Klimt yearling tops Texas summer sale, which edges up

A colt from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Klimt topped the Texas summer yearling sale on Monday, when he fetched $120,000 from Al Pike, agent, according to a press release from the Texas Thoroughbred Association. The organization put on the sale along with host site Lone Star Park.

The topper is a Louisiana-bred from Ms. Character, an unraced daughter of Ghostzapper. He was consigned by Eaton Sales, agent for Coteau Grove Farms.

Pike, as agent, also purchased the second highest-priced lot at the sale, when he went to $100,000 for a filly by champion Classic Empire. She is a daughter of the Unbridled's Song mare Just Like Pop and was consigned by Roger Daly, agent for H & E Ranch.

During the yearling portion of the sale, 106 of 137 offered horses sold for a total of $1,347,700. The average was $12,714, up 5 percent from last year's $12,048, according to the press release. Last year, 42 of 65 head sold, for a total of $506,000. The median was up, too, from $5,000 to $5,100. The buyback rate was 22 percent this year, compared to 35 percent in 2019.

“The results of this sale were strong on their own, and especially against the backdrop of a health pandemic,” sales director Tim Boyce said in a press release. “With twice as many yearlings as last year, the fact that our average and median still went up shows that there’s a lot of demand in this region for quality stock. We were pleased with the response to online bidding as well.”

Eaton Sales, agent, was part of the Texas sale for the first time and led all consignors with gross sales of $454,800 from 28 sold, according to the press release.

During a horses of racing age session that kicked off the sale, 15 of 18 available lots sold for a total of $162,500, for an average of $10,833. The topper was a 2-year-old filly by Twirling Candy who brought $27,000.