Coming off a 2013 March sale that sent out its three top-priced horses to win stakes, Barretts Sales & Racing will host its 25th anniversary select 2-year-old sale March 3. The company has cataloged 140 juveniles, an eclectic mix of Kentucky-breds, Florida-trained pinhooks, and local youngsters.
The sale is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. PST at the Hinds Pavilion in Pomona, Calif.
Last year, three horses brought in excess of $500,000. Corfu and Havana, who sold for $675,000 and $575,000, respectively, went to the East Coast barn of trainer Todd Pletcher. Havana won the Foxwoods Champagne Stakes (gr. I) and finished second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I), while Corfu captured the Saratoga Special Stakes (gr. II). Havana is entered in the March 1 Swale Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park.
Diamond Bachelor, who sold for $570,000, remained in California with trainer Patrick Biancone and won the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes at Del Mar.
Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables consigned Diamond Bachelor and brings another contingent to the 2014 sale. It includes Awesome Diamond, a daughter of elite European sire Galileo out of Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) winner Adoration cataloged as hip number 77.
Dunne will also offer hip number 117, a son of Tale of the Cat out of Garden Secrets. The mare has produced stakes winners Forest Secrets and Rumor Has It, and she is a half sister to champion Silverbulletday.
Bruno De Berdt's Excel Bloodstock sold Havana, and for 2014 De Berdt and David Scanlon bring several 2-year-olds, including Star of the Nile. By current leading second-crop sire Pioneerof the Nile , she is hip number 19 and out of Extra Holy, a half sister to Horse of the Year Holy Bull.
Becky Thomas' Sequel Bloodstock offers the only 2-year-old by Horse of the Year Curlin in the catalog. The colt, hip number 68, is out of stakes-placed Upcoming Story. Thomas' consignment also includes hip number 85, a Line of David half brother to 2013 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) winner Ria Antonia, being out of Beer Baroness.
Eddie Woods as agent has a son of Street Crywho breezed a furlong in :09 4/5, equaling the fastest time of the Barrets under-tack preview Feb. 27. The colt, hip number 93, is the first foal from Alabama Stakes (gr. I) winner Careless Jewel.
Hip number 63, another from Woods, is a full sister to Esmeraldina, who sold at the 2013 March sale for $325,000 to Riki Takahashi of Japan through Emmanuel DeSeroux's Narvick International. Esmeraldina is already a winner in Japan and is reportedly pointing for major stakes in that country. Both she and hip number 63 are by Harlan's Holiday—Tasha's Star.
The other two to preview in :09 4/5 come from the consignments of Steven Venosa's SGV Thoroughbreds and Raul Reyes' Kings Equine. Venosa has hip number 104, a son of Giant's Causeway out of stakes-winning Dixie Dreamer, while Reyes has hip number 48, a colt by Malibu Moon —Rosy Humor.
Other stallions represented in the catalog include Candy Ride , Indian Charlie, Kitten's Joy , Lookin At Lucky , Midnight Lute , Smart Strike, Super Saver , and War Front . California stallions include Cindago, Desert Code, Dixie Chatter , The Pamplemousse , and Tribal Rule.