Sold by Hanover Shoe Farms and purchased by Ken Jacobs, the Walner filly named Rani Hanover is the third highest priced yearling ever sold in Lexington. It came on a night when the sale set an all-time record for average of $190,547.

story by Dave Briggs, quotes by James Platz

It took just 15 yearlings for fireworks to go off during the opening session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale on Monday (Sept. 30) at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion.

Ken Jacobs paid $925,000 for the first foal out of 2020 Hambletonian winner Ramona Hill. The Walner filly, named Rani Hanover, was sold by Hanover Shoe Farms.

“She’s just a gorgeous filly, and her mom was a gorgeous filly,” Jacobs said. “She won the Hambletonian and more than $1 million and that’s hard for a filly to do. When I look for a horse, I look for a hole – and when you don’t find a hole, then she’s high on my list.

“I thought I could get her for $650,000, to be honest with you, but there was a breeder that wanted the filly for breeding. He ran me up the last $300,000. I know who he is and I know why he wanted her, but I’m going to race her. I don’t breed. I still own Walner, so I want people to go to Walner and I’ve got the stud fee very high, so I’m just helping my sire.”

It was the third highest-priced yearling ever sold at the Lexington sale following Maverick ($1.1 million) and Damien ($1 million), both sold in 2019.

Nine horses later, Jacobs also paid $345,000 for Enbolden, a Walner colt out of Pleasing Lady sold by Hunterton.

“I’m done,” Jacobs said. “Now I can relax.”

Trainer Tony Alagna, who conditioned Ramona Hill, will train Rani Hanover.

“Ken Jacobs stepped out and bought Ramona Hill’s first foal, so that was fantastic to be able to train her first offspring,” said Alagna, who bought seven yearlings for a total of $1,347,000.

On Monday, 117 yearlings went through the ring, grossing $22,294,000, averaging $190,547 and posting a median of $150,000. Seventy-six yearlings sold for $100,000 for more.

It was an all-time record for average and the second best gross in sale history.

The gross was up 0.8 per cent from last year’s Day 1 session of $22,220,000 (with five fewer horses sold than last year) and down 2.9 per cent from the all-time record of $23,067,000 set in 2022. This year’s average was up 4.6 per cent from 2023’s $183,000 and up 1.2 per cent from the all-time record of $189,078 set in 2022.

Both the median and number of yearlings selling for $100,000 or more were down from a year ago. This year’s median was down 11.8 per cent from the record $170,000 in 2023. During last year’s opening session, 97 sold for $100,000 or more, compared to 76 this year.

“It was an outstanding night, a night of records, and we’re very pleased our consignors brought an outstanding set of horses and the bidders responded with enthusiasm,” said sale co-manager Bruce Brinkerhoff. “The buzz was electric and there was a good feel to the crowd and it turned out to be great night.”

Brinkerhoff’s co-manager David Redi said: “Overall, it was a great night, obviously. Trotters were very much in demand and they definitely dominated the gross a little bit, even though we had a lot of pacers.

“It was vibrant, there’s no doubt about that, and it was a great way to start the week.

“We sold fewer horses and the average is up a little bit and the gross is a little bit above last year… Most of it or all of it is going to be attributed to the trotters – the top four sire averages were trotters. ‘Captain’ came in with the top pacer, but we’ve been saying it for a long time now, it’s a byproduct of our breeders and the reinvestment in the game and the sales results speak for themselves from a production point of view.”

HARRIS AND POLLOCK SPEND OVER $3.6 MILLION

Trainer Andrew Harris, acting as an agent for Bill Pollock, was the leading buyer with 10 purchased for $3,675,000, including the second- and third-highest yearling sold — Hip #83 Going Viral, a Chapter Seven filly out of Check Out Trixie, a full-sister to Instagram Model, sold for $650,000 and Hip #106 Ice Fall, a Walner colt out of Ice Attraction sold for $625,000.

