Barretts Results Hold Steady

The first Barretts March Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale held at Del Mar Wednesday produced results largely in line with the figures from last year's final Fairplex Park renewal, with a gray juvenile by first-crop sire The Factor (hip 12) bringing the top price of $460,000 from Emmanuel De Seroux's Narvick International.

“We are very pleased with the sale results,” said Barretts General Manager Kim Lloyd. “Consignors were a little nervous coming out here–they had a right to be with a new location and a new time slot–but the consignors are all very pleased. And our buyers were happy. And that's very important because now people will know this is a place to sell horses and we expect strong growth next year.”

Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, which consigned the sale topper, was the auction's leading seller with seven sold for a gross of $1,252,000 and an average of $178,857.

“The sale was great,” Dunne said. “We were pleasantly surprised. We brought horses up today and there were multiple bidders on all of them, from low to high. In fairness to Barretts, I wasn't a believer before I came out here. We were very close to not putting them on the plane, but they assured us they would have the buyers here and they would put on an event and they did that.”

In all, 43 juveniles sold Wednesday for $5,356,000. The average dipped 8.8% to $124,558 and the median held steady at $100,000. A year ago, 45 head sold for $6,148,000. The average was $136,622.

From a catalogue of 131, 62 horses were withdrawn. Of the 64 horses to go through the ring, 21 failed to sell for a buy-back rate of 32.8%. It was 30.8% in 2015.

Two horses topped the $400,000 mark Wednesday, with a daughter of Smart Strike bringing the day's second-highest price when selling to trainer Bob Baffert for $450,000. Last year's sale produced only one horse to reach the $400,000 mark, but four over the $300,000 mark. Only two topped $300,000 Wednesday.

Baffert, who had two purchases on the day, said the Barretts market was an important facet of the California racing industry.

“I think it's very important that Barretts stays for California racing,” Baffert said. “I think we need to keep this sale alive. It brings good horses to California.”

The sale missed out on a potential topper when hip 125, a supplemental entry by Union Rags, failed to sell at $725,000. The juvenile was consigned to the sale by John Brocklebank on behalf of Vern Dickman's Dickman Legacy Ranch.

The Factor Juvenile Heading West…
A gray ridgling from the first crop of GI Malibu S. winner The Factor will be heading to Japan after bringing a sale-topping bid of $460,000 from Riki Takahaski, sitting alongside bloodstock agent Emmanuel de Seroux, during Wednesday's Barretts March sale. De Seroux signed the ticket on hip 12 in the name of his Narvick International.

Takahaski admitted the young Lane's End stallion was the major attraction on the juvenile.

“I particularly liked The Factor,” Takahaski confirmed. “I have already bought one colt at OBS by The Factor.” Through Narvick, Takahashi gave $270,000 for a son of Oneminutetomidnite (Street Cry {Ire}) earlier this month.

Another selling point for Takahaski was the juvenile's co-bullet breeze of :9 4/5 during the sale's under-tack preview Monday.

Of the price, Takahaski laughed, “It was a little expensive.”

Narvick, the leading buyer of last year's Barretts Select Sale, also purchased hip 51, a daughter of Malibu Moon, for $240,000 and was again the sale's top buyer.

The sale topper was consigned to the Barretts sale by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables. The youngster was acquired on behalf of Joe Minor's JSM Equine for $85,000 as a Keeneland November weanling in 2014. Kate Sheehan signed the ticket on the youngster at $35,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“He's a lovely horse,” Dunne said of the sale topper. “We've been proud of him all winter. He's probably the main reason we got on the plane [to California]. We figured this would be a good place to showcase him and we're very pleased that he went to Narvick. We've had a lot of luck selling them horses over the years and we think they've got a good one.”

Bred by Marablue Farm, the gray is out of Broadway Lullaby (Songandaprayer), who is a half-sister to Broken Spell (Broken Vow), second in the 2012 GI Darley Alcibiades S.

Smart Strike Filly to Baffert…
Trainer Bob Baffert went to $450,000 to secure a filly by Smart Strike during Wednesday's Barretts sale. The final price was the second-highest of the sale.
After signing the ticket, Baffert admitted the filly's ownership was still undecided.

“I don't know yet,” he said of an owner. “I have a lot of clients.”

Consigned by Becky Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock, hip 95 is out of Cautionary Tale (Yes It's True). That mare is a half-sister to graded stakes placed and Baffert-trained My Miss Storm Cat (Sea of Secrets), who is the dam of champion My Miss Aurelia (Smart Strike).

“She's a Smart Strike filly–they are hard to get,” Baffert said of the youngster's appeal. “She's fast and she looks like a good filly.”

Smart Strike, who died last spring, was also responsible for the $1.7-million topping colt at the recent OBS March sale.

Of the filly's final price, Baffert said, “The price tells. You have to pay for the good ones, but I thought she would probably be around there.”

Also Wednesday, Baffert signed the ticket at $150,000 to acquire a colt by Idiot Proof (hip 85).

Thomas acquired the filly for $100,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Prior to Wednesday's sale, Thomas admitted, “She has been my favorite filly all year long. She just floats across the ground.”

The filly was bred by Martha Jane Mulholland, Roger and Mary Pardieck, Jayde and Sam-Son Farms. Cautionary Tale, in foal to Midnight Lute, sold for $105,000 at last year's Keeneland January sale.