Harness: Record average after two sessions of Standardbred Horse Sale

Bidding remained spirited and prices remained high on Tuesday at the Standardbred Horse Sale, with HIP 300 Unicorn Blue Chip topping the session at $475,000.

Bred and consigned by Blue Chip Bloodstock Inc., Unicorn Blue Chip is a Chapter Seven filly and was purchased by agent Lucas Wallin. Out of the Donato Hanover mare Dunk The Donato, Unicorn Blue Chip is a sister to Plunge Blue Chip [1:49 4/5, $1,576,176] and to stakes winners Splash Blue Chip and Threepointbluechip.

"Of course, we liked the page, and the video, and the way she looked. She looked really, really good. She is a little on the smaller size, but she is a beautiful, correct filly," said Wallin, who purchased the filly for three or four owners. "Plunge Blue Chip was a lot bigger. But most of the Chapter Sevens, the good ones, I think are not too big. They are a little on the smaller side, so I wasn't worried about the size. I'm very happy we got her. I figured she would go very high, the trotting fillies especially. We were prepared to go high. But that was a lot of money."

Coming behind Unicorn Blue Chip at $310,000 was HIP 187 Won Liner. A Walner-Won Ton Hanover filly, she was bred and consigned by All American Harnessbreds and was grabbed by Ake Svanstedt. Won Liner's third dam produced $1.2 million earner SJ's Caviar.

"The conformation," Svanstedt responded when asked what he liked about the horse. The family was not top, but it was good on the mother. He is a nice horse. It was way too expensive, of course. It's high prices on the nice horses."

The lone pacer in Tuesday's top five was HIP 337 Twin B Nation, who was acquired for $300,000 by Luc Blais for Serge Godin's Determination stable. An American Ideal colt bred and consigned by Twinbrook Farms, his dam, Lovely Erin, is a sister to Wake Up Peter (1:48 3/5, $905,285). The third dam, World Order, produced Worldly Beauty.

"We don't buy a lot, but we buy a pacer every year. We've never hit, but they race OK. The money is good too with the pacers, but you need the right one. We like pacers too," remarked Blais. "The first thing, the individual. He is a super nice horse, looks like a million bucks. Twinbrook (Farms) does a very good job. When I saw him at the farm and when I saw him here again, we liked him a lot.

"I like his temper. He's a very laid-back horse. I like that. He reminds me of the same kind of horse as Forbidden (Trade), a very cool horse. I think that is very important. It is a lot of stress when you race at that level and go to every kind of track. You need a good horse to deal with that."

Blais and Determination also shelled out $250,000 to get HIP 413 Silly Me Hanover. A daughter of Walner bred and consigned by Hanover Shoe Farm, she's out of the Chocolatier mare Shared Past [1:53, $414,165]. Shared Past is also a sister to $1.1 million earner Dejarmbro.

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Rounding out Tuesday's top five sellers was HIP 385 Sadie Hanover, who was plucked out of the Hanover consignment for $240,000 by agent Richard Gutnick. Sadie Hanover is the first foal out of the Muscle Hill mare Southwind Percy, a sister to the likes of Southwind Cruze [1:55, $301,275].

After leading the consignors on Monday, Concord Stud Farm had another big ticket yearling on Tuesday in HIP 165 Known Agenda. Known Agenda is a colt by Resolve and is out of the Andover Hall mare True Friends. This is the family of $768,000 earner Justice Hall.

"He stands nice, he's good-sized, and that's what the boss [Tom Rankin] wanted," said agent Shane Weber. "It was appealing to have something in your backyard [Resolve is Ontario-based, as are Weber and Rankin]. I had a nice Resolve filly, and we really liked her, so that was kind of a selling feature for us. We like Resolve, and we've had some good luck with him."

Through two sessions at the 2021 Standardbred Horse Sale, the average is a record $79,399 and the gross is $33,427,000, up from 2019's $32,589,000 despite fewer horses being sold (421 this year versus 468 in 2019).

The yearling portion of the sale concludes on Wednesday with HIPs 460-831 going through the ring.

--quotes by Derick Giwner and Ken Weingartner--