Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs operation has canceled the 2008 edition of its annual broodmare sale. The auction, which featured mares in foal to Adena Springs stallions, had been held for 11 consecutive years previously.
Fasig-Tipton conducted the sale at its Newtown Paddocks facility in Lexington on a Thursday night in November during the first week of the Keeneland breeding stock auction. The Adena Springs sale followed the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November select auction on the sale calendar.
“Basically, we wanted to spread out our mares over the course of an entire sale, and Keeneland fit that plan a little better than selling them on one night (at Fasig-Tipton),” said Mike Recio, Adena Springs stallion nominations and marketing director. “We want to get the mares out to as many regional markets as possible to promote our stallions.”
During the 2007 Adena Springs broodmare auction, 101 mares were sold for a gross of $1,726,000. Their average price was $17,089, and their median price was $10,000.The gross, average, and median all were down from the previous year’s results. But in 2006, a free season to an Adena Springs stallion came with each mare that was sold, which made the statistics difficult to compare.
According to Recio, Adena Springs will sell “roughly” 250 mares at the Keeneland November breeding stock auction and 150 at the 2009 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. January mixed sale. Adena Springs will be the consignor of those horses, and the operation also will sell yearlings under its own banner at various auctions next year.
Recio said Adena Springs, which has a core broodmare band of approximately 300 producers, buys 300 to 400 mares each year to support its stallions. Many of those mares are later resold while in foal.
Earlier this year, Adena Springs canceled its annual sale of 2-year-olds in training for 2009. The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. (OBS) had conducted that auction for Stronach in March, and it was held in conjunction with the OBS March juvenile select auction.