Tuesday’s Northern California yearling sale at Pleasanton, Calif., is the first yearling sale of the year in California, and follows a 2009 sale that showed growth for consignors.
At a session marked by steep drops in all financial categories, the day’s most expensive horse at Arqana’s Deauville yearling sale in Deauville, France, was not one who sold in the auction ring.
Scoop Vessels, who died Wednesday in a plane crash at 58, was a charismatic man whose influence in the breeding and racing world extended to both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.
The sale of more than 100 Stonewall Farm horses will go ahead despite the farm’s Aug. 11 lawsuit against Fifth Third, the bank that has taken control of the bloodstock; its receiver Bluewater Sales; and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Thoroughbred owner and breeder Gary Biszantz has put half of his Lexington, Ky., property, Cobra Farm, on the market. But he intends to stay in Thoroughbred racing, according to realtor Arnold Kirkpatrick.
Keeneland, which will hold the world’s largest Thoroughbred yearling sale next month In Lexington, Ky., has announced several new technology features for the auction.
England’s Tattersalls auction house in Newmarket will begin drug-testing for corticosteroids at its yearling sales this fall, marketing director Jimmy George confirmed.
Four six-figure yearlings from a smaller catalog helped lift the median at Fasig-Tipton’s New York-bred preferred yearling sale this weekend in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. But numbers overall were mixed.
Less than a week after its Saratoga select yearling sale posted losses across the board, Fasig-Tipton’s New York-bred preferred sale saw a slight gain of 2 percent in all categories at its first session.
Purses have been reduced and a stakes eliminated on the California Cup program at Santa Anita on Oct. 30, according to the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association and the Oak Tree Racing Association.
