Barretts yearling sale gets a day all its own

DEL MAR, Calif. – The Barretts select yearling sale will have its own day on the Del Mar summer calendar this year.

Last year, the sale was held on a Saturday evening in mid-August following a 10-race program. The sale lasted well into the evening, leading Barretts officials to contemplate a change on the calendar. This year’s sale will start Tuesday at 2 p.m. Pacific on a day without racing.

The sale has 72 hips.

“We have a stronger catalog than last year,” said Barretts general manager Kim Lloyd. “We had some good horses we looked at in the inspections.”

Last year’s sale was the first summertime yearling sale in Southern California in more than a decade. The Barretts select yearling sale was previously held at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, Calif., on a Tuesday in October.

In 2015, 44 horses sold for $1,629,000, an average of $37,023. There were 23 horses bought back, or 34.3 percent of the horses who went through the ring. There is limited stabling capacity at Del Mar during the race meeting, restricting the size of the catalog.

Two horses sold for $90,000 to lead the 2015 sale.

Business figures for this year’s sale may have difficulty keeping pace with 2015. Yearling sales earlier this month in Saratoga, Springs, N.Y.; Ocala, Fla.; and Pleasanton, Calif., showed declines in average prices compared to 2015.

“It’s a good opportunity to buy athletes,” Lloyd said of Tuesday’s sale. “It will be a buyer’s market from what we’ve seen in the results across the country.”

Horses were scheduled to arrive on the racetrack grounds by Saturday, allowing for full days of inspections Sunday and Monday.

There are first-crop yearlings by stallions such as Champ Pegasus, Data Link, Fort Larned, I Want Revenge, Shanghai Bobby, Ultimate Eagle, and World Renowned.

The sale is dominated by California-breds, including several related to Southern California stakes winners.

Hip No. 23, by Cyclotron, is a half-sister to What a View, who won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf at Santa Anita in March. Hip No. 34, by Lucky Pulpit, is a half-sister to Cheekaboo, the winner of the Grade 2 Honeymoon Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf at Santa Anita in June.

Lucky Pulpit is the state’s leading stallion. California Chrome, the winner of the Dubai World Cup and Pacific Classic this year, is by Lucky Pulpit.

Hip No. 42, also by Lucky Pulpit, is a half-brother to Smokey Image, the California-bred champion 2-year-old male of 2015. Hip No. 63, by Awesome Gambler, is a full brother to Willa B Awesome, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in 2012.

One prospect is already a sales veteran. Hip No. 30, a filly by Shanghai Bobby, has been through the sale ring twice, having been listed as sold for $30,000 to Al Bresciani Jr. at the Barretts January sale. Last November, she was purchased by Adrian Gonzalez’s Checkmate Thoroughbreds for $9,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland sale.

Three of the filly’s half-siblings have sold as yearlings for prices ranging from $140,000 to $270,000.

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