by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

East Rutherford, NJ — Trotting mares Raising Rachel and Honorable Daughter were the top sellers through the early portion of the Tattersalls January Select Mixed Sale on Monday (Jan. 18) at the Meadowlands.

Raising Rachel was hammered down for $255,000 on Monday.

Raising Rachel was purchased by Arlene and Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms for $255,000 while Honorable Daughter, the sport’s 2-year-old filly trotting champion in 2008, went to Bill Weaver’s Valley High Stable for $185,000.

A daughter of Yankee Glide, Raising Rachel won 10 of 20 career races and earned $595,355. Last season as a 3-year-old, she won a division of the Casual Breeze Stakes and was second in the Hambletonian Oaks and Elegantimage. Her defeat in the Oaks was by just a nose to Broadway Schooner, who is owned by the Siegels.

As a 2-year-old, Raising Rachel won seven of eight starts, including a division of the Champlain. Her career mark is 1:54.1 and she is a half sister to multiple Ontario Sire Stakes division winner Reach Higher. Raising Rachel’s mother, Raising The Bar, is a half sister to millionaire mare Casual Breeze.

“She’s got a good family and very good race performances,” said Dave Elwell, Fashion Farms’ manager. “You need to have this kind to compete.”

Honorable Daughter, who is a daughter of Malabar Man, won 11 of 22 career races and earned $979,236. As a 2-year-old, she won nine of 11 starts, including the Breeders Crown, Merrie Annabelle and Matron Stakes. She set the world record for 2-year-old filly trotters on a five-eighths-mile track with a 1:55.1 clocking at Dover Downs.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photos

2008 Dan Patch Award winner Honorable Daughter was sold for $185,000.

Last season, she won the Empire Breeders Classic, but was slowed by bruised heels.

“I like what the (catalog) page will look like when she has a baby,” Weaver said when asked what he most liked about Honorable Daughter.

“She’s good sized; a good looking mare,” he added. “She did everything they asked her to do as a 2-year-old. She had 2-year-old speed. That’s what people are looking for these days and she could cross with a lot of sires.”

McGibson, a multiple-stakes-winning 4-year-old mare who has seven victories in 20 races and $181,608 in her career, brought the top price for pacers through the first 144 hip numbers. She was purchased for $135,000 by Fran Azur.