Fasig-Tipton preview ends, new rules reshape Maryland 2-year-old sale

Rising winds and threatening skies closed the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training under-tack preview on Wednesday, but the bigger change came from the way the horses were shown. With no official times and a restricted crop policy, buyers at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium had to judge the market with less hard data than usual.

Fasig-Tipton condensed the preview to two sessions, moving it to Tuesday and Wednesday, May 12-13, with 8 a.m. starts after a wet forecast raised the risk of more disruption. The sale itself is set for Monday and Tuesday, May 18-19, at Timonium, following the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 16. The 2026 catalogue lists 593 entries, a larger book than a year ago, even as the company asks buyers to trust the horses’ motion and presence instead of the stopwatch.

That shift is the point of the new format. Fasig-Tipton said the under-tack show would be untimed, with no official times recorded or published. Riders may carry a crop for safety, but they may not strike horses, and the company added a Safety Officer, veterinary review for flagged horses and a probationary monitoring list before a horse is cleared to preview. The goal, Fasig-Tipton said, is to reflect natural athleticism, improve safety and widen the buyer pool.

For consignors and pinhookers, the immediate consequence is obvious: less comparability. Ciaran Dunne of Wavertree Stables, which sent 10 horses to the preview, said the absence of times makes it harder to measure one juvenile against the rest of the sale population. In practical terms, horses with a strong physical look, efficient stride and polished way of going may benefit most when buyers cannot lean on published furlong fractions. Horses that relied on a flashy clocking to separate themselves may have a tougher path.

The market is not entering this change blind. Fasig-Tipton pointed to last year’s weather-hit preview as an unplanned test case, when the final under-tack session turned into untimed gallops. The company said that adjustment produced overwhelmingly positive feedback and helped produce new sale records for gross, average and median, topped by a $1.1 million filly. That backdrop explains why some horsemen, including Becky Thomas, have embraced the less pressured, more visual presentation, while others are still uneasy about losing a benchmark they have used for years.

About 250 horses previewed on the first day, giving the sale its first real look at how the new rules work in practice. By the time bidding opens next week, the question will not just be which juveniles move best, but which buyers are willing to pay the same money without the numbers they once trusted.