SARATOGA SPRINGS - Of the 50 horses that changed hands during the first two hours of Fasig-Tipton's Selected Yearling Sale on Monday, one star shone the brightest.

A bay colt named Pyramid Indy garnered all the attention by selling for $1.2 million to Lane's End Farm, where his sire, A.P. Indy, stands.

For Hunter Valley Farm co-owner Adrian Regan, the price tag literally took his breath away.

"We've never broken a million," he said, his voice shaking with emotion. "It's our first million-dollar horse."

Regan co-owns the Kentucky establishment with Fergus Galvin.
"Partnerships either work or they don't," he said. "This one has been fantastic. We have the same ideas about things."

The night's bidding started off strong with Hip No. 1, a chestnut colt, going for $450,000. After that, the first 20 horses generated little excitement except for Hip No. 7, a brown colt by Unbridled's Song whose price reached $900,000.

Five of the first 16 horses actually sold for less than $100,000 - two of them for $50,000 apiece.

"This year's sales at Kentucky were the same way," said Joe McMahon, owner of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, where 2003 Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide was born. "The top horses bring a lot of money. The lower horses are going to be harder to sell. It's the trend in the business. It's not the economy.

"Money is gravitating toward the top."

Things picked up again later in the evening when Hip No. 80, a bay filly by Storm Cat, sold for $1.5 million.

The two-day sale continues at 7 tonight at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion on East Avenue. The Selected Yearling Sale is the first, highest-priced and most prestigious of Fasig-Tipton's three Saratoga sales.

It will be followed by sales for preferred yearlings and open yearlings on Aug. 9-10 and Aug. 12, respectively.

The arena was a beehive of activity Monday night as a "Who's Who" list of racing celebrities turned out and Pyramid Indy got the crowd buzzing.

"He's a lovely individual, one of the best A.P.s I've seen at auction for a long time, and he's from an outstanding female family that I've wanted to get into for years," Lane's End Farm owner Will Farish told Thoroughbred Times.com.

"I wasn't surprised at the price, but I've been surprised with a lot of these so far. I expected him to bring more," Farish said.

An estimated 180 horses were scheduled to be sold during the two-day event, although there were 12 scratches on Monday night.

After Pyramid Indy, the bidding quickly calmed down again with most horses going for anywhere from $225,000 to $500,000.

Regan, 35, who was born on Christmas Day 1972, has had plenty of big moments during his breeding career, but none bigger than Monday's million-dollar sale.

"We were very confident this was one of the best horses," he said.