by Debbie Little

The Vieux Carre Farms consignment can be looked at as tiny but mighty as it is spread across the first three days of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale including three on Day 1. The farm’s baker’s dozen of yearlings include tried and true sires as well as some hot new ones.

“We’re bringing a few less this year than we normally bring, 13, but I think we’ve got a nice lineup,” said Vieux Carre Farms’ general manager Mark Egloff. “We’re stronger on the pacing side and I’d say our pacing fillies are probably our strong suit here at Lexington.

“I’ve got a pair of Sweet Lou fillies that are really well bred and they look the part. One’s on the first day named Sweet Lake. She’s [Hip] #78 and her brother Captain Luke [P, 3, 1:49.1M $583,524] is a good horse… He’s done well. It’s a great family, so I expect her to sell very well.

Egloff’s second Sweet Lou filly is selling on Day 2.

“She’s out of Bolt Of Thunder; she’s [Hip] #275,” Egloff said. “Her name is Stormy and she’s a very tall, elegant, very racy looking filly and very classy and I think she’ll be received well. So, I’m not worried about those. Those will sell themselves.”

Also on Day 2, Vieux Carre has a colt by Papi Rob Hanover [Hip #227 Winter Hawk] out of a good mare they’ve had for a while named Weapons Against. This colt has a lot of stud horses — Rocknroll Hanover, Westerner Hanover, Cam’s Card Shark and Somebeachsomewhere — in his pedigree.

“And Papi Rob’s had a very good year,” Egloff said. “This colt is a big, strong, very, very animated colt, but he has a lot of manners. Those are my favorites.”

When it comes to naming their foals, Egloff said they try to be a little creative as well as pay homage to the past.

“Sometimes we try to bring back the famous name in the pedigree too,” he said. “Like Sweet Lake is the granddaughter of Bunny Lake who was a top mare.”

Vieux Carre also has a pair of Tall Dark Strangers selling on Day 1.

Their first horse in the ring is Hip #64 With The Fur, out of Apple Bottom Jeans. If the Flo Rida song that inspired the filly’s name is correct, the whole place may be lookin’ at her.

They also have a colt, Hip #92 Really Bright.

“We’ve got a Tall Dark Stranger out of Economy Terror who’s obviously sold them for lots and lots of money down there every year,” Egloff said. “She hasn’t come up with a top horse yet, but this is a nice colt and all of hers have shown flashes of brilliance. I think if all the balls fall in the right spot she’s supposed to come up with a champion.”

The lowest price brought by Economy Terror’s last five foals was $50,000 (Market Based in the pandemic year of 2020) with the other four bringing at least twice that: One Eight Hundred ($800,000 in 2019), Sheer Terror ($270,000 in 2021), Booming Economy ($180,000 in 2022) and Inflation Proof ($100,000 in 2022).

According to Egloff, there’s always interest in an Always B Miki filly that looks the part.

“I’ve got a nice Always B Miki filly; you know, he’s still cranking out those top fillies,” he said. “I think they did really well in Lexington [a couple of weeks ago] in the sire stakes. She’s, [Hip] #476 [Buzz Me Up] on the third day.”

Also selling on Day 3 is New Jersey eligible yearling Hip #487 Perfect Ruler. The first crop son of Perfect Sting is out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare Ava Hanover.

When asked how he thought the Perfect Stings would sell at Lexington, Egloff said: “You know, I don’t know why they wouldn’t sell well this year. I mean, he’s pretty much going to have it all to himself in Jersey. I expect them to sell well.”

According to Egloff, perhaps one important key to a good sale is variety.

“If you want to stay in the business, you’ve always got to invest in some new stallions and they’re not all going to work out,” he said. “But, you know, you have to take a shot and then you have the ones that have worked out that you keep going back to. So, yeah, we’re always going to try to have a mix like that. I have some ones that have already done it and some ones that we hope will do it.”

And, just as he has done in previous years, Egloff likes his consignment to be spread across multiple days.

“We’re just like farmers, you know, some crops are better than others,” Egloff said. “A lot of people say, oh, you know, they want the first day or second day. The first day you’re competing with the best pedigrees in the world, so you can kind of fall through the cracks there too if you end up there. But we talk with the sales company and David Reid is very knowledgeable and he works with us. They’re great to work with and you can learn a lot from them and of course they want to know as much information as they can about ours and the individual ones we like.

“So, we get together and we kind of figure out who should go where and hope it works out. It’s all a crap shoot in the end.”

The sale in Lexington has been very good in recent years and Egloff sees no reason, barring something unforeseen, for it to be any different this year.

“I know the thoroughbred market’s been really strong,” Egloff said. “Saratoga was really big this year, stock markets are at record highs, so, I have no reason to think that it won’t be a very good sale.”