“We’re going a little more filly strong this year, a little residual value on those ones,” Harris said. “If you get a colt, everyone chases that colt dream, but if they don’t hit, it’s a hard climb back up. With the fillies, I feel like we can get out on a lot of these fillies. We’re still paying premium prices for them, but, at the same time, we’re buying the pages that they are going to have residual value at that price.”

Last year, Harris and Pollock were the second-leading buyers in Lexington, purchasing 10 yearlings for $3,550,000. They went even higher on Day 1 alone this year.

“We made some mistakes last year, for sure,” Harris said. “This year, I didn’t pick one pacer. I hired Casie Coleman to help me with picking pacers and I told her, ‘You pick the pacers.’ We talked to Bill [Pollock] and Bruce [Areman] and they were more than inclined to jump on that because my pacing colts sucked last year. I was not happy with any of my pacing colts. I love my pacing fillies, but I didn’t like any of my pacing colts – they just didn’t turn out as 2-year-olds. I’m hoping as 3-year-olds they turn out, but I was disappointed in the horse selection, so hopefully this year they step up and we’ll have a little more luck as 3-year-olds with them. We’re going to let Casie pick these ones this year and see how it works.”

CAMEO HILLS: BEST SALE EVER

Cameo Hills sold Going Viral, as well as two $400,000 yearlings — Hip #52 The Wow Chapter, a Chapter Seven colt out of Violet Stride purchased by Lucas Wallin Hip #58 Kickan, a Walner filly out of You Ato Dream purchased by David McDuffee.

“It’s the best sale I’ve ever had,” said Cameo Hills’ Steve Jones, who was the second-leading consignor by average with $288,571 for seven sold. “I told Dave Reid, the sales manager, ‘I think we’ll have the best sale we’ve ever had on opening night’ and we have.
“This is tremendous. We’ve got nice horses left to sell. I don’t think anything, obviously, will approach the numbers we got tonight, but the sale is great. I had nice individuals by the right sires. People were asking me if I was concerned that they weren’t dual-eligible and I said I am absolutely not concerned at all. I said, ‘That’s a great marketing tool for the people in Kentucky and it’s great additional money for the people racing horses, but ultimately what these people are looking for is the best horse and I think I’m bringing some great individuals and some great pedigrees and they’ll sell well’ and they did.”

Ice Fall was sold by Preferred Equine, the session’s second-leading consignor with gross sales of $3,092,000 for 14 sold. Hunterton led the opening session with gross sales of $4,567,000 for 21 sold.

Hanover Shoe Farms led all consignors in average at $400,000 for four sold.

“I didn’t expect $925,000, but other than that, I thought the sale would be the way it’s gone,” said Steve Stewart of Hunterton. “I think the people investing in the broodmares are being rewarded – the Cameo Hills and a bunch of others. Good sells good.

“It’s just very encouraging to be in a business that’s very healthy. I’m a little weird in the fact that I’m a breeder and I worry how much they sell for, I really do. I think when it gets so high that it can be discouraging and it’s just a lot of money to get back, so you want everybody to be successful and it gets more difficult for everybody to be successful… but the mare prices are going up, too, exponentially, obviously, and they should. I don’t worry, but it’s a concern.”

ESTABLISHED SIRES DOMINATE

Veteran stallions dominated the proceedings.

Walner offspring grossed $6,277,000 for 27 sold, followed by Chapter Seven ($4,125,000 for 19), Muscle Hill ($2,172,000 for 11) and Gimpanzee ($1,947,000 for nine). The leading pacing sire was Captaintreacherous with gross sales of $1,660,000 for nine sold. He was followed by first-crop sire Perfect Sting, who had sales of $1,545,000 for seven sold.

Today’s (Oct. 1) session begins at 1 p.m., followed by 1 p.m. sessions on Wednesday and Thursday and a final Friday session that starts at 7 p.m.

“Generally, you start off with a good session and you hope that it carries through the rest of the week and we’re optimistic that we’ve got a good set of horses for people to buy and it will carry on,” said Brinkerhoff.