Barretts sale features 119 juveniles and horses of racing age

Barretts Sales will begin its second year of operations at Del Mar with Friday’s May sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age.

The 2015 May sale was the company’s first juvenile sale at Del Mar, a one-day event that showed higher prices from the corresponding sale in Pomona, Calif., in 2014. Barretts has since held five additional sales at Del Mar, including its select sale of 2-year-olds in March.

Friday’s sale, which begins at 1 p.m. Pacific, has a catalog of 119 horses after withdrawals, according to a list published on the Barretts website on Sunday.

Last year, the May sale saw 94 horses sell for $4,216,000, an average of $44,851, according to sale-company records. The sale had increases from the 2014 sale, where 70 horses sold for $3,031,500, an average of $43,307.

“It’s growing stronger through West Coast consignors,” said Barretts general manager Kim Lloyd. “We look for a good, solid sale to build on last year’s sale.”

Friday’s sale is the rare auction held simultaneously with a racing program more than 100 miles away at Santa Anita. Lloyd said Barretts chose Friday for the sale to avoid a scheduling conflict with other juvenile sales in the nation and a conflict with a horse show at Del Mar this month.

“They have a horse show at Del Mar, and we had to settle on dates where they’re at,” he said. “That’s the way it fell.”

At the 2015 May sale, 11 horses sold for $100,000 or more. The most expensive hip was Rim Nick, a colt by J.P.’s Gusto, sold for $230,000. The colt is winless in three starts. The leading filly at the sale was a Pulpit filly purchased for $150,000 who has yet to start.

Stormin Eagle, a colt by Stormin Fever bought for $130,000, beat maidens in his debut at Los Alamitos on April 30 and is nominated for Saturday’s $200,000 Snow Chief Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita.

Some prospects in Friday’s sale will gain momentum among buyers after a training preview at Del Mar on Wednesday.

There are several hips in the sale who were purchased for $100,000 or more at previous sales, notably Hip No. 61, an Uncle Mo colt listed as sold for $360,000 to Altamira at the 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale. The colt was listed as sold for $240,000 to BG Stables at the 2015 Keeneland January sale of horses of all ages.

Consigned by Kings Equine as agent, the Uncle Mo colt is out of Lucette, a Dayjur mare who produced Everyday Heroes, the winner of the Grade 3 Hirsch Jacobs Stakes at Pimlico in 2009.

Kings Equine, as agent, is the consignor of Hip No. 18, a Kitten’s Joy filly listed as sold to trainer Peter Miller, as agent, for $125,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction of 2-year-olds in training in March. The filly was listed as sold for $60,000 to Anthony Costanzo at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale last October.

The Kitten’s Joy filly has been in training with Miller at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in San Diego County this month. The filly worked three furlongs in 37.20 seconds on May 11.

One prospect is already a winner. Mr Ability, who sells as Hip No. 80, won a maiden special weight race for California-breds at 4 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita last Friday. Mr Ability, by Empire Way, won by 4 3/4 lengths as the 4-5 favorite. The colt is a half-brother to the 4-year-old filly Abets Abet, who has won 4 of 27 starts and earned $137,918 while racing in Southern California.

:: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales