Harness: History made at Lexington Selected Yearling Sale with two seven-figure standouts

The first night of the 2019 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale will definitely be one that lives in the annals of harness racing as there was not one, but two, million-dollar babies sold, the first time that has happened at public auction. Then, before the night was through, the highest-priced pacer ever sold would also go through the ring.

The chatter about HIP 44 Maverick, a full brother (Father Patrick-Designed To Be) to Greenshoe, had been making the rounds since the catalog came out, and speculation was ripe that he could be harness racing’s first $1 million yearling. That talk came to be reality as he was hammered down to The Maverick Group, led by Brad Grant, for $1.1 million.

"He's the real deal. He's as perfect a colt as you can find. He checked all the boxes,” said Grant, who will be putting together a partnership that will own the colt. “We checked him out, I had other people check him out, and I'm really happy I got him.

"I really believed he was going to be a million dollar horse, and when we saw that the people from Sweden bought that other one for $600,000 (HIP 7), it kind of set the mark. With Greenshoe doing what he's done and being syndicated this past week, the colt is the real deal. It's addicting. You like it. You want to get the best horses whether they're pacers or trotters, and there's no doubt this is the best horse."

Maverick will be trained by Tony Alagna, and he was excited after just missing out on Greenshoe when he sold as a yearling.

"We saw the colt early, of course, at Kentuckiana. We turned the horse out. A lot of people know I was the under-bidder on Greenshoe. I bid $325,000 on him as a yearling and we didn't get him bought. It's nice to get another shot,” remarked Alagna, who came away from the sale with 15 yearlings. “It's nice that I've got owners and partners in the barn that have enough trust in me to train a horse like this. We're excited with the new race coming up (the Mohawk Million that was announced this week) that we've got a top prospect like him.

"We thought we'd go to $1.2 million. That was our number. When you get over a million, what's the difference? We're glad we got it done. At this point we haven't worked it all out, but there will be a few."

Alagna was one of the people saying Maverick was going to go into seven figures.

"I told everybody all week that they're going to break the record at this sale with that colt. A lot of people didn't think the industry would do it, but they did,” he added. “Thoroughbreds do it all the time, but we're going to be there too. That's what you have to do sometimes. I hope as a buyer it doesn't happen often, but it shows the industry is strong."

For Marvin Katz, who bred Maverick along with his longtime partner Al Libfeld, it was definitely a night to remember, not just for him, but for the industry at-large.

"It's a very, very exciting feeling of gratification, and I'm quite happy. That's a family that's particularly close to us. We've had that family for over 20 years. It really is analogous to our whole breeding career,” Katz said. “We have the great grand-dam, Bart Glass bought that for us for $150,000. We didn't race her. We bought her as broodmare at the mixed sale in Harrisburg. We bred Sheer Soul, who is the grand dam, and she raced for us. She's the dam of Designed To Be, who raced for us and then she's had these great colts. I knew that he would bring a lot of money. It seemed the stars were aligning for that to happen. He was an incredibly exceptional colt. Several people told me, highly-regarded and respected, he was the best colt, in their opinion, in the sale.

"I think it's a seminal night in our business. You're seeing a dramatic change in the way this business is now structured. The market is clearly telling you that if you put the right product, the very high-end, there's also no limit to what you can receive. I think that is great for our industry. People are recognizing there's a lot of money to race for, there's great breeding opportunities right now, and the business is starting to expand again. I think it's very positive."

Another person beaming over Maverick going into seven figures was Diamond Creek Farm’s Adam Bowden, as they stand Father Patrick.

"I think it confirms that he is the new top stallion in the sport - a horse that can produce a yearling like that,” Bowden said. “He was a great individual, he has a great family, and I think it just validates what we've thought all along about the horse."

"I think we'll see more and more yearlings get closer and closer and potentially over that number in the future. The benchmark, once you reach it, the sky's the limit then."

A single million-dollar yearling would have been exciting enough, but then along came HIP 105 Damien. By a Hambletonian champion in Muscle Hill and out of Hambletonian Oaks winner in Danae, he was consigned by agent Cane Run Farm and went to owner Brixton Medical AB (Bengt Ågerup) for $1 million. Brixton Medical AB and trainer Daniel Redén also have Damien’s full brother Propulsion, an international star who started his career in North America and has gone on to win numerous races overseas, earning over $3 million.

“We had a plan, and it was to bring him to Sweden if we get him. We did, but the price was very high. Now we need to think a little bit, but I hope it will come to my farm because I've got the brother,” said Redén. "Maybe we will come back. We will start to train him there.

"After we saw Greenshoe's brother, we thought we needed to pay a lot. Propulsion has earned a lot of money, so I think it was worth it."

