Washington sale sees increases

AUBURN, Wash. – The Northwest breeding industry received a morale-boosting shot in the arm Tuesday at the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association’s summer yearling and mixed sale. A total of 77 yearlings changed hands for an average price of $15,735 – a 34 percent increase from the previous year.

Held at the Morris J. Alhadeff Sales Pavilion adjacent to Emerald Downs, the WTBOA sale attracted buyers from up and down the West Coast and western Canada. Glen Todd, the leading owner at Hastings in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Mark Dedomenico of Redmond, Wash., joined forces to buy the sale-topper, a colt by Harbor the Gold from the Horse Chestnut mare Bahati, for $70,000.

A full or half-brother to three stakes winners, including Del Rio Harbor, winner of the WTBOA Lads Stakes at Emerald Downs last Saturday, the sale-topper was consigned by Neal and Pam Christopherson’s Bar C Racing Stables of Hermiston, Ore.

Todd and Shawn Hansen of Tenino, Wash., paid $67,000 for the top-priced filly, a daughter of Stormin Fever out of the stakes-producing dam Cielo Dulce. She was consigned by Stormy and Ginger Daniels’s Critter Creek Farm of Sequim, Wash.

Of the 76 yearlings sold, 25 commanded prices of $20,000 or more as the median yearling price skyrocketed 100 percent – from $5,000 to $10,000 – over the previous year.

Char Clark Thoroughbreds of Spokane, Wash., sold broodmare Striking Scholar to the Hansens for $37,000. Striking Scholar’s son, Stryker Phd (by Bertrando), ran second in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile two days before the sale.

Herbie D getting a break

Herbie D, who ran his lifetime record to 10 for 13 with a popular front-running victory in the Longacres Mile, likely will not race again in 2013, trainer Robert Gilker said Sunday evening, adding that Herbie D came out of Sunday’s race in good order but has reached an opportune time on the Northwest racing calendar for a break.

Herbie D was assigned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100 for his victory – his second consecutive triple-digit speed figure on the heels of the 101 he earned in the 1 1/16-mile Mount Rainier Handicap in his start before the Longacres Mile. But while Herbie D’s Beyers would seem to make him a viable candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita in early November, Herbie D is not eligible to run in the Breeders’ Cup, Gilker said. Nor is the middle-distance standout particularly well suited for the 1 3/8-mile, Grade 3 B.C. Premiers Stakes at Hastings on Oct. 14.