Northern California yearling sale has 140 horses cataloged

The Northern California yearling sale is in the midst of a growth spurt.

Tuesday’s one-day sale, conducted by the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, has a catalog of 140 horses compared to 126 in 2020. The 2019 sale had a catalog of 180 horses.

The 2020 sale recorded higher gross and average prices than the 2019 auction. The gross in 2020 was $575,600, leading to an average price of $7,778, according to sale company figures. In 2019, the gross was $555,000 for an average of $5,388.

The sale has a small number of horses of racing age, but is primarily an auction of California-bred yearlings.

The catalog includes yearlings by six of the leading stallions in the state by progeny earnings – I’ll Have Another, Ministers Wild Cat, Mr. Big, Stay Thirsty, Smiling Tiger, and Vronsky.

I’ll Have Another, the 2012 champion 3-year-old male, stands at Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsall, Calif., and has had six racing crops in Japan. I’ll Have Another was transferred from Japan to California prior to the 2019 breeding season. He stood at Ballena Vista Ranch in 2019 and 2020 before moving to Ocean Breeze last fall.

I’ll Have Another is represented by one yearling on Tuesday, a filly who sells as Hip No. 102 from the consignment of Woodbridge Farm, agent. The filly is out of R Sunday Surprise, a 7-year-old mare who is a full sister to two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome. R Sunday Surprise won a maiden special weight race at Del Mar in 2019, her only victory in nine starts.

California Chrome began his stallion career in Kentucky and was sold to stand in Japan in November 2019. There are two yearlings by California Chrome in Tuesday’s sale – Hip No. 13, a colt who is a half-brother to the multiple stakes winner Patriots Rule, and Hip No. 137, a colt out of the stakes winner Well Deserved.

The 2020 sale was led by Sherlock, a Stay Thirsty colt listed as sold for $50,000. Sherlock is winless in two starts in Southern California in recent months.

Sherlock was consigned by breeder Terry Lovingier’s Lovacres Ranch. The colt was listed as sold to Craig Warren and is currently owned by Warren and Lovingier.

Lovingier has a consignment of 24 horses. Barton Thoroughbreds, Milky Way Farm, and Woodbridge Farm also have sizable consignments.

This is the first of two yearling sales in the state. Fasig-Tipton will conduct a yearling sale at Fairplex Park in Pomona on Sept. 28.