By Christie DeBernardis
Smiling Diamond (
hip 94), a yearling filly by Smiling Tiger, topped Tuesday's Barrets Fall Yearlings and Horses of Racing Age Sale when selling to Steve Gasparrelli of Slugo Racing for $220,000. Gasparrelli also bought last year's sale topper, a colt by Smiling Tiger now named Tigre Di Slugo.“We bought the Smiling Tiger colt last year and he is doing well,” Gasparrelli said. “I was very impressed with all the Smiling Tigers I have seen run. I think Smiling Tiger is going to be a good California stallion. I was colored by that a little bit, but the filly looked great. Her conformation was good, she vetted perfect and she just looked like a filly that could run. Smiling Tiger was really a plus. [Trainer] Mike Puype and I really did our homework on her. She was just a standout horse.”
As for the price, Gasparrelli said, “It was more than I expected to pay, but I wasn't leaving without her.”
Out of SP Carrie's a Jewel (Slewdledo, hip 94 is a half-sister to MSW and GSP California Diamond (Harbor the Gold), who topped last term's Barretts July sale when selling to Rockingham Ranch for $125,000. The yearling filly was bred and consigned by Critter Creek Farm's Stormy Hull.
“I have summed it up in two words, 'crazy good,'” Hull said while driving back to his home base in Washington state. “I sold one three years ago at Del Mar for $100,000. It was the first time I ever came to California to sell one and the first time I sold one for that amount of money. I thought I'd never do it again. I told Art Sherman, I just won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont all in the same day!”
Hull continued, “This filly was pretty phenomenal right from the start. She never looked like a newborn. At a couple of days old, she was doing things most babies can't do until they are a month old. I am hoping she can carry that to the racetrack.”
Overall, the Barretts Fall Sale saw 158 horses sell for a gross of $2,315,000. Of those 158, there were 131 yearlings, 17 broodmares, six weanlings and four horses of racing age. Last year's sale grossed $2,496,500 from 175 horses sold. The average was $14,652 compared to $14,266 in 2016 and the median was down to $5,000 from $7,500 last term.
“We were pleased with the sale,” Barretts General Manager Kim Lloyd said. “It shows more of the same with the polarization in the market. The top end is getting stronger and stronger, while the lower end is getting more and more difficult to get horses moved. That being said, we were very happy to get a lot of horses sold yesterday and, post sale, we are still selling horses today that didn't get sold.”
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