Two reach six figures

AUBURN, Wash. - A $105,000 Fit to Fight colt and a $100,000 Smart Strike filly topped Tuesday's Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association summer yearling sale.

In all, 136 yearlings sold for $2,404,400. The average price of $17,679 was down 14 percent from last year's sale, which was held in conjunction with a dispersal of 505 Farms horses that attracted many well-heeled buyers.

"It was to be expected that this sale would be down from last year, because a number of last year's buyers were in town for the dispersal," said WTBA general manager Ralph Vacca. "The encouraging thing is that this year's median price of $14,500 was only down 3.3 percent from last year. All things considered, I think that is an excellent number."

Less encouraging was an increase of 26 percent in number of yearlings that did not attain their reserves. Sixty-three hips were listed as RNA, and 17 of the 216 yearlings cataloged were withdrawn before the sale.

The sale topper, a strapping son of Fit to Fight out of the Fast Play matron Non Stop Chatter, was purchased by Dave and Jill Heerensperger of Bellevue, Wash., from the consignment of Jerre Paxton's Northwest Farms.

Northwest Farms also sold the top-selling filly, a daughter of Smart Strike out of Bisbee, the dam of Taste the Passion, to Darby Dan Bloodstock of Lexington, Ky.

Other notable purchases included a half-brother to Grade 1 stakes winner Rings a Chime by Slewdledo for $82,000, and a Tale of the Cat filly from the Chief's Crown mare Crown Ice for $72,000. Sixty-four yearlings, or 47 percent of the total sold, went to buyers with out-of-state addresses.