Texas Thoroughbred Association plans sale of 2-year-olds at Lone Star

Lone Star Park near Dallas will be the site of a 2-year-olds in training sale next April, the Texas Thoroughbred Association announced on Thursday. The dates for both the auction and breeze show are still being determined, according to Denis Blake, a spokesman for the TTA.

Fasig-Tipton Texas had put on such an auction each spring at Lone Star, but when the sales company closed its doors in the struggling racing state following this spring’s auction, the future of the sale became uncertain. Texas’s annual yearling sale that was slated for earlier this week ended up being canceled.

The new 2-year-olds in training sale will be operated by the TTA. Tim Boyce, who had long served as director of sales for Fasig-Tipton Texas, will manage the sale for the TTA.

“We are excited to be continuing the tradition of Thoroughbred sales in Texas,” Mary Ruyle, executive director of the TTA, said in a release. “We were unsuccessful in bringing back the summer yearling sale after Fasig-Tipton decided to leave the state, but the 2-year-old sale has always been the strongest in the region and we expect that to continue.”

Boyce said he believes changes being made to the TTA Sales Futurity, which features divisions for colts and geldings and fillies each summer at Lone Star, will be a benefit to both buyers and consignors come April. All horses consigned to the new 2-year-old sale, regardless of where they are bred, will receive a free nomination to the TTA Sales Futurity. In another change, the TTA Sales Futurity will be open to all accredited Texas-breds, with those going through designated auctions receiving a free nomination and all others able to be nominated for $250.

In the past, the TTA Sales Futurity had been restricted to graduates of the Texas yearling or 2-year-olds in training sale, or accredited Texas-breds made eligible through a berth.

The purse for the revamped TTA Sales Futurity, as well as a new name for the race and further nomination details, will be announced at a later date, according to the TTA.