Northlands Park: Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s mixed sale catalogs 99 horses

The annual Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s mixed sale will take place in the Northlands Park EXPO Centre on Sunday. With supplements, there are 99 horses cataloged. The main focus will be on the 71 yearlings being offered.

Last year, there were 92 yearlings sold at an average price of $5,389. The main reason for the decline in numbers of horses being offered was a private sale held earlier this year by Esquirol Farms.

Potential buyers should feel more secure this year. In 2010, there wasn’t an agreement signed between the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and management at Northlands Park regarding racing at Northlands in 2011. A minimum of 84 days of racing at Northlands has been agreed on for next year.

“It is certainly one of the positives we can point to going into the sale,” said Jean Kruse, manager for the local division of the CTHS. “It should give buyers confidence knowing we are going to be racing in 2012.”

The sale also comes on the heels of a positive sale in British Columbia on Tuesday, where the average yearling price was up 23 percent.

Cape Canaveral, one of the leading sires in Alberta, is represented by nine horses, the most of any sire in the sale.

Hip No. 5 should attract some interest. A bay filly by Cape Canaveral out of the mare Lady Glacken, she is a half-sister to stakes winners Bodgits Lady and Bears Artiste. Bodgits Lady won the $50,000 Princess Margaret in her second start as a 2-year-old and placed in the $71,000 Northlands Park Oaks.

Bears Artiste won four stakes races, including the Fall Classic Distaff, last year. The Distaff is part of Fall Classic Day, when seven stakes races restricted to Alberta-breds make up the bulk of the card. Fall Classic Day goes this Saturday at Northlands.

Hip No. 27 is by Grade 3 Native Diver winner St. Stephen, whose first foals are 2-year-olds this year. He is a half-brother to Sin Toro, who won three stakes races – the $75,000 Canadian Juvenile, the $50,000 Western Canada for 3-year-olds, and the Saskatchewan Derby.

A 2-year-old filly by Seeking the Dia out of Wonderful Luck is available as Hip No. 28. A son of Storm Cat, Seeking the Dia is a multiple graded stakes winner who earned more than $5 million running mostly in Japan. His first foals are 2-year-olds. Wonderful Luck won the $77,000 Cinderella at Hollywood Park and placed in two other stakes. This is her first foal.