Spring Station dispersal grabs big bucks in SHSC Mixed Sale opening session

by Ray Cotolo

Five years ago, the Spring Station Bloodstock operation began in earnest at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company (SHSC) Mixed Sale with owner Eric Good and his team of Josh Green and Sasha Moczulski scouting stallion shares and quality broodmares to build a new boutique band out of Midway, KY. Within two years, Spring Station opened its consignment at the 2023 Lexington Selected Sale, but Thursday (Nov. 5) in Harrisburg, PA the endeavor began drawing the curtain with the first phase of its dispersal taking center stage in the opening session of this year’s Mixed Sale.

“I don’t really know how to put my emotions into place right now, other than just being so incredibly proud and just happy that the mares are all going to good places,” Moczulski said. “We came down with Eric and picked out farms with him and everything, so it’s been a huge undertaking for all of us and I’m just really proud that we’ve built it from the ground up. I think we built a really great broodmare band. All of these mares are going to great homes and we’re happy with the way everything sold.

“It’s going to be really weird going back to the farm and there not being a ton of mares. That’s going to be really weird. It’s over 600 acres and we just sold 62 mares, so that’s going to be really odd going back there and it’s just going to be the remaining 12 open mares, along with 56 weanlings. I know that sounds like a lot to the average person, but it’s going to feel a little bit like a ghost town. It’s just a very odd feeling.”

The quality built by Moczulski and company at Spring Station spoke clearly through the auction ring with eight of the nine top sellers of the day coming from the dispersal and grossing over $4 million — nearly a third of the session’s gross — from the 57 mares they sold.

“Every mare has been hand-selected, even down to the breedings – we’ve really come together to think about all these things,” Moczulski said. “We reach out to outside sources. There’s always going to be someone who knows more than you, so it’s always good to reach out to those people, especially when you’re trying to build a really great product, which is always our end goal.”

Kentucky based Armitage Farm paid nearly $1.3 million for four broodmares offered by the dispersal including three of the four highest purchases from the session — Hip #1098 Explosionbroline S for $385,000, Hip #1141 Wind Chime for $360,000 and Hip #1116 Mon Cheval for $350,000. Armitage Farm also acquired Hip #1103 Go For Gaagaa NO for $200,000.

“We want to try to establish ourselves as one, if not, the best breeding farm in the country,” said Tim Hayes, farm manager for Armitage Farm. “That is the goal, and Jim [McLane] and Rita [Armitage] have put their money behind it and we’re full steam ahead. I think the trajectory is very upward. Our very first year we sold one for $750,000. He did very well — he was in the Breeders Crown and he’s just a beautiful horse. Then, this year, we had a bunch of six-figure horses and we had a $450,000 horse the second day. Next year, our crop moves from 25 to 30 and I think they are all very nice. It’s a very exciting opportunity we have at Armitage. We have added and added.”

Of the Armitage acquisitions, Explosionbroline S sold in foal to Captain Corey and is a Donato Hanover half-sister to valuable broodmare Jolene Jolene, dam of champion 2-year-old Venerable and the granddam of another champion 2-year-old in current New York stallion Maryland. Wind Chime sold in foal to Chapter Seven and is a Father Patrick half-sister to stakes winner Fast As The Wind as well as to the mare Sound Check, who is the dam of Breeders Crown winner Warrawee Michelle. Mon Cheval is also the first foal from two-time Dan Patch Award winner Shake It Cerry and a Father Patrick half-sister to stakes-placed Madam Cheval. These mares will join the robust band at Armitage that also includes their stakes winner R Dutchess as well as recent private purchase Setyoursightshigh, the Dan Patch 2-Year-Old Trotting Filly of 2025.

“Where do I think they are going to fall? Who knows now, but this year’s foaling season is very exciting,” Tim Hayes said. “We’re expecting foals from Kadena, Date Night Hanover, R Melina, Fashion Schooner. Dutchess is off the track this year, so she’s going to hopefully get bred to Chapter Seven, so we look forward to that. You want to be excited, but you want to be realistic, too. We just hope that they come out and they look the part and people like them. Those are all very good mares and hopefully the ones we got today add to that top line and we keep moving up.”

Michelle Panebianco of Crawford Farms also picked up several from the Spring Station dispersal including Hip #1115 Mollop Hanover for $240,000 and Hip #1121 Pass And Stow for $230,000, which registered as the seventh and eighth most expensive purchases of the day. Panebianco also struck the top bid of the entire session outside of the dispersal in the lone supplement of the day — Hip #1600 Call Me Goo, from a select Northwood Bloodstock consignment. The O’Brien Aged Trotting Mare of 2024 sold in foal to Chapter Seven for $475,000.

“You have a long list and then it gets shorter, and then you meet them and see them and it’s a page you just have to have to bring to our program to where we want to get it over the next few years,” Panebianco said. “I think everyone has a limit, but I didn’t really think that I was going to get her for that. I thought she was going to be a little bit more. We tried to budget accordingly and she’s definitely worth reaching. We don’t have a Googoo Gaagaa — I think that it’s very interesting. I think it brings a European player to our consignment going forward and the Chapter Seven is a no-brainer.

