Harness: Future Secured brings $500,000 on opening day at Harrisburg

Staffan Lind and Karl-Erik Bender hope Future Secured lives up to her name.

A filly trotter, Future Secured sold for a record-equaling $500,000 during the first half of Monday’s opening day of the Standardbred Horse Sale. When the final price was hammered down, observers at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show Complex responded with applause.

The price equals the auction-sales record for a yearling filly trotter, which was set by Courtney Hall in 2003. It is tied for the fourth-highest auction price for any yearling and is the highest price for a yearling at auction since Detour Hanover sold for a record $825,000 in 2011.

Future Secured, bred by Stefan Balazsi’s Order By Stable, is by stallion Cantab Hall out of the stakes-winning mare Thatsnotmyname. The second dam is Graceful Touch, the mother of 2010 Hambletonian winner Muscle Massive as well as stakes-winner Muscle Mass. The third dam is stakes-winner Act Of Grace, the mother of 2001 World Trotting Derby winner Cobol, and the extended family includes top performers such as Passionate Glide and Marita’s Victory.

“She’s a beautiful filly and she’s out of a family where those horses don’t come around too often for sale,” Lind said. “She moves good, she has a good conformation; she’s just a very nice filly.”

Lind said he was unsurprised the filly brought a hefty price.

“Those horses hardly ever come for sale,” Lind said. “It’s like buying a painting by Picasso; it’s hard to put a price on it. And she has huge residual value.

“We’ll train her just like any other horse,” he added, noting there was no additional pressure because of her price.

Future Secured was one of two yearlings to sell for at least $300,000 and among four horses to sell for at least $200,000. Colt trotter Royal Dreams, a son of Cantab Hall out of the stakes-winning mare Bold Dreamer, sold for $300,000 to agent Robert Lindstrom. He is a half-brother to multiple Dan Patch Award-winner Pampered Princess and O’Brien Award-winner Was It A Dream.

For the day, a total of 258 horses were sold for an average of $55,781. The average was a decrease of 8.49 percent from last year’s opening-day mark of $60,955, when 221 yearlings were sold.

This is the first time since 2008 that the Standardbred Horse Sale’s yearling auction is being held over three days rather than four.

“Today’s sale, I think, was pretty uneven,” Standardbred Horse Sales Company President Pete Spears said. “It started slowly, picked up later on, and finished reasonably strong.

“One major change is that in previous years we had a four-day sales format. Now we’re back to three days, which means we sold a lot more horses today than we normally do on Monday. A good number of them, therefore, would have been sold on Tuesday last year. Tuesday being a lower average day, we would have to expect that our average would be down a little bit simply because of the change in format.

“Overall, I think the very best horses sold extremely well. It’s not every day that you get a $500,000 trotting filly. I haven’t spoken to too many people who are too displeased with what they bought. So, we’ll come back (Tuesday) and try it again.”

A total of 27 yearlings sold for at least $100,000 on Monday. Joining Future Secured and Royal Dreams in reaching at least $200,000 were filly trotter Ellerie Hanover and filly pacer Babershop Hanover.

Ellerie Hanover, also signed for by Lindstrom, is a daughter of Cantab Hall out of the stakes-winning mare Exotic Destination. She is a half-sister to stakes-winner Exodus Hanover.

Babershop Hanover was the highest-priced pacer and is a daughter of Rocknroll Hanover out of the mare Baberhood. She is a half-sister to Dan Patch Award-winner He’s Watching. Myron Bell signed for Babershop Hanover on behalf of owners Brittany Farms and Marvin Katz.

Tony Alagna will train Babershop Hanover. He also trains the filly’s other half-brother, 2-year-old Tom Hill.

“It’s a great pedigree; a pedigree we believe in,” Alagna said. “She’s by Rocknroll Hanover, so it’s a perfect filly to go to (former stable star) Captaintreacherous someday. We’ll race her and hopefully after her racing career we’ll breed to Captain and she’ll throw great yearlings to sell every year. We try to think long term as far as breeding her when she’s done racing and she fit the bill.

“She is a beautiful filly. She has nice size for the family. He’s Watching isn’t a very big horse, Tom Hill isn’t a very big horse. This filly has got some size and she’s by the right sire. It was a perfect fit.”

Rounding out the top five sellers was colt trotter Awol Hanover (Donato Hanover-Angel Fire Hanover), who is a three-quarter brother to stakes-winner Spicy Wings and sold for $180,000 to Luc Blais.

Tuesday’s yearling session begins at 10 a.m. at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show Complex.

Day One Top 10

Hip-Sex-Gait-Name-Sire-Dam-Buyer-Price

129-F-T-Future Secured-Cantab Hall-Thatsnotmyname-Staffan Lind-$500,000

195-C-T-Royal Dreams-Cantab Hall-Bold Dreamer-Robert Lindstrom, agent-$300,000

237-F-T-Ellerie Hanover-Cantab Hall-Exotic Destination-Robert Lindstrom, agent-$270,000

179-F-P-Babershop Hanover-Rocknroll Hanover-Baberhood-Myron Bell, agent-$200,000

165-C-T-Awol Hanover-Donato Hanover-Angel Fire Hanover-Luc Blais-$180,000

74-F-T-Obscene-Kadabra-Letsjustalkaboutme-Tom Hill-$165,000

131-F-T-Magic Presto-Kadabra-In The Mean Time-Mel Hartman, agent-$160,000

142-C-T-Soderberg Hanover-Cantab Hall-Southwind Wasabi-Lars Perry Soderberg, agent-$150,000

189-C-P-Ideal Wheel-American Ideal-Bet On Luck-Mac Nichol-$150,000

133-F-P-Tori Hanover-Somebeachsomewhere-Trim Hanover-Jeff Snyder-$135,000

169-C-P-Academic Hanover-Western Ideal-A Pippin Hanover-Mark Harder-$135,000

-Courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, please visit www.ustrotting.com