Brixton Medical AB then also shelled out $800,000 to buy HIP 114 Some Terror. Vieux Carre' Farms, acting as agent, consigned the Somebeachsomewhere colt, who is the second foal out of $1.6 million earner Economy Terror. Nancy Johansson will train Some Terror.

"I thought it was the best pacer today, and we need a good pacer. It's only the first day, so this will be the day I'm spending. I'm happy to go home,” Ågerup said with a laugh. “The looks and the pedigree - he was clearly the best one. This is the best auction, quality-wise. If you want the good horse, you have to pay."

Johansson will also get the opportunity to train HIP 65 Really Fast, a Muscle Hill-Stubborn Belle colt who went for $700,000. Brixton Medical AB will also be a part of this one as well, along with Bud Hatfield and the breeders Katz and Libfeld.

"He's got a great pedigree. Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld, they raise great horses at Walco Farms and Kentuckiana Farms. He's a home run-type of horse; the type of horse that could go stand stud someday, hopefully, if he races well,” said Johansson. “The 2-year-old Ms Savannah Belle has been obviously doing really well. He's a great individual and has everything that we look for. Muscle Hill doesn't exactly hurt him, either. Now we just need some luck. We obviously really liked him. We saw him at the farm and everything like that. I think he's as good as Greenshoe's brother or any of the other ones."

Rounding out the top five was HIP 7 Ineffable, who was sold to Lina Alm, an agent for Lennart Agren’s S R F Stable, for $600,000. Ineffable, a daughter of Cantab Hall-Jolene Jolene, sold from the consignment of agent Hunterton Sales Agency.

"That was something else, and it went very fast. It was an amazing horse, so I understand it was an amazing price,” remarked Alm. “I really didn't think it would go that high, but what do you do? It's the market."

"It had everything. We really thoroughly work through them. We want them to have the pedigree and the exterior - the hip, the chest, and everything like most of the people look for. She was really extraordinary, and I also like her as an individual. She's a smart horse, and I hope she'll be smart enough to realize she could be fast and win. B Cor Peatra is far, far, far back, but she's really a foundation mare, and always producing new stars. We like to look far back, but it's also very interesting if the mother already produced. There were many things that made her this expensive, I think."

Serge Godin’s Determination Stable and his trainer Luc Blais have been active at sales in recent years, and that was the case again tonight as they took HIP 96 Mycrownmykingdom for $450,000. Another Muscle Hill colt, this Preferred Equine Marketing, Inc. (agent)-consigned yearling is out of Beehive, making him a half-brother to multi-millionaire Bee A Magician.

"It's a Muscle Hill and he looked good. He's a very nice horse, and he's from a good family,” remarked Blais. “I think the sale is very high today, everybody's up, but we're very happy about that.

"We went and saw the horse a few times before the sale at the farm. We do some work before we buy horses of that level. Everything turned out good. We're happy. I think we've bought lots of good horses the last couple years. My owner, Determination, buys quality.”

Diamond Creek also got involved in the bidding during the session, taking HIP 68 One Alpha One for $400,000. A filly by Father Patrick, One Alpha One is the first foal out of the brilliant world champion Mission Brief and was consigned by Hunterton.

"It was a family that we wanted a piece of. It was by our stallion Father Patrick, and she checked all the boxes,” said Bowden. “I think we paid $300,000 once years ago for a pacing filly. We bought out a partnership for a colt at $330,000 a couple years ago, but that's the most that we've spent for our own.

“We're trying to improve our trotting band, and it's getting impossible to buy mares when they're done racing. These are pedigrees that we wanted and the physicals matched. We'll take a swing that the yearlings turn into racehorses and then future broodmares. There's residual value there."

In all, 118 yearlings sold for a gross of $18,206,000 and an average of $154,288, both dramatic rises over last year’s record-setting first session of $12,900,000 and $126,471 for 102 horses.

"What's left to say? It went way over expectations. It speaks volumes,” said co-manager Randy Manges, “I think the economy is good and the horse business obviously is good. The regional sales have been strong all over the country, but this was the first test of the top of the market, and it was very strong. I thought after the last two years, how could we do better? Obviously, we have so far. The buzz was good, and the crowd was huge. Everybody knew from the catalog that it would be a good session.

"I think they realize if they're going to buy these kind of horses, they have to open up their pocketbook. At this sale, we've always had strong overseas interest for a number of years now.”

Manges went on to say that there’ll be chances for more bidding fireworks all the way through the week as the sale has plenty left to offer.

"We've got a very deep sale. We have some very, very good horses selling all through the week, so I expect the sale to maintain its upward momentum. Last year our second session was very good, so hopefully we maintain tomorrow. We have a good bunch of horses selling tomorrow night.”

The sale continues Wednesday-Saturday night at Fasig-Tipton, with all the sessions beginning at 7 P.M.

(Quotes by Derick Giwner)