Barretts moves up March sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in training will take place a week earlier than usual in 2002, with horses set to go through the ring in Pomona, Calif., on March 5.

"The primary motivation is to put the sale in a better proximity to the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale in Florida, which makes the trip for our foreign buyers a little easier," said Jerry McMahon, president and general manager of Barretts Equine Sales. The Fasig-Tipton sale at Calder is scheduled for Feb. 26.

McMahon added, "It also helps us avoid a conflict with the major jumps meeting at Cheltenham in England."

McMahon said that nominations for the Barretts March 2-year-old sale, which closed at the end of October, have yielded about 500 nominees, a comparable figure with this year's number.

This year's auction sold 71 juveniles for a total of $10,085,000 for an average price of $142,042 and a median of $70,000. The sale's highest-price horses were a pair of colts - a Saint Ballado colt bought by Ahmed bin Salman and a Cherokee Run colt bought by Elliott Walden, agent - who each brought $750,000.