By Jessica Martini
The inaugural Barretts March Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at Del Mar begins Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. PT, with some 75 head expected to go through the auction ring during the one-session sale.
“We're excited about the sale,” said Barretts General Manager Kim Lloyd. “Our consignors seem very upbeat and we're very happy with that.”
The original March catalogue contained 121 juveniles and that number was bolstered by the addition of 10 supplemental entries before being whittled down by 54 outs before Monday's under-tack preview of the sale.
“We don't worry about the outs, we worry about the ins,” Lloyd said. “We have 10 additional supplements–we thought that showed consignor confidence coming out here for this first sale at Del Mar. And the horses here at the sale are very nice stock.”
Becky Thomas, whose Ocala-based Sequel Bloodstock will consign six juveniles to the March sale, agreed that, while the number of offerings may be low, the horses have been specifically chosen with Barretts buyers in mind.
“It's obviously a small number of horses, but we came out here with horses that we expected to do well out here,” Thomas said. “I think the people that are here–especially those of us who came from Florida–we came with horses targeted specifically for this sale.”
Barretts, which previously made its home some two hours north in Pomona, kicked off its Del Mar era with last year's May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and consignors like Andy Havens of Havens Bloodstock Agency think a solid renewal of that auction last spring will help provide momentum for the March sale.
“The May sale was really a strong sale and people came down and really paid attention,” Havens, who was represented by two of the six horses to work in a bullet :9 4/5 during Monday's under-tack preview, said. “I think there are enough good horses to attract these guys and give them what they want. There are plenty of horses here. I always have a lot of local horses, Cal-bred horses, so there is something here for everyone.”
Eddie Woods, who consigned last year's $400,000 sale topper by Twirling Candy, has been impressed with the turn-out at the barns both Monday after the breeze show and Tuesday morning.
“The people who looked Monday afternoon were all significant people in our industry, which was encouraging,” Woods said. “And a lot of them spend the right kind of money for the right kind of horse come the day. So that was encouraging. Now it depends on who follows them in today because they need company. What's here are not tire kickers–they are working it for a reason.”
Thomas agreed it looks like all the right faces have been at Del Mar the last two days.
“I was very encouraged to see the quality of buyers that were at the breeze show,” she said. “I am hoping that will translate into sales because the West Coast needs a source of horses and I think it could be a win-win for all of us.”
Last year's March sale, which produced Grade I winner Street Fancy (Street Sense), saw 45 horses sell for $6,148,000. The average was $136,622 and the median was $100,000. The buy-back rate was 30.7%.
To view Wednesday's sale, visit www.barretts.com.
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