While some Florida consignors bypassed this year’s Barretts March select sale of 2-year-olds in training, most of the major players have returned in force for the company’s May juvenile auction. Scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (PDT) May 11 at the Hinds Pavilion at Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., the Barretts May sale has a catalog of 263 horses, including 13 late entries.
The tough economy led some Floridians to remain home for their winter sales, where they wouldn’t face the shipping costs of bringing a consignment to California. Ciaran and Amy Dunne’s Wavertree Stables and the Jerry Bailey Sales Agency hit some California home runs in March, however. Not only are they back for May, others have joined them, including Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds, Murray Smith, and Niall Brennan Stables.
Wavertree sold the March sale topper, a $650,000 son of Tiznow , and eight horses in the May catalog come from the Wavertree consignment. Dunne will offer a colt by Forestry out of the stakes-winning Smart Strike mare Wishful Splendor. The youngster sold for $245,000 as a yearling at Saratoga. Wavertree’s group also includes two that went through the Barretts March sale: a daughter of Harlan's Holiday that was a $270,000 buy-back and a son of Eurosilver that was a $200,000 buy-back.
Bailey entered 11 horses in the May auction, including a son of Unbridled's Song out of Adirondack Stakes (gr. II) winner Regally Appealing that cost $500,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale. Bailey was the second-leading consignor at the March sale based on gross receipts.
The Barretts May auction features more than Florida consignors, however. Californian John O’Hara, March’s leading consignor by gross, has horses entered by Harlan's Holiday, Unbridled's Song, and Forest Camp.
Andy Havens, another California agent, brings a large consignment to the May sale, one of whom, Privilaged, was a top March auction prospect before being withdrawn. Sold for $290,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale, Privilaged is a son of Southern Image and is a half-brother to Sunland Derby winner Kelly Leak. The beaten field that day included Mine That Bird, who subsequently won the Kentucky Derby Presented By Yum! Brands (gr. I). Privilaged breezed a quarter mile in :21 1/5 May 7.
Other California-based consignors include Sam Hendricks, Mary Knight, Bruno De Berdt and Rudy Delgudice’s Excel Bloodstock, and NexStar. At the 2008 May sale, NexStar offered I Want Revenge, who failed to sell for $95,000. That colt went on to win the 2009 Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) and Gotham Stakes (gr. III) in New York and was the morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby before an injury forced his withdrawal the morning of the race.
NexStar has an interesting offering, Girl in the Lane, who worked an eighth of a mile in :10 May 7 and is a daughter of Devon Lane—Girl in the Curl, by In Excess. Though it doesn’t show in the catalog, the family has produced several top Quarter Horse runners. Second dam In the Curl’s foals include Quarter Horse graded winner Harbor Beach and Quarter Horse Broodmare of the Year Runaway Wave. World champion Quarter Horse Wave Carver and multiple Quarter Horse champion Ocean Runaway are among Runaway Wave’s foals.
Storm Cat has one 2-year-old in the sale, a son of the stakes-winning Saint Ballado mare Lights On. Randy Hartley and Dean De Renzo will offer the colt, which is the sale’s most expensive pinhooked horse. The youngster brought $550,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale, and he breezed an eighth in :10 May 7.
Hartley and De Renzo’s other horses include a son of Sky Mesa —Mettle that worked in :9 4/5, which equaled the fastest eighth-mile time during the May 7 session of the under tack show. That colt’s quarter-mile clocking was :20 3/5, but it wasn’t listed among the session’s official times. Hartley and De Renzo’s colt by Songandaprayer—Letithappencaptain worked the same day in :21, the fastest official quarter-mile time during the session.
Murray Smith sold the 2008 May sale topper, a $700,000 daughter of Harlan's Holiday. Smith has 13 horses cataloged this year. A son of Elusive Quality out of graded stakes winner Follow the Money is a $125,000 Keeneland September yearling. Smith also offers the only Point Given offspring in the sale.
Brennan has consigned five juveniles to the sale. They include a son of Purge out of the Tiznow mare Tiz Twilight. Tiznow is represented as a sire by a colt out of stakes-winning Jera in the Stephens Thoroughbreds consignment.
