By Brian DiDonato
A strong catalog of 42 horses in training, including a number of unraced 2-year-olds, has been assembled for the Barretts Paddock Sale, which will take place Wednesday at Del Mar following the conclusion of racing at approximately 6:00 p.m. local time.
Among those with established form is stakes winner and graded stakes-placed 3-year-old colt Aristocratic (Malibu Moon). Consigned as hip 36 by Havens Bloodstock Agency, the $475,000 OBS March acquisition annexed April's San Pedro S. at Santa Anita for Doug O'Neill and Kaleem Shah, and was last seen checking in third behind subsequent GII Woody Stephens S. romper American Anthem (Bodemeister) in the GIII Lazaro Barrera S. May 13 off the trainer change to Simon Callaghan (past performances). He hails from the immediately female family of MGISW turfer Honey Ryder (Lasting Approval) and GSW and young sire Dominus (Smart Strike).
“He's a lovely horse–he was a $475,000 2-year-old–he's a neat horse with a good mind,” said consignor Andy Havens. “He's been here over at the sales area for the past couple of days and he fits right in. He's clean-legged and he'll do somebody a lot of good, I think.”
Havens sold last year's sale topper, the 2-year-old stakes winner California Diamond (Harbor the Gold), for $125,000 to Rockingham Ranch. The gelding annexed three more stakes races and finished second in November's GIII Bob Hope S. after changing hands. The veteran horseman has high expectations for this year's sale, in part due to the increased focus by Barretts on assembling attractive juvenile prospects.
“We have a better group of horses [for this year's sale] in general,” he said. “They've focused on trying to attract later season 2-year-olds who are further along in training and the regular preview we had Monday has really allowed us to market these 2-year-olds a little better and it's really attracting a lot of attention. Overall, it's a richer and deeper catalog than we've had. Attracting a lot of these 2-year-olds and some of these better horses has made a big difference. We've already had a lot of traffic here, which is really good to see. In the past, [buyers] have kind of waited until the last minute. So it's worked so far.”
Among the juveniles from his consignment Havens has high hopes for are hips 6, 7 and 33.
“They're a really nice collection of good, sound horses who are ready to go on with it,” he said.
Other juveniles to keep an eye on include hip 30, an Uncle Mo colt offered by prominent Ocala-based McKathan Bros., agent who breezed the fastest three furlongs of Monday's under-tack preview in :33.80. The half-sister to GSW Maddalena (Good and Tough), herself the dam of Grade II-winning juvenile Bern Identity (Bernstein), was a $150,000 OBS August yearling.
For more information, visit barretts.com.
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