Harness: Huntsville yearlings dominate Goshen Sale

Progeny of first-crop sire Huntsville were in demand at Monday's Goshen Yearling Sale as babies by him represented seven of the top-ten sellers during the event. Among those seven was sale topper Yes Indeed, who fetched $46,000 from agent Erv Miller.

Yes Indeed, who was bred by Steve Jones, was consigned by his Cameo Hills Farm, and sold as HIP 32, is out of the $756,238 earning mare Please Me Please, making Yes Indeed a half-sister to four horses who have banked $345,000 or more, topped by the Rocknroll Hanover gelding Rockin Finish (1:50, $563,380).

The top selling colt, HIP 27 Just Mercy, was also a Jones-bred and Cameo Hills Farm-consigned yearling by Huntsville and was taken by Jim DeArmond for $36,000. His dam Pardon, by Richess Hanover, put away just over $345,000 during her racing career, and her first foal, the So Surreal gelding Cub Fan, won a division of the Geers and the Kindergarten as a 2-year-old and was second in the New York Sire Stakes consolation.

Chapter Seven had one yearling to sell at Goshen, HIP 26 Harvey Two Face, and he wound up the highest-priced trotter, going to Steven Pratt for $30,000. Jones bred and Cameo Hills consigned Harvey Two Face, who is out of the Donato Hanover mare New Sensation. Harvey Two Face's 2-year-old half-brother Sidd Finch just broke his maiden by 5 1/2 lengths in 1:58 4/5 at Harrah's Hoosier Park on September 3rd, and he's from the family of Supergrit under the third dam.

"I didn't know what to expect this year due to the pandemic, but I was very pleased with the way it all worked out," said sale president Mark Ford, whose training center hosted the event. "We took fewer horses this year due to social distancing, but the quality was there and the prices proved that. There was strong bidding all day and a good amount was purchased in the $30,000 range. At the end of the day, I think we had a lot of happy buyers.

"I can't say enough about the good people at Cattle In Motion, who ran the online bidding and video. They were phenomenal; the best in their business. They were very efficient, very professional and they made the entire sale better than it has ever been. I believe this was the first Standardbred sale to take online bids, and I felt it went very smoothly considering it's never been done before. We look forward to working with them much more in the future."

The average was $14,767 for 86 yearlings sold, which was basically level from last year's average of $14,964 for 107 hammered down. The average for last year's sale was aided by three babies who fetched $75,000 or more. The gross for the sale was $1,270,000.

--Ford quote courtesy of Goshen Yearling Sale press release--