A bid of $200,000 for the Explosive Matter filly out of Baileys Breeze topped Thursday’s session.

by Dave Briggs

After two blazing sessions of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, buyers backed off a little during Thursday’s third session at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Lexington, KY. Both the average and gross dropped when compared to last year’s third session, though the total sale gross through three nights is still up almost $3 million and the average is up 5.5 per cent when compared to 2017.

In all, 162 yearlings went through the ring Thursday. The session gross was $6,756,000 and the average was $41,704, which is down 12.4 per cent from the $47,594 fetched on day three in 2017. The gross was down 12.7 per cent from the $7,615,000 fetched on day three last year.

“The sale backed off a little bit, but I think last year we had a few surprises on the third night that we maybe didn’t have tonight,” said the sale’s co-manager David Reid.

Still, the number of $100,000+ yearlings is up sharply from 2017, when 103 yearlings hit six figures. There were nine $100,000 yearlings on the third night to bring the three-day total to 119.

Through three sessions, the 2018 sale has grossed $33,307,000 for 427 yearlings sold and produced an average of $78,002 that is up 5.5 per cent from the three-day average of $73,954 from a record 2017 sale. The gross is up 9.6 per cent from the 2017 three-day gross of $30,395,000.

The sale’s co-manager David Reid said it’s important to note that last Ken Jacobs paid $335,000 for Southwind Bugz, a Muscle Hill colt out of Missymae Bluestone bred by Southwind Farms and consigned by Preferred Equine. That price ended up being the second highest price of the entire 2017 sale.

“Preferred sold a trotting colt for $335,000 last year on the third day, and we didn’t have that this year,” Reid said.

This year, the highest-priced yearling sold during the third session was the Explosive Matter filly out of Baileys Breeze that sold for $200,000 to Reijo Liljendahl of Sweden out of the Winbak Farm consignment.

The Father Patrick filly out of Downpour named Torrent was the next highest priced yearling sold Thursday. Jim Glass, agent, of Stanford, KY bought the filly for $162,000 out of the Diamond Creek Farm consignment.

Pacing filly Perfect, an American Ideal out of Glowing Report was purchased for $135,000 by Willow Oak Ranch of Rogersville, TN out of Cameo Hills Farm’s consignment.

Then, three yearlings each fetched $130,000 — Extreme Edge, the Father Patrick colt out of Getinonthesecret bought by Bryan Montgomery, agent, of Cream Ridge, NJ from Spring Haven Farm, agent; Creature Of Habit, a Donato Hanover filly out of Habit’s Best purchased by Mel Hartman of Ottawa, ON from Cane Run Farm, agent and Barney Google, an Artspeak colt out of Oogle Google purchased by Ecurie CSL of Sorel-tracy, QC from Hunterton Sales Agency, Inc., agent.

Jacobs has leapt to the top of the buyers’ list with $1,192,000 spent, total, on six yearlings through three days. Burke Racing Stable LLC is next with $1,187,000, total, spent on 12 yearlings, following by Bryan Montgomery, agent, who has spent $995,000, total, on six yearlings.

Reid said, Thursday’s “crowd was fine. I would say the crowd would probably be better (Friday) night, but it’s just the way it was in the session.”

Ranked by gross sales, Reid’s Preferred Equine leads consignors by gross with $8.129 million through three sessions with 107 horses sold for an average of $75,972. Hunterton Sales Agency, Inc. is next with gross sales of $4,726,000 for 58 sold. Kentuckiana Farms is third with gross sales of $4,150,000 for 52 sold. By average, with three or more sold, Peninsula Farm Inc. leads with $163,231 for 13 horses sold, followed by Cane Run Farm ($140,000, four sold) and Cameo Hills Farm ($84,611 for 18 sold).

Though relatively light in purchases the first two nights, Canadian buyers were more active on day three, accounting for more than 23.5 per cent of the gross sales, compared to just 10.3 per cent of the gross on opening night and 16.3 per cent of the gross on day two.

Sires Muscle Hill and Captaintreacherous continue to top the sire list as in previous years. Muscle Hill is averaging $121,000 through three nights with 48 sold and leads the sale with a gross of $5,808,000. Captaintreacherous is second on the list (for stallions with three or more offspring sold) by gross with $4,895,000 for 55 sold, but his sire, Somebeachsomewhere, is second by average with $106,269 for 26 sold. Father Patrick is third by average with $92,909 for 44 sold, followed by Chapter Seven ($90,542, 24 sold).

Despite the third session being a little softer than last year’s third session, Reid said it was still a solid night, “and we’ve got two more nights to go and we’re anticipating a strong finish.”

The fourth session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale will feature 161 yearlings. It begins tonight at 7 p.m. at Fasig-Tipton. For more information about the sale, please visit: http://www.lexingtonselected.com.