Barretts Equine Ltd., based at Fairplex Park in Southern California, doesn’t have an October mixed sale listed on its 2009 auction schedule. The struggling American economy and downturns in the Thoroughbred marketplace contributed to the decision not to hold the sale, according to Barretts president and general manager Jerry McMahon, who recently announced his resignation from the company.
“In these market conditions, the fall mixed sale was in jeopardy, and we decided to shift the focus for mixed stock over to our January sale,” McMahon said.
This year’s October mixed sale generated a gross of $916,100, an average price of $3,770, and a median price of $1,700. The average was down 61.3% from the comparable figure for the auction’s 2007 edition, which had strong dispersals from Stan Fulton and Golden Eagle Farm.
Without a fall mixed sale, the focus will be on expanding the yearling sale that has been co-sponsored in recent years by Barretts and the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association. Under the old format, that was a select yearling sale and other yearlings were offered during the Barretts October mixed sale.
“Obviously, my successors will be making the decisions,” McMahon said. “But the idea was that if we eliminated the October mixed sale, there would be an attempt made to hold a larger yearling sale that would be the focal point of the California industry. We’re trying to come up with a format that brings all the yearlings to one place rather than splitting them up in a yearling sale that was followed by a mixed sale. There will be a joint (Barretts/CTBA) yearling market, for sure, in 2009.”
Barretts also has eliminated the summer sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age from its 2009 schedule.