By Steve Sherack
The Pegasus 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, featuring an eclectic group of 37 juveniles, makes its return to the ring in Redmond, Washington, at 1 p.m. PDT Tuesday afternoon.
Held at Dr. Mark Dedomenico's renowned Pegasus Training and Rehabilitation Center with Mount Rainier providing a spectacular backdrop, previous graduates of the sale include: MGISW Belle Gallantey (After Market), GII Bayakoa S. heroine Broken Sword (Broken Vow) and GI Hollywood Starlet S. runner-up and 'TDN Rising Star' Blonde Fog (Divine Park).
Belle Gallantey, a $30,000 buy at the inaugural 2011 Pegasus Sale and prominently featured on this year's catalogue cover, concluded her career with a pair of Grade I victories and more than $1.1 million in earnings. She later brought $750,000 at the 2014 FTKNOV sale.
From 45 juveniles to go through the ring during the previous two Pegasus Sales held in 2011 and 2012, 95.5% (43) have started and 88.3% (38) have won (through Dec. 31).
“The success [on the racetrack] was one of the main reasons,” replied Mike Puhich, trainer and director of horse operations at Pegasus, when asked about bringing the auction back this year. “And they were kind of late developers–not real late–but they didn't come right out [of the sale] running right away, which is the design of it, not to hone on them too early.”
Puhich continued, “Belle Gallantey going on and making a million dollars and also selling for $750,000–she was a $30,000 purchase out of the Pegasus sale. Locally there was interest [in the sale], but not a whole lot of active buyers, so we just kind of got away from it for a while. But now that it's gone on and proven itself, I've had a lot of people wherever I go ask, 'When are you guys having that sale again?'”
All of the 37 juveniles on offer, including those consigned for outside clients, have been broken and trained at Pegasus under the watchful eye of Puhich.
“It's a good way for us to showcase the farm and the horses that we break here,” Puhich added. “It's a good approach and maybe people can follow suit with our philosophy. Breezing horses in :9 and change in March just doesn't seem feasible to longevity. I'm not criticizing anybody for doing it because when I go to the 2-year-old sales to buy, I'm looking for the fastest horses, too, so it works. But you'd like to just see horses brought along slow and on their own terms, and we have all kinds here.”
Offspring by leading sires such as Uncle Mo, Pioneerof the Nile, Ghostzapper, Into Mischief, Malibu Moon and Candy Ride (Arg) will all get a chance to stretch their legs and gallop over the Polytrack surface at Pegasus during Monday's training preview held at 12 p.m. PDT.
For more on the offerings, including photos and videos, click here to visit the Pegasus website.
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