CTBA Northern Calif. yearling sale set for Tuesday

Long after Tuesday’s Northern California sale of yearlings and horses of racing age at Pleasanton is over, one consignor could receive quite a bonus.

For the first time, the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, which conducts the sale, is offering a $250,000 bonus if a yearling is offered at the sale Tuesday and then wins a Grade 1 race as a 2-, 3-, or 4-year-old from 2015-17. The bonus would be paid to the owner of the yearling when the horse goes through the sales ring.

Promoters are hoping that the bonus will lead to greater interest from consignors for Northern California’s only yearling market.

“This year, the catalog is a vast improvement, and the response has been good,” said CTBA general manager Doug Burge. “We have better sire power and better female families. We’ve gotten more support from various consignors.”

The one-day sale, set to begin at noon Pacific at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, has a catalog of 123 horses, including 14 2- and 3-year-old horses of racing age. A supplemental catalog includes five yearlings and one horse of racing age. The horses of racing age are not eligible for the Grade 1 bonus. Tenhorses had been withdrawn as of Monday.

In 2013, 73 yearlings sold at the Northern California auction for a total of $438,700, a decline of 17 percent compared with $528,200 in 2012. The average price in 2013 dropped 21 percent, from $7,655 in 2012 to $6,010. The median improved 8 percent, rising from $3,700 to $4,000.

To access a catalog, click here.

Last year’s sale-topper was Rowdy Dylan, a Sky Mesa colt out of the stakes-placed Broken Vow mare Serious Vow who was bought by Del Playa Bloodstock for $60,000. Rowdy Dylan was later sold for $280,000 at the Barretts March sale of select 2-year-olds in training.

Rowdy Dylan beat maidens in his second start at Los Alamitos last month but was scratched from the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 3. Trainer Peter Miller considers Rowdy Dylan a candidate for the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 3.

On Tuesday, a Kentucky-bred half-brother to Rowdy Dylan by Forestry is offered as Hip No. 30, part of the consignment of H&E Ranch.

Tuesday’s sale has yearlings from the first crop of stallions Archarcharch, Cape Blanco, Recap, Run Brother Ron, Sierra Sunset, Slew’s Tiznow, and Unionize.

Other notable yearlings include Hip. No. 33, a filly by Scat Daddy out of Sierra Sweetie, the California-bred champion 2-year-old filly of 2005; and Hip No. 44, a colt by Thunder Gulch who is the first foal out of Strawberry Tart, the winner of the Flawlessly Stakes and Manhattan Beach Stakes on turf at Hollywood Park in 2009.