Barretts opener up across board

The Barretts Equine Limited's two-day October mixed sale in Pomona, Calif., posted gains across the board at its opening session on Monday.

The session sold 213 lots for $1,604,800, up dramatically from the $887,900 for last year's smaller catalog, which grossed from 180 lots sold. This year, the first-day average price rose 53 percent, from $4,933 to $7,534, and the median climbed 23 percent, from $3,250 to $4,000.

Monday's session-topper was the $110,000 broodmare Picturesque Lady, in foal to Event of the Year, that Paula Capestro bought from Golden Eagle Farm.

* High Commissioner, runner-up in the Grade 2 Marine Stakes last year, brought $100,000 to top Fasig-Tipton's Belmont paddock sale on Tuesday. William Clifton Jr., bought the colt to dissolve a partnership with Rudlein Stable. Trainer H. James Bond, agent, consigned the horse on behalf of the Rudlein-Clifton partnership. The one-day sale sold 76 lots for $767,700, for an average price of $10,101 and a median of $6,700. Nineteen lots did not reach their sellers' reserve prices.

* The Tattersalls four-day autumn horses-in-training sale opened Monday in Newmarket, England, with a session-topping $229,320 bid for Irish Cesarewitch winner American Gothic (by Shirley Heights). The opener sold 199 horses for $4,305,647, producing an average price of $21,636 (up 4 percent from last year) and a median of $13,104 (up 54 percent).