Barretts: October yearling sale posts across-the-board declines

A colt by The Pamplemousse sold for $160,000 at Tuesday’s Barretts October yearling sale at Fairplex Park in Pomona, Calif., the only horse to sell for six figures at an auction that showed across-the-board declines from 2012.

The sale company reported that 159 horses sold for a gross of $3,130,500, a decline of 22 percent from the 174 horses who sold for $4,006,600 in 2012. The average of $19,689 was down 14 percent from the 2012 average of $23,026. The median reached $13,000, a decline of 28 percent from the 2012 median of $18,000.

There were 57 horses bought back, or 26 percent of the horses that went through the ring. In 2012, the buyback rate was 19 percent.

“I thought [the sale] would be stronger,” said Barretts general manager Kim Lloyd. “The market is looking for sire power.”

The sale-topper was purchased by Arnold Zetcher, represented by his trainer, Bob Baffert.

The colt is out of Tizakitty, a 12-year-old mare by Distinctive Cat who won 4 of 10 starts and earned $158,644. Tizakitty, who won the 2005 Kalookan Queen Handicap at Santa Anita, is the dam of three horses to race, including the winners Prince of Gotham and So So Fast.

Tizakitty is out of Tizso, the dam of Grade 1 winner Paynter, who is a sister to 2000 Horse of the Year and prominent sire Tiznow.

Baffert said the pedigree led him to consider the colt as a prospect.

“He’s a nice-looking and has a good family,” he said. “The Pamplemousse was a good racehorse. I was looking for a California-bred.”

The leading colt was one of seven horses in the sale by The Pamplemousse, a 7-year-old son of Kafwain whose oldest foals are yearlings this year. The Pamplemousse, the winner of two Grade 3 stakes at Santa Anita in 2009, stood for $2,500 earlier this year at Rancho San Miguel in San Miguel, Calif.

Tuesday, six horses by The Pamplemousse were purchased for an average of $62,167. His second-highest price was a colt out of the Take Me Out stakes-winning mare Ihaveadate, who was purchased for $60,000 by Mersad Metanovic Bloodstock.

Adrian Gonzalez’s Checkmate Thoroughbreds, acting on behalf of a partnership, consigned the sale-topper. Gonzalez, based in Paso Robles, Calif., said he had to convince the owners to try the sale.

“When I was trying to recruit the horse, the owners weren’t motivated,” Gonzalez said. “They didn’t think they’d get enough. He’s a freaky, good-looking horse.”

The colt was the subject of considerable discussion as the sale began.

“That was a super-high expectation, but we weren’t surprised by it,” Gonzalez said of the sale price.
Gonzalez said that he adjusted reserves on some prospects as the sale progressed.

“Maybe my expectations were high, but maybe I stayed at [the] Keeneland [September sale] too long,” he said. “They didn’t bring the money I thought they would. We’re here to sell horses.”

Eddie Woods, the Florida-based pinhooker, acquired three yearlings for $195,000 through his Quarter Pole Enterprises to lead the sale. Woods bought Avenue of Art, an Artie Schiller colt, for $95,000 as the sale’s second highest price. Consigned by Sam Hendricks, agent for Walking G Ranch, Avenue of Art is a half-brother to Unbridled Slew, an unraced Red Bullet colt who sold for $2.5 million at the 2006 Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training.

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