“It’s just a big year of turnover and change for us. We’re rebooting and we need some new stock. Our pacing mares were definitely on the weaker side. Some of our older mares, I’m retiring a whole lot of them and then selling a bunch of them, too. So, it was time. I’m really excited about our investment into the future of our breeding program. We’ve acquired some really interesting prospects privately. We have a partnership with Burkes on Shacarri. Loua Dipa is also coming to the farm when she’s done racing, so I’m excited about that. These are fabulous fillies that still need to get into foal, so we’re a little bit further out on a return for that, so I was definitely looking for some in-foal, quicker returns on investment.”

BEAU JANGLES ARRIVES

As a skyscraper pierces the shine of the horizon, Beau Jangles commands attention. And unlike Godot, the strapping Cattlewash colt arrived to the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex on Wednesday night (Nov. 4) ahead of the racehorse portion of the SHSC Mixed Sale on Friday (Nov. 6).

News that Beau Jangles would enter the sales ring reverberated through the harness racing industry back in October, and it also has filled a large portion of the air through the week of the 2026 Black Book Sale. Given the undefeated freshman campaign Beau Jangles put together and the fact a reigning Horse of the Year has never sold at public auction, he has built great anticipation to potentially become the most expensive standardbred, a record set at the SHSC 2024 Mixed Sale when trotting sophomore colt Amazing Catch fetched $1.85 million.

“Whether you’re buying horses or selling horses, there’s nothing better than good horses or great horses and that’s what he is,” said Bob Boni, managing the sale of Beau Jangles as consigner through Northwood Bloodstock. “He shows it in everything about him – his demeanor, he’s bright, he enjoys being shown. Over the years, some of the best horses I’ve ever been around selling, they enjoy coming out and you can see looking at him now, he’s in his comfort. It’s a big thrill.”

Crowds drew around Beau Jangles on Thursday morning, and all through the day the colt continued with tours in and out of his stall. Each time he stepped out, Beau Jangles would set each hoof forward, swing his head, let out a stout huff and exhibit himself for all to see.

“This horse brought a lot of energy to the building before the sale, during the sale… people coming by to look at him,” Boni said, “and it should because he had a season last year that’s a season for the ages. You don’t see that. He dominated from start to finish and beat a good bunch of horses and did it every week. And he’s shown he can still do that. With the way he looks, the ability he’s shown… I think any time you’re breeding, you want to breed for brilliance, not steady. I want brilliance and that’s brilliance.”

Much of the excitement for Beau Jangles’ sale surrounds his mystique as a stallion prospect. Though proven on the racetrack even with a bumpy sophomore season, Beau Jangles comes from a maternal line tracking back to world champion mare Bunny Lake in the third dam while also being by another productive son of Somebeachsomewhere in Cattlewash.

“The horse at the end of the week is what everyone is talking about, thinking about,” said Dale Welk, president/director of operations for the SHSC. “It’s like going over there and watching a movie star come out of a stall… people are lined up, lined along the walls. He’s going to sell very well. I know some of the groups that are interested and they have pockets all the way down to their ankles. Who knows? I just hope whoever wants him, gets him because he’s a beautiful, beautiful animal.”

Beau Jangles will sell as Hip #1602 on Friday after Hip #1489 goes through the ring.

GOOD RECEPTION IN MIXED SALE

After several years with multiple dispersals, the 2026 SHSC Mixed Sale saw a lower gross from 2025 of $11,992,000 but with nearly 200 fewer offerings year over year, though the median price paid lifted year-over-year from $19,000 in 2025 to $20,000 in 2026. This year’s Black Book Sale has grossed $52,032,000 over the four days, which is only 11 per cent off of the 2025 cumulative gross through four days in a year that saw five dispersals in All American Harnessbreds, Fashion Farms, Katz-Libfeld, Fairwinds Farms and Sergent Stables.

“I think the market was stable year over year,” said Dave Reid, president of Preferred Equine. “I thought the market held up well, the stallion shares held up well. It seemed like the in-foal mares, especially on the higher end, held up well. It was probably a little bumpy when the mares have a little age on them, but overall was good. Last year was a once in a lifetime situation with multiple dispersals lining up all in the same year. Truth of the matter is there’s fewer horses in the catalogue this year, but the marketplace is going to be what it’s going to be and we’ll just carry on and move forward.”

Welk echoed that sentiment while excitedly looking ahead to the final day of the sale, saying, “we had a lot of great mares and good mares today and a lot of other great racehorses tomorrow. As soon as we sell Beau Jangles, then Spencer Hanover sells, so it’s going to be a power-packed 10 minutes, or whatever it takes. I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a good sale all the way through. We saw it today… trotting mares are through the roof. Matter of fact, people that normally buy trotters are buying pacing mares, just because they want to buy mares. I’m pretty happy with the overall sale.

“Our Mixed Sale stayed strong here. We have the online sales which are great and there’s definitely a place for but, if you have the top tier, it seems like this is the place to go. Here is the place to come to.”

The final session of the 2026 SHSC Mixed Sale begins at 11 a.m. (EST).