Barretts closes out calendar with horses of all ages sale

Barretts concludes its inaugural year of auctions at its new home at Del Mar on Oct. 27 with a one-day sale of yearlings and horses of all ages.

The sale, which begins at 11 a.m. Pacific, is the company’s final event of 2015. For 2016, the company has scheduled six sales from January through October, a calendar consistent with recent years.

The Oct. 27 sale differs from what Barretts has held in October in past years. Last year, the company held a yearling sale at the Los Angeles County fair location, which saw 163 horses sell for $3,684,700, or an average of $22,606. Those figures were higher than the corresponding sale in 2013, when 159 horses sold for $3,130,500, or an average of $19,689.

Barretts held its final sale at its original base at the Los Angeles County fair in Pomona in February, relocating its sales to the San Diego County fairgrounds at Del Mar. A majority of the sales are now held in the Surfside Pavilion, an off-track-betting facility located between the racetrack and stable area.

The most prominent consignment for the Oct. 27 sale is a dispersal of holdings jointly shared by the estate of E.W. Johnston and Patsy Berumen. Johnston, best known by his nickname, “Bud,” died in May. His family operates Old English Rancho in Sanger, Calif., which continues as a full-service farm. Berumen has been a general manager at the farm.
Their dispersal, through Havens Bloodstock Agency, includes 53 horses – 18 broodmares, 15 yearlings, 11 racing prospects, and nine 2-year-olds. Six of the yearlings are by first-crop sire Acclamation, who won the Eclipse Award as the champion older male of 2011.

There are two Acclamation fillies in the dispersal, including Hip No. 96, a half-sister to Big Bad Leroybrown, the winner of $421,543 for Old English Rancho and partners from 2007 to 2011. Big Bad Leroybrown stands at Old English Rancho; his first foals are 2-year-olds this year.

The Oct. 27 sale is an open sale for yearlings, which was preceded by a select yearling sale at Del Mar in August. Aside from Acclamation, the Oct. 27 sale has yearlings by first-crop stallions Bullet Train, Coil, Creative Cause, Dominus, Empire Way, Gerryssundayspirit, Hansen, Northern Indy, Santiva, and Tapizar.

There are 15 yearlings by Coil and the established California stallion Good Journey. There are 13 yearlings by Slew’s Tiznow, 12 by Dixie Chatter, and 11 by Papa Clem.

The Coil yearlings include Hip No. 62, a half-sister to stakes winners Summer Hit (who earned $574,849) and Starbird Road ($198,697); and Hip No. 63, a half-sister to the stakes winners Quisisana ($334,158) and Kiss At Midnight ($214,200).

There are four yearlings by leading California stallions Lucky Pulpit and Tribal Rule and three by Unusual Heat, formerly a leading stallion in the state.