The Lexington Selected Yearling Sale concluded Saturday night with a $56,304 average — that was a whopping 24.5 per cent better than the sale’s previous best — and a gross of $32.3 million that was the second highest in its history.

“It was a very good sale overall, start to finish,” said David Reid, who manages the sale in partnership with Randy Manges. “As proud as you are to start off so strong, you’re equally proud to maintain it over five sessions and then even prouder to close out on a night like tonight. We had a smaller offering and a great crowd and Randy and I formatted the sale so we had offspring of unique, regional sires selling tonight, in addition to some trotters. Overall, I think it worked to a T and just caps off a fabulous week of weather and racing down here.”

photo: Perfect weather and strong crowds helped drive the sale to a record average of $56,304 and a gross of more than $32.2 million that was the second highest in sale history. | Dave Landry