by Karsten Bonsdorf, USTA web newsroom correspondent

The start of the French yearling sale season went off on a high note in Paris, as not only was a sales record of $260,000 for a colt sired by the very popular stallion Love You established, but the average price rose by 11.6 percent compared to last year.

The sale, held by the sales company Trotting Promotion at Vincennes Racetrack over two days, had 238 yearlings going through the ring of which 153 were sold at an average price of $34,360.

Three yearlings were sold for $100,000 or more. The median price was $23,200; that’s up 15 percent from last year.

On Wednesday, Sept. 9, the next big yearling sale will take place in Deauville in Normandy with 313 trotters in the catalogue.