New consignors shine as Lexington sale tops $40 million in gross sales through two sessions

Compared to a strong 2024 auction, the gross and average are off over 7 per cent.

story by Dave Briggs, quotes by James Platz

First-year consignors have made their presence felt at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

On Tuesday (Sept. 30) at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion, Armitage Farm sold the session topper, Hip #182 Jimdougie Armitage for $750,000 to Ake Svanstedt. The colt is a son of Svanstedt’s 2021 Hambletonian champion Captain Corey out of Quick Bet, a sister to Winner’s Bet.

“That was a complete surprise,” Armitage farm manager Dale Holly said. “He was a great-looking colt and we kind of caught lightning in a bottle with the sire being pretty popular and him being such a good-looking individual. It was more luck than anything else.”

Holly said the farm’s first experience selling in Lexington has been a good one.

“We’re very happy with our first consignment,” Holly said. “It takes a while to get your name established in any industry and we’ve had some growing pains along the way, but we’re very happy with the way we’ve been received by this industry and by the people inside it. Everyone has been so helpful to us.”

Holly said the farm would use the money to reinvest in the business.

“I plan on being active in Harrisburg,” he said.

Co-sales manager David Reid said the $750,000 price was the result of, “a good bidding war, there’s no doubt about that. Hat’s off to Captain Corey, who is off to a great start this year and he was a good-looking horse and hat’s off to the consignor, Armitage Farm, having their first consignment here. It’s always good to see a consignor get started off like that and have some success.

“It’s just a reflection of the depth of the catalog. Breeders come to their first consignment here and they sell a horse for $750,000. I think that’s great. He’s going to a great home and Captain Corey has been off to a great start. I think it’s well-deserved by all and well-played by all.”

The second-highest priced yearling sold, Hip #185 Kountry Win, was also sold by a first-time consignor. Kountry Lane Standardbreds sold the son of first-crop sire King Of The North out of Winndevie to Brad Grant for $425,000. Kountry Lane is owned by Ola Yoder and managed by Duane Miller.

“I had him priced at $300,000,” Miller said. “I never did expect that he was going to bring that.

“It’s extra special because we have the stallion and he’s a homebred. So, that makes it ever sweeter. It’s the first crop of King Of The North so we’re hoping, for our sake, that he gets off to a good foot, so that’s good that people liked him. That was great and it was more than we would hope for.”

The Lexington Selected Yearling Sale is down 7.9 per cent in gross and down 7.6 per cent in average through two days.

The cumulative gross is $40,967,000 for 342 sold, with an average of $119,787 and a median of $86,000.

The record gross through two days is $45,464,000 set in 2023.

Tuesday’s session gross was $19,166,000 for 222 sold, to produce an average of $86,333. The median was $70,000. Seventy horses sold for $100,000 or more, down from 78 in 2024.

In 2024, the sale set new records for average sale price both for the second session ($97,678) and through the first two days ($129,625). The session record for gross is $23,242,000 set in 2023.

“Looks like we’re going to be off around 9 or 10 per cent for average and gross is going to follow the same,” Reid said before the numbers were completely finalized. “That’s off a very good year in last year, so there’s nothing to be ashamed of. It is what it is. The market is going to be what it is. People are astute and we’ve got people here… we’ve said all along we’ve got good sire power and multiple jurisdictions and people here are shopping and they are bidding what they feel they are capable of bidding on. It is what it is. They are going to dictate the market.

“I haven’t analyzed the numbers yet, but you’re probably going to see the lower part of the market being a little tough. That may be just part of the general economy or inflationary issues or currency pressures. It’s not perfect out there, but, again, I thought it was a pretty good session and I’ll look forward to just continuing the week.

“I thought we had good energy here again today. I thought we had a good crowd. Maybe it’s a slight correction or just a lineup of the stallions or the mares or the production or maybe it’s just part of the economy. I’m not really sure yet until we do some more digging in, but we’re talking about big numbers in gross – $19 million today and the average was $86,000 so it’s still a successful day and there’s nothing that anyone should hang their head on about that.”

Hunterton leads all consignors with $9.234 million in sales for 60 yearlings, followed by Preferred Equine ($5.582 million, 47), and Kentuckiana Farms ($5.034 million, 47).

Andrew Harris, agent for Bill Pollock, continues to lead all buyers with $2,285,000 spent, total on eight yearlings. Harris purchased two yearlings on Tuesday for a total of $335,000.

Ake Svanstedt spent the most during the session, spending $1.26 million to buy five yearlings. He’s now tied with Harris through two days with $2.85 million spent to take home 12 yearlings.

Walner continues to dominate the sires. Through two days, he is over $10 million in sales ($10.078 million) for 68 sold, followed by Chapter Seven ($5.771 million, 45), Muscle Hill ($3.676 million, 28), Captaintreacherous ($2.897 million, 26), and second-crop sire Bulldog Hanover ($2.51 million, 20). Another second-crop sire, Captain Corey, has sales of $1.982 million for 13 sold. First-crop sire King Of The North is averaging $211,250 for four sold.

The third session of the sale begins today (Oct. 1) at 1 p.m.

“We’ve had good traffic in the barn for the horses selling all during the week, so I think the averages and the trends will probably follow last year and probably be off a little bit – first day was off a little bit, second day was off a little bit compared to last year, but, there again, that’s not the baseline,” Reid said. “That’s off of a great year and I would expect that trend to be similar.

“We have a lot of nice horses tomorrow and the foot traffic has been good, so I think the market will be consistent year-over-year and we’ll find out 24 hours from now.”