Louisiana Sale Has Record Price, Upswing in Figures

The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association's annual yearling sale had not only its first six-figure horse Oct. 2, but a colt and filly that sold for $100,000 each. They helped the auction show increases in gross, average, and median.

A filly by Salt Lake and a colt by Grand Slam brought $100,000 apiece from Clifford Grum, who was represented in the bidding by trainer Cecil Borel.

During the day, 186 horses were sold for $1,880,900, a whopping 51% increase in gross from the previous year when 163 yearlings brought $1,247,250. Another 45 hips Oct. 2 were listed as not sold.

This year's average was $10,112 and the median was $5,000, up 32% and 11%, respectively, from the 2005 figures of $7,652 and $4,500.

"People are realizing racing is good in Louisiana," LTBA executive director Tom Early said. "There is good money here, with purses up at every track, which we all know is because of slots.

"A buyer can come here and buy a horse and expect a reasonable return on his money, which is what we've been working on for a long time."

Early said it was first time a Louisiana-bred yearling had ever brought six figures at a Louisiana sale.

Grum, of Diboll, Texas, paid the amount for two yearlings that sold just a few moments apart. First, he went to $100,000 for the Salt Lake filly, consigned by Brehon Farm as agent for the filly's breeder, Cynthia Hutton. The filly is out of the winning Taylor's Falls mare Kathie's Sister and is a half-sister to Kathie's Sibling (by Cutlass Fax), a stakes-placed earner of $161,710.

The Grand Slam colt is the first foal produced from the Kissin Kris mare Lady's Kiss. The colt's dam is a half-sister to three stakes winners, two of whom are now mares that have produced stakes winners by Kissin Kris. He was bred in Louisiana by Summer Hill Equine and sold by Brehon Farm as agent for Summer Hill Farm.