Solid second session keeps Lexington sale on pace with prior years

The session-topper was a Bulldog Hanover colt out of Coronet that sold for $500,000.

story by Dave Briggs
quotes by Dave Briggs and James Platz

David Reid said he was “extremely thrilled” with the results from the second session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, held Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 6) at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion.

The session grossed $22,570,000 for 256 sold to produce an average of $84,258 that was down 2.4 per cent from the 2025 average of $86,333 when 34 fewer horses were sold.

“We sold 34 more head this year than last year, the session went smooth – topped by a pacer, a Bulldog Hanover for $500,000, and a trotter for $450,000,” said Reid, who manages the sale with Bruce Brinkerhoff. “The median stayed absolutely the same, $70,000, which is great adding 34 horses.

“It was well-attended once again, which I’m happy to see that, but there was a lot more internet bidding today. That’s good to see. Some people come into town and then they leave town and others come back in, so it’s a great blend.”

Through two days, the sale has grossed $43,757,000, up 7 per cent over $40,967,000 at this point last year. Though, 25 more horses have been sold this year through two days compared to last. The two-day average of $119,229 is on par with last year ($119,787). This year’s median of $90,000 is up from $86,000 last year. The record gross through two days is $45,464,000 set in 2023.

“The breeders just keep presenting a great product,” Reid said. “The catalog is very deep and you go out there and you work the ground and you’re going to find some spots… Going into tomorrow, with the sale schedule being a little bit compact with 32 more today and 35 tomorrow, I think we’re right on target to have a good day tomorrow and a good lead-in right to Thursday night.”

Topping the Tuesday session was Hip #198 Hey Bulldog, a Bulldog Hanover colt out of Coronet sold by Hunterton Farm and purchased for $500,000 by Andrew Harris, agent for Punisher 11 Stable.

“Great family,” Harris said of Hey Bulldog. “I had two siblings that were Tall Dark Strangers, another one was a Pebble Beach. So, [Hey Bulldog] was a pick-up on the sire. He was a great individual. The mare has been producing. There was just a lot to like. He was probably one of the best colts I’ve seen here.”

Harris said he had a “slight feeling” Hey Bulldog was going to cost at least half-a-million dollars.

“I was talking to Dr. [Bridgette Jablonsky] earlier and I knew that her and Brad Grant were kind of swinging for him, so I knew we were going to battle and I knew it was not going to be a little battle. When you’re bidding against the guy that had the stallion, that’s always a little dangerous.”

Hunterton’s Steve Stewart said Hey Bulldog, “was just born that way. He was just so handsome. Andrew saw him at the farm and fell in love with him. He’s got it all. Everyone likes to say, ‘Checked all the boxes.’ I don’t say that, but I say he had every attribute that he hoped he had… You just watched him walk out there, he’s just got a presence about him.

“There’s nobody higher on Bulldog, from the time that I saw them until now. And now we’re finally starting to see… what that filly [Jersey Bulldog] did in the She’s A Great Lady was unbelievable to me. No filly does that, where she just kept coming and kept coming and then won.”

Through two days, Harris has spent $1.985 million, total, to acquire six yearlings. He is third by total money spent behind Marcus Melander ($2.63 million to buy 12 yearlings) and Ake Svanstedt ($2.27 million for nine yearlings).

Harris also purchased:

• Hip #33 Sign The Max (f, Huntsville—Big McDeal) for $300,000 from Cameo Hills Farm. “She’s just a stunning individual,” Harris said. “She’s very long barrelled, great, thick body on her. Typical Huntsville, but there’s a lot to like there. A lot of her family members haven’t vetted out as good, but this one vetted out perfect, so I knew I was going to fire on this one.”

• Hip #65 May May (c, Confederate—McSeaside) for $210,000 from Alliance Bloodstock. “Just a great-looking individual,” Harris said. “He actually looks more like a Downbytheseaside. I’ve got Brandon Blvd and Seaside Ubeaut. So, when I saw him, I was like, ‘Ah, I’ve just got to have that one.’”

• Hip #87 Confederacy (c, Confederate—Saldana Hanover) for $200,000 from Kentuckiana. “Just a gorgeous filly – good family and a very, very good video,” Harris said.

• Hip #111 Ubeautiful (f, Captaintreacherous—Warrawee Ubeaut) for $350,000 from Crawford Farms. “That’s Seaside Ubeaut’s sister, so we’ve got the sister,” Harris said. “That was one part feelings and part that she was a very nice mover. Out of every one I saw, I thought she had the best video in the whole sale.”

• Hip #113 Odds On Warrior (c, Sweet Lou—Odds On Whitney) for $425,000 from Concord Stud. “Number 113 is an immaculate colt,” Harris said. “He was a special-looking colt with a great family. He was one of my top picks, so I was happy that we got that one.”

