by Dean A. Hoffman

An Artsplace colt out of the champion Illinois mare Incredible Tillie brought the highest price at the Saturday night (Oct. 7) session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

Incredible Matt was hammered down at $160,000 to Bryan Montgomery, agent, of Hightstown, New Jersey.

The second-highest price of the session was the $135,000 paid by Vandalay Racing of Ancaster, Ontario for Houdini Lindy, a son of first-crop sire Kadabra out of Measure Up.

On Saturday 138 yearlings sold for an average of $28,732, a substantial increase over the comparable sale session last year, which averaged $16,493.

“We’re having a great sale, thanks to the Europeans,” said Tom Crouch of Kentuckiana Farms. “The Euro is stronger and there are some trotting sires like Yankee Glide and Andover Hall whose yearlings are in great demand.”

The 29 yearlings by Andover Hall are averaging $93,689 while the sons and daughters of his brother Conway Hall have fetched average offers of $70,466. A third brother, Angus Hall, has seen 22 of his yearlings go under the hammer for an average of $47,454.

These three stallions are located in programs with slots legislation. Angus Hall stands in Ontario, which has a strong sires stakes program while Conway Hall is in New York and Andover Hall is in Pennsylvania. Both the Empire State and the Keystone State are expected to enjoy much higher purses when the slots program kicks in fully in those jurisdictions.

Camluck leads all pacing sires as his yearlings have averaged $61,918. He, too, stands in Ontario which offers a slots-enriched sires stakes program.

The Lexington Selected Yearling Sale wraps up its 2006 sale with a Sunday session.