Barretts: January mixed sale kicks off California auction calendar

Barretts Sales and Racing starts the 2014 auction season in California on Monday with its one-day January mixed sale of breeding stock, 2-year-olds, horses of racing age and yearlings.

The sale, which begins at 11 a.m. Pacific, has a catalog of 276 horses and a supplemental catalog with 40 horses. Broodmares in the sale have been bred to such notable regional stallions as Unusual Heat and Tribal Rule, who were first and second in progeny earnings among California stallions in 2013; and Square Eddie, the state’s leading freshman stallion in 2013. There are also yearlings and 2-year-olds by those stallions in the catalog.

The young stallions Acclamation and Calimonco, whose first foals arrive this year, are represented in the sale as covering sires. Acclamation has one mare in the supplemental catalog, while Calimonco has 12 mares in the main catalog.

The sale includes three complete dispersals – 10 horses owned by the Chaiken Family Trust, 13 by Eagle Oak Ranch and seven by Edward Mercaldo.

The sale topper on Monday will have a high standard to follow. The highest price of the 2013 sale was a 2-year-old colt by Old Fashioned named Hi Fashioned, purchased for $70,000 by Rozamund Barclay. Hi Fashioned won the Barretts Juvenile Stakes at the Los Angeles County Fair last September, the highlight of a four-race campaign in 2013 that ended with earnings of $105,000.

The eight most expensive hips at the 2013 sale were yearlings or 2-year-olds. Overall, 184 horses sold last year for $1,536,100, resulting in an average of $8,348 and a median of $4,500, according to Barretts figures. The gross rose 56 percent compared with the 2012 January mixed sale, the average increased 38 percent, and the median rose 50 percent.

The January sale is the first of five scheduled sales for Barretts this year, followed by March sale of selected 2-year-olds in-training on March 3, the May sale of 2-year-olds in-training on May 12, the Paddock Sale at Del Mar of horses of racing age on July 20, and the October yearling sale on Oct. 7.

To access a catalog, click here.