Barretts May Sale Friday

The Barretts May Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age will be held Friday afternoon at Del Mar, with bidding scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. PT. A total of 138 lots, plus nine supplementary entries, have been catalogued for the one-session auction. As of Thursday afternoon, there were 32 horses withdrawn.

This will be the second May sale Barretts has hosted at Del Mar and the company's general manager Kim Lloyd said the transition to the seaside oval has gone well.

“I think more and more people are starting to think, 'What better place to sell a horse than Del Mar,'” Lloyd said shortly after the conclusion of Wednesday's under-tack preview of the sale.

During last year's May sale, 94 horses sold for $4,216,000. The average was $44,851 and the median was $28,500. A colt by J P's Gusto brought the sale's top price $230,000 and he was one of 11 juveniles to bring six figures. The buy-back rate was 24.2%.

“I expect the results will be the same as last year, with a high clearance rate,” Lloyd said of expectations going into this year's sale. “We're looking to get horses sold. I think this year there might be a few more horses that will sell well on the top end.”

A colt by Speightstown (hip 99) zipped the fastest quarter-mile of Wednesday's preview, covering the distance in :20 3/5. Out of graded stakes winner Reunited (Dixie Union), the youngster is consigned by King's Equine.

The fastest furlong of the preview was turned in by hip 107, a daughter of Hansen, who went the distance in :9 4/5. The juvenile is consigned by Adrian Gonzalez's Checkmate Thoroughbreds.

Gonzalez, who has a five-horse consignment in the auction, is looking forward to a strong renewal of the May sale Friday.

“I'm expecting a good sale,” Gonzalez said. “March was a really good sale–better than I expected, so I made sure to have some quality horses coming into this sale. I think the California sales have really turned a corner and I'm happy to be a part of it.”