by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Harrisburg, PA — Muscle Massive flexed substantial appeal Monday in becoming the top purchase on the opening day of the Standardbred Horse Sale.

Muscle Massive was the sales topper on Monday as he was hammered down for $425,000.

A full brother to world champion Muscle Mass, the trotter was purchased by trainer Jimmy Takter for $425,000. Muscle Massive is by Muscles Yankee out of Graceful Touch.

“I thought he was a good body type. He was a good size,” Takter said. “We liked the first one, Muscle Mass; he was a nice colt. This one I thought was a touch better. We really love this colt. This colt has a very nice conformation and he moved very well in the paddock. He showed the right attitude about it. It’s a craps game, but we’re happy we got him.”

Ganache, a full brother to Chocolatier, sold for $350,000.

Muscle Massive was one of two yearlings to sell for more than $300,000. The other was Ganache, a full brother to award-winning millionaire trotter Chocolatier, who was purchased by John Carver for $350,000. Ganache is by Credit Winner out of Maple Frosting, who also was the mother of 2003 Yonkers Trot winner Sugar Trader.

“He looked really good on the video and is a great looking trotter,” said Erv Miller, who will train Ganache. “He had a lot of length to him and trotted light on his feet. I thought I would give him a try. He’s a full brother to a good horse and he’s got every license to be that kind of horse. Hopefully, it pans out.”

The sales topper among pacers was Catechism Hanover, a half sister to Cathedra Dot Com, Western Shooter, Cabrini Hanover and The Preacher Pan. She is by Rocknroll Hanover out of Cathedra and was purchased by Steve Jones for $260,000.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photos

Catechism Hanover was the sales topper among pacers as she brought a winning bid of $260,000.

“I thought she was the best looking filly in the sale and the best bred pacing filly in the sale,” Jones said. “We realized we would have to pay a lot of money to buy her, but prefer to play at the top end and hope she’s a racehorse. If not, she’s got a lot of value as a broodmare. She’s from a terrific family and she’s a terrific individual. We don’t know about her ability, but we’ll find that out in the next few months and take it from there. I thought she was the most outstanding horse that I saw here. If she had been a trotting colt or a trotting filly, I wouldn’t have been able to buy her.”

Yankee Nourrir, a son of Andover Hall and the first foal out of world champion trotter Windylane Hanover, sold for $235,000 to Ole Bach.

Overall, 367 yearlings sold for $16.1 million on Monday. Thirty-four horses sold for at least $100,000. The average of $44,039 was below the mark of $62,361 on the first day of last year’s sale and the 2006 opening day average of $54,178.

The average for trotters was $45,836, compared to $63,784 last year, and the average for pacers was $42,570, compared to $61,076 in 2007. Trotting colts came nearest to duplicating last year’s numbers, averaging $58,921 this year compared to $64,882 last year.

“It’s kind of tough out there. The economy has caught up with us,” said Murray Brown, the sale’s general manager. “There are a good many horses at the top that are still popular and still selling well, but generally speaking things are down. I think it’s a combination of three things, the biggest of which is the economy. The other two are the drop in both the Euro and the Canadian dollar; horses are more expensive for both those two people.

“It’s almost like a perfect storm. It could be a lot worse. It’s certainly a buyer’s market and there’s a great deal of opportunity for buyers. I’m hoping some people that aren’t here will look at the prices and see there’s great value to be found and show up to be factors. That remains to be seen.”