by Dave Briggs

Preferred Equine is selling 138 yearlings for 44 breeders at this year’s Standardbred Horse Sales Company (SHSC) sale that begins Monday (Nov. 6) at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA.

Included in that large consignment is a Sweet Lou half-brother to Stockade Seelster (Hip #73 Summit Seelster), a Sweet Lou half-sister to Bythemissal (Hip #142 Penny Benjamin), a Papi Rob half-brother to Storm Shadow (Hip #149 Th Colby) and the Bettors Delight half-sister to Newsroom (Hip #182 Run It Up).

Last year, Preferred was the second leading consignor of yearlings at the SHSC sale behind perennial leader Hanover Shoe Farms. Preferred grossed $6,701,000 for 140 yearlings for an average of $47,864 at last year’s sale.

Preferred’s David Reid said there are multiple factors in deciding whether to sell a yearling in Harrisburg in November or at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale in early October.

“There’s geographic location of the breeder, geographic location of the sire, past history of siblings, then it is heavily weighted towards the physical – like if [the yearlings] need more time [to grow],” Reid said.

As for the SHSC mixed sale, which begins Thursday (Nov. 9), Preferred has a lot of high-quality breeding stock to sell, “led by the Libfeld/Katz ongoing dispersal,” Reid said. “But, we’ll get through the yearling sale first. I am definitely looking forward to the week, there’s no doubt about that.

“The one thing about any sale, even Lexington or Harrisburg, is the rotation of people coming in and coming out. You’ll have different clientele coming in for Tuesday, Wednesday part of the yearling sale, then people coming in just for the breeding stock, then people coming in Friday for the racehorses. That’s something I always look forward to — seeing a lot of different personalities. That’s an enjoyable part.”