by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Muscle Boy AS, a yearling colt sired by Muscle Hill and out of the Italian mare Zelda Per, fetched the top price of $175,000 at the annual Derby Sale, held at the Mariendorf Racetrack in Berlin.

Muscle Boy AS was raised and bred by Alwin Schockemühle, who for many years was the leading breeder in Germany, but he has now scaled down and has only eight mares at his stud farm.

Muscle Buy AS was bought by the Austrian Serena Hamberg, who owns an elder brother to Muscle Buy AS named Istogramma SAS (sired by Diamond Way), who has a mark of 1:55.3 and earnings of $200,000.

The average price at the Derby sale, dropped 18 percent to $13,710.

The German Trotting Derby, the 119 Deutsches Traber Derby raced over the 1-3/16th mile distance, was won by the favorite, Expo Express, driven by his breeder and trainer Arnold Mollema from The Netherlands.

Expo Express had to trot outside without cover for most of the trip, but was an easy winner in 2:01 (mile rate). The purse for the winner was $145,000.

Expo Express is sired by the Italian stallion Expo Bi (he by Toss Out) and out of Pine Spirit (she by Pine Chip). Pine Spirit is also the dam of Unforgettable (sired by Diamond Way), who Mollema guided to victory in the Derby in 2005.

The filly division, raced over the same distance and with a purse for the winner of $65,000, was won by another Dutchman, Hugo Langeweg Jr., who was in the bike behind Pippi Barosso (she by Goetmals Wood). Pippi Barosso was timed in a new race record of 1:58.2 (mile rate).