by David Carr, the U.S. Trotting Association

Lexington, KY — Like a champion racehorse, the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale sprinted to the wire, as the average price of $16,022 on the fifth and final session on Friday night surpassed the same session a year ago by 15.1 percent. This late surge extended the margin for the entire sale to 2.6 percent, as the 642 yearlings stepping through the ring sold for an average price of $45,220, for a total amount of $29,031,000. This is the highest average price in the 11-year history of the Lexington Selected Sale, the product of a merger between the Kentucky Standardbred and Tattersalls sales. The gross sale amount was the highest since 2008, at a time when an additional 157 yearlings were sold.

As good as these numbers were for the full sale, the totals and almost certainly the average would have been even higher had it not been for the untimely illnesses that prevented the entire consignments of two highly respected breeders, Dr. John Egloff’s Vieux Carre Farm and Jeff Gural’s Little E Farm, from even shipping to Lexington for the sale.

The sale leader on Friday was the pacing colt Father Dave. He is by Always A Virgin out of My Best Girl, already a producer of a pair of winners of at least $150,000. Joe Holloway signed the slip for $75,000 for this youngster in the Preferred Equine Marketing consignment.

Over the course of the five sessions, 65 yearlings sold for a price of at least $100,000, the same number as last year. Trotting colts, the most numerous of the four gait and sex groups at the sale, held a slight margin over pacing colts among these six-figure yearlings, 21 to 20. Pacing colts were able to wrest superiority over trotting colts in two other metrics, average price, $50,089 vs. $49,670, and in median price, $40,000 to $30,000. This represented quite a reversal for pacing colts, which surprisingly were at the bottom in these two categories among the four groups.

For both gaits, the sires with the greatest number of yearlings being offered also attracted the highest average prices, Both leaders, Somebeachsomewhere on the pace and Muscle Hill among trotters, were repeat winners at Lexington. Somebeachsomewhere sired 44 yearlings passing through the ring, selling for an average price of $85,886. Art Major was second with an average of $55,094.

There was similar dominance for Muscle Hill, as his 49 yearlings attracted average winning bids of $86,306. The only first crop sire in the entire sale, Chapter Seven, was second among trotting sires with average prices for his yearlings reaching $61,000.

Full Sale statistics
Group-Number-Sold-Total price-Average Price-Top Price-Median$100,000+
Pacing Colts-146-$7,313,000.00-$50,089.04-$230,000.00-40,000-20
Pacing Fillies-154-$5,823,000.00-$37,811.69-$275,000.00-$25,000 10
Trotting Colts-182-$9,040,000.00-$49,670.33-$350,000.00 $30,000 21
Trotting Fillies-160-$6,855,000.00-$42,843.75-$310,000.00-$29,000-14
Total-642-29,031,000-$45,220-$350,000-$30,000-65