by Gordon Waterstone

No doubt the first word today has to be congratulations to my sponsors, Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Sales Agency, for securing honors for the sale-topper in Monday night’s opening session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale at Fasig-Tipton.

When Hip #48, a Gimpanzee filly out of the champion mare Mission Brief named Kadena, sold for $800,000 — equaling the trotting filly record — I could see the Stewart’s smiles from across the arena. The filly was purchased by trainer Marcus Melander on behalf of SRF Stable and Jeff Snyder. Actually, I had seen Snyder earlier in the evening along with his son, Michael, and he told me that this was the first time he had been in Lexington in more than 10 years. Way to make a big splash on your return to the Bluegrass Jeff!

All in all, in the opening-night session, Hunterton sold 19 yearlings for a total of $4,465,000. Kentuckiana Farms sold 21 yearlings for $3,910,000 and Preferred Equine sold 15 yearlings — including the record-setting $700,000 Captaintreacherous filly named Treacheryinthedark — for $3,015,000, to round out the top three.

I walked over to the Stewart’s home base in the back area shortly after the $800,000 purchase and Steve gave me a big high-five. He was speaking to Boss Dave (Briggs) at the time, so I waited patiently nearby for the interview to be finished. Boss Dave came over to chat for a second, and we mainly talked about the farewell send off the Detroit fans gave to Miguel Cabrera over the weekend. Yes, we talk about things besides horses!

There was a really big crowd at the sale, and I figured that’d be the case when I arrived on the grounds as I had to park my car one row further back than usual. The first person I saw when I came in was Randy Manges, who is now serving as sale consultant after years and years and years as a co-sales manager with Dave Reid. Bruce Brinkerhoff has now taken Manges’ spot as co-sales manager with Reid. Manges was standing with starter Mike Moss so I said hello to him as well.

I then saw Kurt Becker, the announcer at Keeneland who also works the auction stand. I told Becker it was about time for him to head inside, and he said “Here, here!” I turned around and Bernie Noren had his hand out to shake mine, and he was with Tristan Sjoberg. I then walked into the back area and saw the USTA’s Wendy Ross, who gave me a big hug. It was a treat working these past few years with Ross, who seems to never stop working. Unless of course she vacations in Jamaica, which she has just done.

Heather Vitale, who is here doing videos for HRU, came over to say hello. And then Heather Wilder came over as well. It’s nice to see the two Heathers, who of course capture the early moments of the Dan Patch Awards banquet on their Facebook pages on behalf of the U.S. Harness Writers Association. I told Wilder that she would see a mention about her husband Mike’s obsession with Taylor Swift in Wednesday’s Backstretch column, so she walked me over to tell Mike myself.

The Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame’s Janet Terhune walked by and said hello, and then I saw Lella McIlmurray and Dewayne Minor were engaged in conversation and it’s always great to see fellow Detroiters. PJ Fraley, another Michigander who I have known forever, came by and we discussed some of the bad beats in a few football games over the weekend. Fraley keeps himself busy nowadays working for trainer Ron Burke.

I saw Andy Cohen sitting at a patio table by himself so I walked over to join him. Cohen recently had back surgery so he was taking it easy. When he remarked, he was going to find some water, I told him I’d go get it for him. So, I walked into the Kentucky Room and saw a long, long line of people. So, I scurried over to the back concession area in hopes of doing better, but alas, the line was even longer. So, I returned to the Kentucky Room I saw HRU’s Wilma VanVaerenbergh about halfway in the line I took advantage and thanked her for saving me a spot. Moira Fanning saw me in line so she came over and my final order when I made it to the front was two glasses of wine and two bottles of water.

Woodbine’s Mark McKelvie was at a nearby table so I stopped there for a second, and I said hello to Anthony MacDonald, who was also sitting there. Anthony didn’t answer though as it wasn’t Anthony; instead, it was brother Curtis, who pointed out to me he was wearing his own Cujo Entertainment shirt. I apologized and blamed it on the glare from the sun (which had set a couple hours earlier).

I went over to join Fanning, who was sitting with John and Paula Campbell. Hip #56, a Tactical Landing filly named Oklahomasmokeshow, was in the ring, and nearby was Michelle Crawford, whose Crawford Farms bred and consigned the trotter. When the gavel came down at $400,000, Crawford came over and gave Fanning and me big hugs as we congratulated her.

By the way, if you see the Campbells over the next few days, make sure you congratulate them as their 47th wedding anniversary is Sunday (Oct. 8). They’ll be celebrating at Red Mile since it’s Kentucky Futurity Day.

My former co-worker Lynne Myers was in the house with her husband, Mike, and so too was my former co-worker Greg Schuler, along with his wife Barb. To show you how long the bar lines were, Greg got impatient waiting to buy a Mountain Dew so he and Barb went to the parking lot, got in their car and drove the half-mile to the Shell Station, where he made his purchase. When they got back to Fasig-Tipton the person who had been in front of them was still in line waiting.

I eventually got up to walk around and saw Howard Okusko, Jr. and his wife, Jessica, and they pointed my way to Larry Rathbone, who I had been wanting to catch up with. Rathbone has moved to Lexington to oversee things at a new farm in nearby Midway. He introduced me to farm owners Jim McLane and his wife Rita Armitage, and their social media manager Britney Gavenonis.

Armitage Farm sits on more than 500 acres, and McLane told me that there currently were only two horses on the grounds. That is, until they earlier in the night purchased Hip #53, a Muscle Hill filly named Rock Hard Muscle, for $175,000. “Now we have three horses,” McLane said to me with a smile. I’m going to need to find out more about this new farm as they hail from Alabama, and we don’t have too many standardbred owners in Alabama.

I went directly home after the sale and passed on going to have a late dinner at Le Deauville, which normally is closed on Mondays. Mark keeps the place open for the horsemen after the sale and he won’t close until the last person has left. My roving reporter Nick Salvi reported to me Tuesday morning that Le Deauville did a brisk late-night business.

I made my way back to Fasig-Tipton Tuesday afternoon for the Breeders Crown Charity Challenge cocktail reception. There was a nice crowd, and Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton was in attendance. She, along with John Campbell and Marvin Katz made short speeches. I had a chance to chat briefly with Red Mile CFO/COO Shannon Cobb, Ed Teefey, Gabe Prewitt, John Sannucci, Chris Tully and Tom Charters, among a few others.

I have to apologize for lying to y’all on Sunday. I said the expected high on Monday was 82, and we reached 87. It was hot again Tuesday and they say it might even hit 90 on Wednesday. But we have a cooldown coming, with rain expected Friday and then highs in the low 60s on Saturday and Sunday. I may have accidentally called him Jason in the last Backstretch, but make sure you check out Gift Shop Jeremy while you are at the track. When the weather changes he is always prepared with plenty of offerings to keep you warm.

Remember that racing reverts back this week to a Friday, Saturday and Sunday schedule. I’m looking forward to checking out the paddock to see if new TVs are in place after the ones that had been there were stolen over the past weekend.

Finally, like a slow turtle, gas prices continue to trickle down. We’re down to $3.32 in some spots. I did see near Fasig-Tipton prices at the high end of $3.59.