193 cataloged to Wednesday's Texas 2-year-olds in training sale

As it comes off a strong 2022 edition, the Texas 2-year-olds in training sale has continued to grow in popularity as a solid regional marketplace. This week’s renewal boasts the largest catalog since the Texas Thoroughbred Association took over management of the annual event in 2016.

The Texas Thoroughbred Association, in partnership with Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, took over the auction from Fasig-Tipton. The sale is set for Wednesday in the sales pavilion at Lone Star, with an under-tack preview show on the track April 3. The catalog numbers 193 horses, including seven supplemental entries.

Too Much Bling, the late My Golden Song, and Bradester, all standing at Valor Farm in Point Pilot, were the leading Texas general sires with state-sired progeny of racing age in 2022. All three are represented by juveniles in this week’s sale. The catalog also includes juveniles by Grade 1 winners Competitive Edge, who now stands at Valor, and Mr Speaker, who resides at Forks of the Paluxy. Those two stallions moved from Kentucky to Texas for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively, and led Texas stallions regardless of progeny conception area in 2022.

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In addition to sires being represented from nearby regional markets, such as Oklahoma and Louisiana, there are Kentucky stallions represented in the catalog. They include Bolt d’Oro, Good Magic, and Triple Crown winner Justify, last year’s leading North American freshman sires by earnings. First-crop Kentucky stallions with progeny cataloged include champions Mitole and Vino Rosso, both of whom were well received as the 2-year-olds in training season began in March in Florida.

“This is an impressive catalog for our 2023 two-year-old sale,” Texas Thoroughbred Association sales director Foster Bridewell said in a release. “It’s deep, it’s full of pedigree and stallion power, and we’re proud to offer the depth and quality come April that hasn’t been seen around here in a decade.”

At last year’s Texas sale, 88 juveniles changed hands for a gross of $3,050,700. The average price was $34,667, rising 6 percent from the 2021 renewal. The median price spiked 40 percent to finish at $28,000.

Last year’s $200,000 topper was Louisiana-bred Free Drop Maddy, who won her maiden in the Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity at Lone Star Park after a strong second on debut at Churchill Downs. She has continued on to win a trio of stakes against statebred runners at Fair Grounds, taking the Donovan L. Ferguson Memorial Stakes, Louisiana Champions Day Lassie Stakes, and the Louisiana Broodmare of the Year Buttercup’s Song Stakes.

Tensas Candy, another 2022 sales graduate, won the My Trusty Cat Stakes at Delta Downs.

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