“Our Calder Sale has always taken place around the end of February and the beginning of March,” said Fasig-Tipton president Walt Robertson in a prepared statement. “So, with our new one under-tack show format, going one week earlier with the sale in 2008 changes little for buyers, but makes life much easier for consignors. We value input and hope this will ease the concerns we have been hearing from quite a number of our customers.”

This year, there was a one-week break between the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale on March 6 and the Barretts March select auction on March 20. The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) March auction was conducted on March 27 and 28. But OBS officials created a potential logjam when they decided to make their sale a week earlier in 2008 (March 18 and 19) because of concerns that Easter (March 23) and the March 29 Emirates Airline Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) might have made it difficult for some customers to inspect horses or to attend the auction.