A colt and filly by perennial Texas leading sire Too Much Bling each brought final bids of $100,000 to share top billing at the Texas Thoroughbred Association (TTA) summer yearling and mixed sale that saw across-the-board gains for the yearling section and a steep downturn in the mixed division.
During the yearling portion of the sale, TTA reported 59 of 90 head sold for $681,800, an average price of $11,556, and a median of $4,500. The gross represents an 11.4% gain over last year's $611,800, while the average was up 19% from the $9,711 figure a year ago, and the median increased 80% from $2,500. The buy-back rate this year was 34.4% compared to 31.5% last year.
"I was very pleased with the yearling session, and this sale again proved that a Texas-bred by a Texas stallion can still bring big money," said sales director Tim Boyce. "It was good to see the average and the median improve, and I expect to see a good number of these horses back here for our 2-year-olds in training sale this spring."
Offered as Hip 62 by Asmussen Horse Center, agent, the co-sale-topping gray or roan filly bought by Susan Moulton is a full sister to stakes winner Nublado Bling out of the General Meeting mare General Reunion. Her second dam is grade 1 winner Annual Reunion, the dam of stakes-placed Daiwa Falcon and stakes winner Annual Rainfall. The filly was bred in Texas by Magnolia Racing Stable.
Named Lullaby Bling, the Too Much Bling colt consigned as Hip 14 by Benchmark Training Center, agent, was purchased by Jackson Durham shortly before the solar eclipse passed through the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Bred in Texas by Danele Durham, the gray or roan colt is out of the winning Action This Day mare Soft Music. Her three foals to race have all been winners, including Bling On the Music, a stakes winner who finished third in the 2016 Pocahontas Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Asmussen Horse Center also accounted for the third-highest priced yearling, a dark bay or brown daughter of My Golden Song (Unbridled's Song) purchased by East Hickman for $46,000. The filly, consigned as Hip 63, is out of the stakes-winning Valid Expectations mare Going Away Baby, a full sister to multiple stakes winner Leaving On My Mind and half sister to stakes winners Action Tonight and First Attraction. She was bred in Texas by Magnolia Racing Stable.
During the mixed session, 14 of the 36 offered were sold for a gross of $33,000, an average of $2,357, and median of $1,400. During last year's mixed session, which featured a consignment from the closing of Lane's End Texas, 28 of 30 offered were sold for a total of $167,700, an average of $5,989 and median of $2,700.
"The Lane's End Texas consignment gave us a big boost for the mixed session last year, and we just didn't have that same firepower this year, but overall I think it was still a good sale," Boyce said.
