Good numbers at England sale

In England, the Tattersalls Houghton sale, a three-day boutique auction that concluded Thursday, posted solid results, including a record median. The median of $245,000 topped last year's by 10 percent. The average of $339,130 was the second-highest for the sale, down 6 percent from last year's record.

The sale-topper was a $3,550,050 Desert Prince colt out of English and Irish champion Park Express (Ahonoora). Michael Goodbody purchased the colt on behalf of Sheikh Maktoum al-Maktoum. Ireland's Lodge Park Stud sold the sale-topper.

* Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's Eastern fall yearling sale ended on a positive note with an 11 percent gain in average price at Wednesday's final session, but overall returns were sharply down.

The final session produced the sale-topper, a $180,000 End Sweep filly that Jan, Mace, and Samantha Siegel bought from Mr. and Mrs. Sam Rogers, Jr.'s White Oaks Farm. But the three-day auction showed declines of 15 percent in average (to $16,919) and 12 percent in median (to $8,000). Buybacks also rose, from 22 percent last year to 28 percent in 2001.