Preferred Equine at the Preferred NYB Sale

by Sue Finley
   The 2013 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Preferred Sale marked the Thoroughbred consigning debut of Dave Reid’s Preferred Equine Marketing, the runaway standard-bearer of harness racing consignors. Reid sold two at last year’s sale, and is back this year for a second go with three New York-bred yearlings.
   His consignment this year includes Hip 294, a colt by the freshman yearling sire Dublin who is the second foal from her dam, Esther Got Even (Stephen Got Even); Hip 410, a Frost Giant filly out of Princess Marly (Outofthebox); and Hip 474, a colt by Big Brown and the second foal out of an unraced Speightstown mare, Stars and Speights, who is a full-sister to the multiple stakes winner of $574,000 Rose Catherine, second in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
   “We want to continue in the New York program,” said Reid, who operates out of Briarcliff Manor, in New York’s Westchester County. “It works for us geographically, as we’re Northeast based.” Cont. p2 
Preferred Equine at the NYB Preferred Sale cont.
   Reid continued, “We are truly excited about the game and we really wanted to have a few more for this sale, but it just didn’t work out. Next year, we’ll try to have a little bigger and a little better, and continue that every year. We’re slowly getting into it, and we think we have a couple nice horses to offer.”
   Reid, of course, is no stranger to Thoroughbred racing. One of the partners of Ice Wine Stable, he has seen some of the horses he races in partnership race at the highest levels, including No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), winner of the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot and the G1 Prix Morny at Deauville.
   But it has been in Standardbreds where Reid has cut his teeth, building the biggest consignment and biggest sales agency in the business, as if, as the TDN reported last year, Fasig-Tipton and Taylor Made were run by the same person. His Preferred Equine sales agency grossed $24 million and over 900 head last year, while his Tattersalls mixed sales at the Meadowlands have grossed $8 million this year.
   Over the past year, he borrowed a page from the Thoroughbreds and introduced a 2-year-olds in training sale to harness racing in May at the Meadowlands, a first for the sport. 
   “There’s not really an established market for selling 
2-year-olds in the Standardbred business, so I thought let’s try to create a market and create some commerce and see if it is something that will work,” Reid said. 
   But this week, his thoughts are strictly on `the runners.’ His two sales grads from his first consignment last year are up at Saratoga, and he’s watching them with interest. Building Permit (Bellamy Road), who sold for $80,000, was fourth for trainer Chad Brown in an Aug. 6 maiden, and Lakeside Sunset (Bellamy Road), a $52,000 sales grad, is working steadily at Saratoga for her debut with Bruce Brown. 
   “It would be a great start to have two of our sales graduates make starts in Saratoga,” said Reid.
   Two of his yearlings this year are owned by Reid and the Standardbred powerhouse Lindy Farms, while another is for an outside Thoroughbred client. Reid said that his goal was to improve his stock annually, and this year was a step in the right direction.
   “Hip 294 is from the first crop of Dublin and the second foal from the mare,” he said. “The first foal is a two-year-old, Priest N the Rabbi (Kitten’s Joy) with Wesley Ward, and he’s training very well. He worked well on the turf course the other day, and he’s anticipating having a start by the end of the meet. 
Hip 474 is the second foal out a Speightstown mare, who definitely has a good page and is a good physical. 
I think people are going to like him, and the Frost Giant filly fits well in the program.”
   Reid said that his welcome into the Thoroughbred sales world has been a very friendly one.
   “Last year, we had some people come by just for the curiosity factor,” he said. “Just a little bit…not a lot…but everyone was very nice and very cordial and it was a very enjoyable experience. We plan on being here on an annual basis, and you may see us elsewhere down the road. Right now, we’re just looking to have an enjoyable weekend.”