Harris said he is very happy with his group.

“We got shut out on every trotter,” he said. “We didn’t get any of the trotters we wanted. The European market was just so strong that I felt like even if we went, we’d still have to go much higher. It wouldn’t have stopped. It was going so high that it just made sense for us to stop.”

The second-highest priced yearling sold on Tuesday was Hip #222 Trotabilitarmitage, a Chapter Seven colt out of White Cheetah purchased by Ken Jacobs for $450,000 out of the Armitage Farm consignment.

“That was a very athletic-looking colt,” said Armitage farm manager Dale Holly. “He was very balanced and had a lot of appeal to him, from the profile wise. He just looked like an athlete to me and to, obviously, a couple of other people as well.

“We’re very excited about the whole consignment that we’re experiencing this year so far. We’re very new and it takes a while to establish yourself and get a reputation and to get these buyers to believe in the product that we’re putting out. So far, we’re very lucky that we’ve had some success with our crop from last year, but we’ve got to keep building on that. You’re only as good as your last job that you’ve done. We’re continually trying to improve what we put out there.”

Through two days, the sale topper is still Hip #79 Kountry Prince (c, Walner—Plunge Blue Chip) sold for $825,000 to Ake Svanstedt out of the Kountry Lane consignment.

Kjell Andersen, the purchaser of the second-highest-priced horse sold, Hip #71 Maestro Volo (c, Chapter Seven—Mommamia Volo), spoke to the media on Tuesday. He also purchased Hip #96 Special Account (c, Walner—Special Hill) for $650,000 from Kentuckiana using Peter Cimino as agent.

“Both of those are spectacular individuals,” Andersen said. “They look the part. They have the pedigree. We walked around and looked at basically all the horses that were here and those two just stood out, both from an individual point and with the pedigree.

“We look both from the pedigree and from the sires, the individuals… I feel that there’s a lot of things… before I was always looking for the perfect horse and the perfect horse never really is there, but I feel that now we’re looking more into heavier pedigrees, but, at the same time, we can excuse some flaws that the horses have. I feel that those two horses here, they just looked the part.

“I have a couple of partners on both of those horses. I’m also in the thoroughbred business and I brought Kenneth McPeek – he won the Derby and the Derby filly in 2024. I have three horses in training with him and he joined me on [Hip] #71 here, which was quite cool.”

Hunterton led all consignors on Day 2 with gross sales of $4,720,000 for 43 sold. Through two days, the farm leads all consignors with $9,694,000 for 66 sold.

Preferred Equine was second on Tuesday with sales of $3,620,000 for 43 sold. They are third through two days with sales of $4,132,000 for 49 sold. Kentuckiana is second overall with $6,445,000 for 48 sold and were second during Tuesday’s session with $2,530,000 for 32 sold.

Steve Jones of Cameo Hills said he’s happy with the sale, so far. The farm has sales of $2.7 million for 21 sold.

“We’re thrilled,” Jones said. “We’ve had a terrific sale. We brought out nice pedigrees and nice horses and they’ve sold great.

“I thought Day 2 was very good also. The reason, and it’s always that way, are the people that got shut out last night – and there were a lot of them – they get shut out and it pushes them further back in the book, so you’ve got more people bidding on the horses that were selling today. They were hoping to get something last night for $200,000 and it brings $300,000, so the next thing you know then their bullets are pushed back a day. That’s always a good thing.”

Walner leads all sires in sales with $10,960,000 for 67 sold, to average $163,582. Chapter Seven was next with $8,072,000 for 37 sold (average of $218,162), followed by Tactical Landing ($4,204,000, 39, $107,795) and first-crop sire Confederate ($3,975,000, 40, $99,375).

Today’s (Oct. 7) third session begins at 11 a.m.

Reid said he’s hoping the third session is stable year-over-year.

“I anticipate that happening,” he said.

“I saw some new faces today, which is good, and you’ll see that trend… as we continue to flow into the week. I still think there’s a lot of good horses out there and I still think there’s a lot of active buyers and you’ll see the internet presence tomorrow as well. There’s a lot of ‘phone a friends’ – going back to the technology and the online bidding. People used to frown upon it years ago, because you wanted them in live action, but with technology the way it is, maybe they came in and they want to get back… they came to race Friday, Saturday, and stayed through Monday, then they’ve got to book out and go back to Massachusetts for racing or up for the Super Finals.

“I think just for the diversity of the buyers and the technology that we have, we can present live, online scenarios and it’s a feather in the cap to everybody here at Fasig-Tipton, at Lexington Selected and it’s a joint effort.”