Four youngsters worked a furlong in :09 4/5 at the March 19 under-tack preview of the March 22 Barretts selected 2-year-olds in training sale. Those were the fastest times of the day during the preview over the Fairplex Park five-eighths oval in Pomona, Calif.
As with most 2-year-old auctions, a few horses ran a little erratically through the stretch, and a couple dumped their riders before they settled down for their preview. But for the most part the group performed professionally before about 150 people in the Fairplex grandstand.
“We knew we had a good group of horses going in, and they are performing up to expectations,” said Kim Lloyd, vice president of sales for Barretts. “They are getting hold of this racetrack really well.”
BC3 Thoroughbreds consigned two of the horses that previewed in :09 4/5. The filly, hip #56, is the only Holy Bull offspring in the sale. She is out of the stakes-winning Settlement Day mare Table the Motion. The colt, hip #70, is by D’Wildcat out of the Wild Again mare Wildly Celestial and from the family of champion Paradise Creek.
A son of Stormin Fever previewed in :09 4/5 for John O’Hara as agent. Cataloged as hip #29, the youngster is out of Rainbow’s End, by Siphon.
Murray Smith as agent sent out hip #119 for a :09 4/5 eighth. By the young A.P. Indy stallion A.P. Warrior, the colt is a half brother to stakes winner She’s Our Annie, being out of the Roarmare Girl Gone Crazy.
“He’s as fast as anything I’ve ever had,” said Smith.
Several of Smith’s horses breezed a quarter-mile instead of an eighth, including hip #26. The son of Pure Prize—Prize Possession, by Prized, went a quarter in :20 4/5, co-equal fastest time at the distance. Becky Thomas' Sequel Bloodstock as agent consigned the other two: Why Do I, cataloged as hip #80 and a daughter of Roman Ruler--Bathsheba, by Dehere, and Truly Devoted (hip #76), a filly by Fusaichi Pegasus --Act Devoted, by A.P. Indy.
Smith also was represented by the fastest three-eighths preview, though only two breezed at that distance. The son of More Than Ready —Eishin Bridle, by Unbridled, stopped the timer in :33 1/5 and is cataloged as hip #110. Smith said that he went a quarter-mile in :20 3/5, faster than any of those who breezed the distance.
“The racetrack out here is excellent,” said Smith. “The weather was right; the track condition was great. Horses on this track come back feeling good, and that what’s important—having sound horses to sell.”
The Barretts selected 2-year-old sale will be held at the Hinds Pavilion at Fairplex March 22, beginning at 2 p.m.