Hopes were high going into the 2022 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, and there was plenty of buzz that the catalog was strong enough to produce big numbers. Well, when the dust settled on Monday night at Fasig-Tipton, expectations had been met and then some, as the first session produced a record gross of $23,067,000 for 122 horses sold, well eclipsing 2021's standard of $18,545,000. A record average of $189,074 was also achieved, an increase of 17.2 percent over last year's then-record of $161,261. "Coming into it, we've been saying all along that it's very deep and broad," said David Reid, co-manager of the sale. "Across the board it was very solid. "The Europeans were strong here. I think we had a great crowd, and really it's just a credit to the breeders and the people who bring the product here. Some people say it's the best catalog, but it's hard to compare. Every year you're just trying to assemble the best you have that year. There was definitely a higher percentage geared towards trotters, but it was an outstanding catalog, and I think the results speak for themselves." Since coming out of the pandemic-impacted year in 2020, the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale first set and then reset the market over the last two years. Reid pointed to the health of regional programs, especially the money available for dual-eligible horses in Kentucky, and the wide number of breeders who have top-quality horses to offer as reasons that they can continue this trend. "The depth of the marketplace is key. The harness racing industry is a very churn business, meaning that when breeders do well, they're going to buy race fillies for good value from the guy who bought them two years prior. It's a whole cycle," Reid offered. "Purse money I do believe drives it all, worldwide interest helps support that, but we're in a good place in the marketplace right now." HIP 57 Epoch was the top seller, going to Diamond Creek Farm for $725,000. A daughter of Chapter Seven, she's out of the world champion mare Jolene Jolene, making her a sister to last year's Dan Patch Award winner Venerable and also to multi-time stakes winner Crucial. Epoch was bred by Steve Stewart and partners and was sold by Stewart's Hunterton Sales Agency as agent. "Lovely filly, checked all the boxes obviously - family, individual, paddock performance. We turned her out once, and we only needed about 30 seconds. We vetted her pretty hard, and she was virtually flawless to us," remarked Diamond Creek Farm's Shaun Laungani. "Everybody all day was talking about how she was the nicest in the sale. We thought a million was likely, and we never thought we'd ever get close. We went just a little above what we had budgeted, but we're totally happy, totally pumped. We never thought we'd get her for what we did. "She was the filly we wanted the very most in the sale. It's really, really hard to buy ones like that. She has the potential to change our broodmare band. It's a risk we have to take." ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Two horses tied for second-place honors, with HIP 70 Vic Zelenskyy, a colt from the first crop of Greenshoe, and HIP 80 Youbet Hanover both going for $550,000. Vic Zelenskyy, another Hunterton consignee bred by Mission Brief Stable, is the third foal out of that great trotting mare and went to agent Marcus Melander, and Youbet Hanover, a daughter of Bettor's Delight acquired by Serge Godin's Determination stable, is the first foal out of world champion Youaremycandygirl [$1,566,292]. Youbet Hanover was bred and consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms. "He was a very athletic colt. Good size, very nice in the field, good conformation. He comes out of a great family. He was the first colt out of Mission Brief, and it's very exciting with Greenshoe, of course, since we trained him. Both Greenshoe and Mission Brief were just super-fast horses," Melander said of Vic Zelenskyy. "He looks like a fast horse to me, otherwise we wouldn't have spent $550,000 for him. "Obviously we have Jaya Bae (Mission Brief's second foal), and I know she's a good horse, but she's got some problems and soreness issues, and it just doesn't work out for her. When it was working out for her, she showed that she was a good horse. She should have more than $40,000 on her account, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. I think he'll be a good horse, otherwise like I said, we wouldn't have bought him." Melander was the night's top buyer, spending $1,910,000 on eight yearlings. He said that wasn't his plan going in, but that he was pleased with the ones he got. "Like I said when we won with Oh Well up in Canada, just because you buy expensive horses, it doesn't mean they're good. Those that we bought tonight, they're good-looking horses and they've got the pedigree," he offered. "I'm fortunate enough to have owners that want to spend that kind of money. I'm very humble about that. I need to thank them for everything. Very happy so far with what we've purchased tonight." As for Determination, it was right behind Melander, shelling out $1,525,000 for four horses. Besides Youbet Hanover, Determination also got HIP 53 Sea Glass, a Downbytheseaside three-quarter sister to Meadowlands Pace, Cane, and Hempt champion Beach Glass. Sea Glass was consigned by Preferred Equine Marketing, Inc., as agent for breeder Schooner II Stable. "She was a beautiful filly. Very light and conformation was perfect," Determination's trainer Luc Blais said of Sea Glass. "[Youbet Hanover] is another nice filly. We stable in Ontario, and the program in Ontario is super-good. With Ontario-sireds we can race anywhere. It's always too expensive for me, but I think it's the market right now." One of the other yearlings to make it over the half-million dollar mark was HIP 63 Awaiting. She wound up being the highest-priced Walner progeny on Monday night, and is often the case, went to Walner's owner Ken Jacobs. Awaiting, who was the third Hunterton offering in the top five, is a full sister to Walner Payton, this year's New Jersey Sire Stakes 2-year-old filly trot champion, and she is also owned by Jacobs. "I own the sister. It's a family thing, only because it's in the family I bought it. It's a Walner and I liked her. I didn't want to go this much, but what are you going to do? [Walner Payton's] made me $350,000 so far, and she's still racing," said Jacobs, who laughed that he had to beat out six other bidders to get Awaiting. "I was going to take her home. I had my mind made up. I do all my research, and once I know which one I'm going after, I go after them." Buyers will have another chance to take more yearlings home on Tuesday when HIPs 131-363 will go through the ring. The session will start at 2 p.m. --quotes by Derick Giwner--