by Debbie Little

Concord Stud’s Julie Meirs is excited about the fine art she’s displaying at this year’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

Concord, the leading consignor by average at last year’s sale ($186,429) has a baker’s dozen of trotters on behalf of Swedish breeder Stefan Balazsi, who names all of his horses after artists or pieces of art.

“He split all of his yearlings this year, so he’s got 13 at Lexington and 13 at [the Standardbred Horse Sales Company’s] Harrisburg [Sale],” said Meirs. “The ultimate decision [of which horse to show at which sale] is left up to the owners. But it does come with a lot of discussion and trying to predict the future to see who’s going to be ready where.”

One standout in the group is Hip 104 Thinker Monkey, named for a piece by street-artist Banksy.

“I would say that’s probably the one I’m most excited about because of the potential that he has,” said Meirs. “How can you not be excited about a full brother to Gimpanzee?”

Another named for Banksy art is Hip 5 Tap Phoned, one of only two in the sale by European champion Face Time Bourbon, and, the only colt.

“Yes, he is an exciting prospect,” said Meirs. “With there only being the two, there’s a lot of potential there. And bringing a new stallion in where a lot of people haven’t experienced their foals, we have had a lot of people come to see him that just wanted to see what he looked like because they haven’t seen that many of them.”

Continuing the Banksy theme is Hip 217 Bubble Slide, who is out of Pay For Soup.

“She’s a nice big, strong filly that I think is going to be a bit of a sleeper,” said Meirs.

Pay For Soup’s first foal died as a yearling so Meirs views Bubble Slide as her first foal.

“So, it’s a blank slate for this girl and she’s a nice, big, powerful filly, so I think we’ve got some potential for this one.”

Concord’s Hip 122 La Hara is out of the mare Basquiat, named for the neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The colt is named for one of Basquiat’s paintings that sold for $35 million.

“It’s the first foal out of that family,” said Meirs. “There’s a lot of potential there.”

Of the five Chapter Seven’s in their consignment, Meirs pointed out Hip 58 Skippy Rope.

“Her family is so hot right now,” said Meirs. “Future broodmare potential is there and she’s a typical Chapter Seven.”

In addition to the Balazsi trotters, Concord has one pacing filly, Hip 338 Juicy Crunch, for owner/breeders Rob Giles’ Beechwood Acres and Mark Horner.

“I’m excited to just take one down there and have it be a Captain Crunch filly out of a great mare, The Joy Luck Club,” said Meirs. “She comes out of her stall and people are like wow, she’s impressive. For taking one down to Lexington, she’s a good one to take.

“We did well last year with taking one pacer down there. She brought $150,000, so hopefully we’ll have the same luck with this little pacer.”

Concord’s yearlings will be part of the sale’s first two sessions, with six scheduled for night one.

“We’ve got something for everybody,” said Meirs. “Which is what we’ve always said with our Harrisburg consignment. We’re not necessarily just going to have the six-figure horses.

“The horse-industry economy is booming right now and we’re really excited to see what is going to happen at Lexington. We are sort of a stand-alone industry. What’s going on around us is not necessarily what’s going to be happening in our industry.”