The reigning Canadian Trotting Classic champ was purchased by Greg Luther for $1.85 million from the Preferred consignment on the last day of the Standardbred Horse Sales Company auction in Harrisburg, PA.

by Ray Cotolo

Record after record shattered through the week of the 2024 Standardbred Horse Sales Company auction in Harrisburg, PA culminating in Friday’s (Nov. 8) closing session with the largest purchase ever made at a standardbred auction.

Amazing Catch — the 2024 Canadian Trotting Classic champ — sold within the last 50 horses of the final Mixed Sale session, was listed as Hip #1595.

The 3-year-old Walner colt out of Mets Life, entered in the sale as part of an ongoing dispersal from the partnership of Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld, quickly drew high offers. He opened at $200,000 and ascended in a multi-prong bidding war that dissolved into a battle of two after breaching the million-dollar threshold. On one side of the arena stood Andrew Harris, his back against the black and yellow curtain draped over the corridor to the North Hall. Harris, with his catalog over his mouth as he talked over the phone with owner Bill Pollock, pressed persistently as $1 million became $1.1 million, then $1.2 million and marched ever nearer to Atlanta’s record sale of $1.55 million over onGait.com.

Harris’ opponent in this fight kept forcing the number to climb from the other side of the arena. Greg Luther, standing on the floor in front of the grandstand seating against the Main Hall, stayed adamant as Amazing Catch surpassed the record, but the bidding moved deeper. Harris pulled back from the hundred-thousand dollar leaps with a bid of $1.75 million, but Luther came back with an offer of $1.85 million. At that point, Harris backed out and the auctioneer let a still moment hover. When no other offers arose, Luther won and applause erupted for the richest sale ever at auction for a single standardbred.

“I figured he’d go close to $2 million,” Luther said. “I was thinking $1.5 to $2 million because a lot of people wanted to export him; wanting to take him overseas. I was going to keep going. Like I say, $2 million, $2.5 million – when you get to those numbers it’s only a 10 per cent or 20 per cent difference. You’re going to overpay. When you want a good horse, you’re going to overpay. Frankly, at an auction, you have to be the dumbest person in the room. Everyone else basically has to say, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s too much money.’ That’s how you win in an auction. That’s every horse that went through – somebody said, ‘That’s too much.’ So, I figured that would be the case, but I wanted a good horse like that.

“You’ve got to pay for a good horse, and it’s such a unique opportunity next year with everybody retiring – Karl, T C I, Sig Sauer, It’s Academic, Winner’s Bet… They are all gone [to stud], so you can really make a lot of money next year.”

Luther, who noted he’s likely to keep Amazing Catch with his current trainer Ake Svanstedt, also said he felt confident going so high in price because of the colt’s prospects as a stallion, including to breed with some in his own stable of currently 160 head.

“I wish [they] would’ve sold this horse before those great trotting mares yesterday, because I’d be raising my hand on that end and be going for crazier money,” Luther said with a laugh, “but we’ve got plenty of time for that and I’ll probably be stocking up next year.

“So, anybody watching or listening or reading, put your broodmares in there next year because I’ll do the same for you.”

With the sale of Amazing Catch, the 2024 SHSC auction is the first standardbred sale in history to sell three horses for seven figures in the same year. Yearling Cambridge Hanover sold for $1 million on Monday (Nov. 4) and broodmare Hot Mess Hanover, the dam of Jiggy Jog S, sold for $1 million during Thursday’s (Nov. 7) session.

Only the 2019 Lexington Selected Sale had two million-dollar sales with the yearlings Maverick (selling for $1.1 million) and Damien (selling for $1 million).

“[I’m] terribly thrilled,” said Dale Welk, president and director of operations for the Standardbred Horse Sales Company. “It’s still not quite sunk in, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I was back there with a huge lump in my throat when the last one sold. I thought it would be close to a million, but I never dreamed $1.8 million. Until it hit $1.6 million, then it was, like, ‘This thing might hit $2 million!’ I’m still a little emotional about it. It’s a big deal. I think you’ll see million-dollar mares and million-dollar others, but I don’t know if you’ll see them all in the same auction. It just proves that we’re Pennsylvania strong and it’s great to be in this building. We’re in Pennsylvania and we’re here to kick butt.”

Amazing Catch was consigned by Preferred Equine, which sold the first horse and the last horse of the 2024 sale. The consignment also surpassed exactly $20 million in gross sales in 2023 with $20,507,000 in sales this year, a 2.5 per cent increase, to lead all consignors for the complete auction.

“The market is always ready for a good horse,” said David Reid, president of Preferred Equine. “I think the overall sale — when you go back and digest it — the $1.8 million was good today, obviously, and the million-dollar mare yesterday was good, but it was still a very workmanlike sale. There’s a lot of money out there. For the top end, whether it’s thoroughbreds or standardbreds, there’s been money all year for the top-end horses. I hope it bodes well going forward, but the industry has to still continue to improve and we’ll see what happens in the future.”

CLOSING SESSION LEADERS

Mambacita, selling as Hip #1510, drew the second-highest bid of the closing session. Ashleigh Bailey signed the ticket for $750,000 as agent for Crawford Farms, a co-owner of the millionaire 4-year-old mare by Tactical Landing. Bailey also signed as agent for Sadbirdstillsing, selling as Hip #1513 for $285,000 – the sixth-highest price of the afternoon. The daughter of Chapter Seven and Mambacita were consigned by Preferred Equine.

After getting outbid on Amazing Catch, Harris came back a few horses later to post the third-highest purchase of the day with Hip #1600, the Captaintreacherous colt Captain Luke. Harris paid $400,000 for the 2023 Governor’s Cup winner consigned by Preferred.

Linda Stewart of Lexington, KY paid $360,000 — the fourth-highest price of the session — for Hip #1490, the Chapter Seven filly Chaparmbro. She is a half-sister to millionaire Dejarmbro as well as stakes winner Shared Past. She was consigned by Northwood Bloodstock.

RECORD WRAP

The two-day mixed portion of the SHSC auction ended with the highest gross ever. From 597 sales, this year’s mixed session grossed $31,608,000 and set an all-time average record of $52,945.

Friday’s second session of the 2024 mixed sale, from 253 sales, grossed $15,632,000 for an average of $61,787 and with a median price of $35,000.

Adding in the yearling portion, the complete five-day auction ended with the fourth-highest gross of all time. From 1,463 sales, the 2024 session grossed $68,699,000, just 2.2 per cent off the all-time record gross in 2007 of $70,050,000. The 2024 total sale average of $46,958 sits as the third best in Black Book history.

“I try to predict things in my mind and I do say things when we all talk,” Welk said, “but [this mixed sale] exceeded what I thought and that doesn’t happen often, because I have high hopes and expectations for myself and the crew and the yearlings and the horses and the buyers. I couldn’t have written a book down to get it better than this.”

The $20.5-million gross for Preferred Equine also was a record for the SHSC auction, slightly eclipsing its record of $20.49 million from the 2022 sale.

“We’re very consistent with our numbers, generally speaking,” Reid said. “Obviously, there’s a bit of a bump with the $1.8 million horse and the million-dollar mare yesterday, but historically we really try to represent the top of the marketplace and year after year we also have a great row of fillies back there to represent.

“It was just another great year and I really have to thank my customers. We have a big team back there at Preferred. We work hard and we try to do the best we can for our clients and we’re very appreciative of the clients that give us the opportunity to represent them. Hopefully, for the most part, we do a good job and get the results the sellers want. On the other hand, we love selling horses that go on. We love our graduates and we cheer for the people that purchase them and hope for good things to come.”