monday evening. “The average price had a small decline, the median had a small increase. The RNA rate was a little higher than we would have hoped, a small increase over last year.”The cumulative average at the 2025 October sale was a record $65,341 and the median was a record $30,000.“It's impossible to make any projections [on the remainder of the week],” Browning said. “The catalogue is alphabetical. The general consensus of people that I've talked to on the sales grounds is that the quality of horses is going to improve as we go through the week. So a good start, hopefully we will see some higher prices tomorrow. We are happy with today, hoping to be happier tomorrow and Wednesday and Thursday.”Kaleem Shah made the session's highest bid, going to $360,000 to acquire a colt by Constitution from the Woods Edge Farm consignment. The yearling was one of four to sell for $300,000 or more on the day, while 16 sold for $200,000 or more. Twenty sold for $200,000 or more during the opening session in 2025.Jake Memolo of Elite Sales made the second-highest bid of the day, going to $325,000 to acquire a filly by Twirling Candy on behalf of Steven Laymon's First Row Partners.“We've been lucky enough to land a few, but we've also underbid on a few,” Memolo said of the October market. “I would say it's been pretty solid and it feels like a continuance of where we were in September. It was hard to buy horses there and it's slightly easier here, but the market is still pretty good.”The Fasig-Tipton October sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.'Ask Me Next Year': Shah Hopes for Best with $360k Constitution ColtAsked what he liked about the Constitution colt (hip 328) he purchased with a $360,000 internet bid at the October sale Monday, Kaleem Shah said with a laugh, “A year from now, I hope you ask me. I will tell you what I liked about him then. Hopefully, he does some good. I've bought many horses at the sales, but only a few of them pan out. I hope this horse pans out.”Shah agreed buying yearlings this fall has been tough.“It has been competitive, especially at the Saratoga and Keeneland sales,” he said. “I was outbid on quite a few of them, so I am glad I got this one.”Hip 328 is out of stakes winner Team of Teams (Elusive Quality), a daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Teammate (A.P. Indy). She was consigned by the Peter and Jenny O'Callaghan's Woods Edge Farm and was purchased by the couple for $310,000 at the Keeneland January sale. He RNA'd for $225,000 at the Keeneland September sale last month.“He was a lovely foal when we bought him,” said Peter O'Callaghan. “A good Constitution. A strong one, a good hip on him, which for such a good stallion, it's hard to get one as robust and as good of a shape as that, that looks like he'd have speed.“We thought he was a particularly nice one in January and he just had a few hiccups during the year that kind of set him back a little bit, and he just wasn't quite where he needed to be in September. I shouldn't have brought him there. He wasn't quite ready, but he was ready today.”O'Callaghan summed up the result, “Satisfactory outcome, not hugely profitable, but he was expensive the day we bought him. We kind of maybe missed our slot in Book 2 and this was a great salvage mission here, and we're very happy with the sale. As always, just delighted that Fasig-Tipton can accommodate us. This sale continues to be an absolute savior year on year, and it keeps us all in business when we have little ones that don't quite work the first time around.”Hip 276 | Fasig TiptonLaymon Looks for More October Success with Twirling Candy FillySteve Laymon, who acquired future champion Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton October sale, was back in action at the auction Monday, going to $325,000 for a daughter of Twirling Candy (hip 276) from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment. Jake Memolo of Elite Sales signed the ticket on the filly on behalf of Laymon's First Row Partners.“Liz [Crow] loved her and she wanted to be strong here,” Memolo said.Crow signed the ticket at $170,000 to purchase Goodnight Olive for Laymon seven years ago. The filly went on to win back-to-back renewals of the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint and was named the country's top female sprinter in 2022 and 2023 before selling for $6 million at the 2023 Keeneland November sale.Hip 276 is out of stakes-placed Super Tigress (Super Saver) and her 2-year-old half-brother Showa (Constitution), who broke his maiden at Kentucky Downs in September, won a Keeneland allowance just last week. The $1-million Keeneland September yearling purchase for Asagi Stables has now won two of three lifetime starts.The yearling's third dam is Beware of the Cat (Caveat), dam of Editor's Note and Hold That Tiger.Memolo admitted the team had about reached its limit when bidding on the filly reached $325,000 Monday.“That was all we had,” he said. “We were excited to get the horse for that price. We weren't able to go any more and we got lucky. Hopefully she's lucky on the track.”Dr Louis Bucky, John Servis, and Kim Valerio | Fasig TiptonBucky Makes Most of Lexington TripPhiladelphia plastic surgeon Dr. Louis Bucky was back at the airport just a couple hours after adding a colt by Tapit (hip 119) to his Main Line Racing stable for $300,000 early in Monday's first session of the October sale. Out of stakes winner and Grade I-placed Sea Queen (Lemon Drop Kid), the yearling was bred and consigned by Gainesway.“[Bloodstock agent] Kim Valerio and [trainer] John Servis help me pick horses,” Bucky said. “We've had a lot of luck with Kim buying fillies. And now we've had a little bit of recent success with colts, so my partner Will Schwartz and I decided to expand from fillies to buy a few colts. This Tapit looked just like Essential Quality to Kim and we loved him. We thought this would be a great place to start.”Bucky and Schwartz look to add about 15-20 yearlings to their stable each fall, but Bucky admitted the market has made shopping difficult this year.“We bought several in July and a few in September and we are going to be active here again,” he said. “It's been very competitive, it's been tough. A lot of work for a little bit of success. But that's why we felt this one stood out and I feel really lucky to get this colt. Gainesway and Tapit go together very well.”Bucky said the whole team worked well together.“Mr. Schwartz and I are great partners, I love the sales and he is a terrific handicapper,” Bucky said. “We are both really close to our trainer John Servis. And Kim has been a great bloodstock agent for us.”The Main Line team had an extra assist Monday with Bucky's grandson Dylan attending the sale.“We saw all the horses we were interested in and it was spectacular to have him there,” Bucky said. “I started with my dad a long time ago in Chicago at Arlington Park. To have my grandson being interested now is a dream come true for me.”The post ‘A Good Start’: $360K Constitution Colt Tops Fasig October Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.