by James Platz

Long Touch, by Long Tom out of the Andover Hall mare Upfront Carol, topped the Buckeye Classic Yearling Sale, held Tuesday (Oct. 11) at the Champions Center Expo in Springfield, OH. Consigned by Dublin Valley Farm as agent for Troyer Farms of Middlefield, OH, the brown colt, cataloged as Hip 114, sold for $75,000, purchased by Wayne Mast Jr. All told, 231 yearlings passed through the sale ring to gross $2.57 million and produce an average of $11,127. That figure represented a nine per cent decrease over 2021 business for the sale, conducted by Hoosier Classic Sale Company LLC.

“We really had not focused in on him until we saw him. He caught our eye,” Mast said of Long Touch. “We just really liked that horse. He was a good-looking individual. There were some things I was looking for in the Long Tom side. We really like Long Tom in general to start with. We thought the colt had a lot of similarities to the one we have.”

Mast and his partner, Walt Callam (Callam Racing LLC), won an Ohio Sires Stakes championship on Oct. 1 with Long Tom gelding Longshot. The sophomore won eight of 14 seasonal starts and banked just shy of $300,000 in 2022.

Mast not only purchased the sale topper, but the Dundee, OH-based owner was also the most active buyer at the Buckeye Classic. Over the course of the session he signed seven tickets totaling $212,000. Besides Long Touch, a sibling to 16-time winner Dont Front Me, Mast purchased three other offspring from the son of Muscle Hill. Lucky Tom, Hip 106 in the catalog, sold to Mast for $32,000. Out of the SJs Caviar mare G Momma, the colt is a full brother to OHSS final runner-up Along In Time. Brushy Acres of Huntsburg, OH consigned the bay.

The owner also invested in yearlings from well-established and new trotting sires in the Buckeye State. Mast placed the last bid on Home Run Queen, a Full Count filly consigned by Crystal Springs Farm. Cataloged as Hip 66, she is a sister to three winners, selling for $21,000. Mast also signed the ticket on Lady’s Cdl (Hip 158) for $20,000. From the first crop of European champion Volstead, the colt is the first foal from a Chapter Seven mare that is sister to four winners.

“In the first sale there was a lot of hype about him,” Mast said of Volstead. “I’m impressed with how he puts a horse together. It wasn’t just the one I ended up buying. I hope it will translate into good racehorses.”

Volstead was well received at the Buckeye Classic, with eight babies averaging $20,250. A pair of colts from the Dublin Valley consignment – Swanstead (Hip 107) and Whiskey Peddler (Hip 166) – brought $25,000 apiece. Offspring from Long Tom also generated strong numbers, with 25 averaging $18,360 and seven sold for $25,000 or more. A quartet sired by Triumphant Caviar averaged $21,500, while Full Count was represented by 10 yearlings that sold for $17,300 on average.

Set Sail, the lone representative of Downbytheseaside, topped all pacers sold at the Buckeye Classic. The filly is eligible to Ohio and Kentucky and is a sibling to six-figure earners Dragons Revenge and My Red Sea. Cataloged as Hip 38 from the Cool Winds Farm consignment, William Rufenacht of Archbold, Ohio purchased the filly for $49,000.

How Hill, a colt from the Winterwood Farm consignment, attracted the next highest bid for a pacer at $38,000. Sold as Hip 131, the Racing Hill yearling is the first foal from a Western Terror mare that is a full sister to 48-time winner Mosee Terror ($574,582). Matt Rowe purchased the colt.

A group of six Racing Hill babies averaged $17,417, while half a dozen from the first crop of Lather Up sold for an average of $12,667. Nine individuals sired by Fear The Dragon averaged $10,389 led by filly Dancing Dragon, which brought $35,000 and sold to Chris Short.

Dublin Valley Farm, which offered the largest consignment at the Buckeye Classic, finished with 36 yearlings grossing $508,800 and averaging $14,133. LMN Bred Stables sold 19 babies for $261,000, an average of $13,737. A group of six Hickory Lane yearlings averaged $16,833, while Crystal Springs Farm sold eight that averaged $12,563.

Smaller consignments that produced good numbers included Perry Coblentz (two sold for $60,000), Brushy Acres (four sold for $86,700), Marvin Raber (three sold for $77,000) and Royal View Farms and Bill Troyer (two sold for $41,000).

This year’s sale saw a reduction in gross, average and median while selling 10 more yearlings than in 2021. Although 21 yearlings were hammered down for $25,000 or more, 30 brought less than $4,000. By comparison, only nine babies sold for less than $4,000 last year when the sale averaged over $12,000.

A dozen yearlings were sold online through the Proxibid platform for sales of $75,900.