Taiba tops First-Crop sires at F-T July sale with $300,000 colt

Three-time Grade 1 winner Taiba topped all First-Crop sires at the Fasig-Tipton July Select Yearlings sale on Tuesday with a $300,000 colt from the Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Don Alberto Corporation consignment.

Purchased by Taproot Bloodstock’s Phil Hager, hip No. 36 wound up as the co-third highest price paid during the one-day sale.

“He’s a big two-turn dirt looking horse,” Hager said of the bay colt. “Which is what this owner really likes. I like the pedigree, too. I love the sire. We’ve had a lot of luck with Gun Runner. [Taiba] was a nice yearling and obviously a good 2-year old.”

Bred by Alberto, the colt is out of the Tiznow mare Dayfa, who is a half-sister to stakes winner Dance D’Oro. Through his third dam Quiet Dance, the colt is closely related Horses of the Year Gun Runner and Saint Liam, as well as Grade 1 winner Funtastic and Grade 1-placed Ottino.

Taiba, who won the Malibu S., Pennsylvania Derby and Santa Anita Derby (all Grade 1s), is Gun Runner’s only three-time winner at the top level at stud. Taiba’s fee for 2026 was $25,000 S&N.