As the summer winds down and amidst the hustle and bustle of the final two months of Grand Circuit racing, lurking in the shadows ready to take grab the spotlight for a few days at a time are the horse sales, showcasing the next crop of potential stars. Behind the scenes, each farm that consigns horses to the sales has a set guide for prepping yearlings and getting them to the ring. At Blue Chip Farms, from her desk and in the middle of all that goes on, not only into sale prepping but into running the farm itself, Allison Sullivan has the answers to a successful sale season for the prominent farm based in Wallkill, New York. Sullivan is a native of Pine Bush, New York, raised on a small farm with horses. Her journey with horses continued after college where she worked as a groom for a rider on the Grand Prix show jumping circuit. In 2013, Sullivan was offered a job at Blue Chip through her connections to help with their new Sport Horse breeding and training program. "Currently I handle the supply and communications for Blue Chip," Sullivan explained. "Everything from sourcing hay and straw, grain, pharmaceuticals, and breeding supplies to attending sales and handling yearlings to being the point contact person for resident horse updates throughout the season." Blue Chip Farms is one of the leading commercial breeding farms in not only the state of New York, but the entire standardbred racing industry. The farm's website states that since inception in 1969, Blue Chip has produced seven world champions and over 1,200 stakes winners. Blue Chip Farms-bred and -raised horses have won in excess of $150 million in purse money, and it all starts with much preparation. According to Sullivan, yearling sale prep begins shortly after weaning, even before they are officially yearlings and brought into the barns prior to the sales. "As weanlings, they are brought in for approximately 10 to 14 days to educate them with consistent daily handling by our staff, the vet crew, and farrier," Sullivan said. "We have found over the years that this early-on preparation makes the official sales prep much easier come sale season. Then, about eight to 10 weeks prior to the sale date, the yearlings are brought into the barns from the shed fields and are schooled in handling and presentation skills, groomed, bathed, and exercised on the hot walker daily, as well as get their first set of shoes. This routine helps the youngsters learn what the barn environment and daily individual turnout is like. It is the key to the success of these babies transitioning to training barns after the sales. "The biggest compliment we regularly receive from buyers and trainers who have a Blue Chip yearling in their barn is how well the horse settles in and how quickly and seamlessly the horse takes to training. This is because all the necessary prep work has already done before they arrive to their new homes. This is something our whole team takes so much pride in." Blue Chip Farms employs a large team with assignments that fit their individual skill sets, in addition to operations that take a team effort, such as the preparations that go into the sale season. Generally, the farm has about eight to nine official yearling grooms per season. On average, there are about 70 yearlings that are collectively sent to the sales and about 30 that go into training with their original owners, yielding about 100 yearlings per year that the farm raises. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter With eight to nine employees and about 100 yearlings to prep and train, Blue Chip has a specific method to assigning yearlings to their grooms, in addition to friendly competitions that not only provide additional incentives to the grooms, but spark interest and motivation. "Blue Chip hosts what we call the 'Yearling Draw' each year. During the draw, each staff member that is an official yearling groom for the season will get a chance to pick their preferred Blue Chip yearlings. The grooms have a friendly competition a week or so prior to the draw to determine the order in which the draw will be done," Sullivan explained. "During the draw, the grooms will then go down the line in the determined order and pick their first horse, then the second, then the third...until all the horses have been chosen. "Each year our yearling grooms have the opportunity to win one of two available monetary prizes. The first prize goes to the groom who prepared our highest-selling yearling of the season, and the second prize goes to the groom who prepared the highest average among their chosen horses. The work our grooms put into their horses really shows, and they take pride in the horses they present at the sales. This additional benefit helps create comradery, and a fun and motivating work culture." With sale prep comes the promotion of the yearlings going into the sales, including photos and videos to post on the website and on social media to engage potential buyers. For filming the videos, Blue Chip uses an outside vendor who films in a special paddock designated for videos. "The paddock has a level surface and secure footing which lends itself to obtaining good footage," administrative manager Jean Brown said. "The yearlings are familiarized with this paddock, and the process, prior to the video date. Our videographer has worked with our crew for many years and has an excellent feel for what camera angles/positions work for our particular physical setup. The Blue Chip management team does review the footage prior to final posting on the farm and sale websites." According to Brown, the logistical preparations of the sale are arranged months prior, including shipping. "If a local sale, like the Goshen Select Sale, Blue Chip will ship in its own consignment. For larger sales, like Harrisburg, where the farm represents over 40 yearlings, a commercial semi-truck is reserved. Hector Cedeno, Blue Chip's operations manager, allocates the yearlings by truck. The yearling crew is responsible for accompanying them to the sale and unloading them. Typically, 10 to 15 employees attend each sale. The total number depends on the consignment size," Brown said. "While at the sale, a Blue Chip groom leads each yearling to the sales walking ring next to the auction ring; however, an employee of the sale company leads, and presents, the yearling in the auction ring." Every year there are a number of sales hosted at various venues, with the most well-known Stateside being the Lexington Selected Sale in Kentucky and the Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, both known as "A" sales, according to Brown. Blue Chip Farms consigns horses at both sales, which share similarities in structure while varying geographically. "Each has an "elite" day or days for exceptionally-pedigreed individuals," Brown said. "The more middle to upper-middle yearlings sell on the subsequent days; or in the case of Lexington, the last day is geographically-focused to those yearlings sired by Ohio and Indiana-based stallions.  The geographic venue and timing differ, and this leads to choice for consignors and buyers alike to consign, or buy their yearlings in a manner that makes most sense to their farm and training operations." Altogether, yearling preparations at the New York farm involve paddock turnout, exercise in horse walkers and handling involving grooming, clipping, bathing, hoof picking, and shoeing. Extensive handling, socialization, exercise and nutrition and more all go into the successful raising of Standardbreds and preparations for their futures. Months of planning and preparations go into the sale season following the breeding season. Logistics and careful forethought couple with care and horsemanship to ensure horses are not only ready for the sale ring, but for the training and racing careers that follow. Then, before you know it, these horses are in the auction ring and moving on to their next home where hope springs eternal that they could be the next champion.