Texas sale down 33 percent

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Despite the boost it got from the sale-topping $240,000 Indian Charlie colt, Fasig Tipton's sale of 2-year-olds in Texas ended Tuesday with declines across the board.

The one-day auction at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, brought in $2,477,500 for 152 lots sold, down 33 percent from last year, when 175 head sold for a total of $3,722,100. Average price also fell 23 percent, from $21,269 last year to $16,299, and median slipped from $15,000 last year to $10,000 this season. But the buyback rate improved, dropping from 48 percent of horses offered last year to 43 percent.

The $240,000 sale topper was Hip No. 129, an Indian Charlie colt out of Halo mare Shahalo. Ted Keefer, agent, signed the ticket for the colt, a bay named Bwana Charlie. Safari Bloodstock, agent, sold the colt. The Indian Charlie colt posted one of the fastest times at the auction's under-tack preview on March 23, breezing a quarter-mile in 21.40 seconds.