Barretts auction sees mixed results

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Barretts January mixed auction ended a two-day run Tuesday with mixed results as gross and average increased and median fell at the Pomona, Calif., sale.

Jenny Craig's stallion Candy Ride was the star of the auction as covering sire or sire of three of the five top-priced horses. That included the sale topper, the $65,000 broodmare Gentlemen's Crown, bought by Warrendale Bloodstock. The 6-year-old Gentlemen mare is a winning half-sister to Crownette, the dam of a leading Candy Ride runner, Chocolate Candy. Gentlemen's Crown was cataloged to the Barretts January sale carrying a Candy Ride foal. Gentlemen's Crown also is a half-sister to graded-placed Crowning Storm.

Grant Hofmans, agent, consigned Gentlemen's Crown and other horses that the Craig Family Trust is selling to reduce its bloodstock holdings.

The two-day auction sold a total of 275 horses for $2,013,000. That was up dramatically from last year, when the sale was only one day and sold 202 horses for $1,232,400. The average price also climbed, by 20 percent, to hit $7,320 as compared to last season's figure of $6,101. But median dropped 11 percent, falling from $3,600 in 2009 to $3,200. Buy-backs increased from last year's 29 percent to 38 percent this year.