Average drops at Canada auction

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A larger catalog and a sagging market led to an 18 percent decrease in the average price at this year's Canadian Breeders Sales select yearling auction at the Woodbine Sales Pavilion on Tuesday.

The 182 yearlings sold grossed $6,458,000, averaging $35,484. At the 2000 sale, 173 head fetched $7,527,900, for an average of $43,514. The number of yearlings not sold was 74, compared with 60 last year.

Two yearlings brought $150,000 each to top the sale. The first was a son of Sultry Song bought by Roger Attfield from Woodlands as agent. The colt is the first foal from the unraced Gilded Time mare Filly of the Jag.

The other $150,000 purchase was a colt from the first crop of Tale of the Cat sold by Huntington Stud Farm, as agent. Stubbs Investment, Inc. bought the son of the unraced Vice Regent mare Regent n'Flashy, who is a half-sister to two stakes winners.