The proceeds will be split between the Arts Council and various area charities.
A handful of folks accustomed to making headlines in the Keeneland sales pavilion joined a group of horse-owning neophytes Saturday evening at the Horse Mania auction. The event began June 29 in Lexington with 79 fiberglass horses-turned-art set out around town. The culmination of Horse Mania, sponsored by Lexington's Arts and Cultural Council, took place Dec. 2 when 78 members of the herd brought $757,600 at auction. The last remaining horse, who did not meet his reserve, was to be auctioned online on ebay. Robert and Janice McNair, who race across the country in the Stonerside Stable name and own Stonerside Farm near Paris, Ky., topped the sale with four purchases for a total of $112,500. Among their acquisitions was the sale topper, Stonewall, for which they paid $53,000. The horse, which resembles a Central Kentucky stone fence, was originally sponsored by the farm. It will greet visitors to their Bourbon County showplace (It is also pictured on The Blood-Horse, site at: http://gallery.bloodhorse.com/ ). The McNairs, through David Sorrell, also bought another popular equine, The Mirrored Horse, for $40,000, Night Mare, for $12,000, and FantaSeaHorse, for $7,500. Others active in the Thoroughbred industry also active in the Horse Mania buying were Laddie Dance and Jeanne Vance, who bought Jacques, the second-highest horse for $51,000, and The Quilted Horse, for $15,000, Greg Goodman, who paid $11,000 for Caballo de Gaudi, Calumet Farm, $9,000 for Bull Leg, Robert and Leslie Hurley, $6,000 for Kentucky Blue Sky Horse, Mary Lou Wibel, who spent $5,500 for Barn Scape, and John and Benny Williams, who paid $4,700 for Can O War.