$130k for Spinelessjellyfish as Barretts sale continues

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Popular California stakes-winner Spinelessjellyfish, part of a complete dispersal from the estate of Bart Heller, brought a final bid of $130,000 Tuesday as the second and final day of selling got underway at the Barretts May sale in Pomona, Calif.

Cardiff Stud Farms, which acted as consignor for the Heller dispersal, bought Spinelessjellyfish, a 6-year-old Skywalker horse, from its client. Spinelessjellyfish's immediate plans were not available at press time.

As of 5 p.m., the auction was still under way. The catalog was fattened considerably by the Heller estate horses and by a dispersal of the Cavanaugh Family Trust, which together added about 75 horses to the catalog.

A $330,000 Touch Gold filly got the auction off to a good start by setting a sale record on Monday. The juvenile filly, a half-sister to Turkish winner Last Commander, went to N. W. Management. She is a daughter of the stakes-winning Naevus mare Silken Magic. Currently named Touch Silk, the filly sold as part of the Jerry Bailey Sales Agency consignment, which offered her on behalf of Bailey-Ellenberg Select.

Monday's opening session sold 135 lots for total revenue of $4,138,000, yielding an average price of $30,652 and a median of $20,000.

Forty horses failed to reach their reserve prices, for a buy-back rate of 23 percent.

Of the 135 lots sold, 117 were juveniles; those brought total receipts of $3,485,000 for an average price of $29,786 and a median of $18,000.

The remaining 18 horses were racing-age stock, which sold for a combined $653,000 for an average of $36,278 and a median of $32,000.