Sales Results: https://ctba.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Results.pdf
By Bloodhorse.com
POMONA, Calif. (Jan. 16, 2019) — Bidding by phone from Gulfstream Park, trainer Bob Hess Jr. purchased a 2-year-old, California-bred son of Merit Man for $60,000. It was the highest price at the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association January Mixed Sale, held on a rainy Jan. 16 in Pomona, Calif.
The CTBA stepped in to pinch hit with the January Mixed Sale, formerly conducted by Barretts, which ceased operation at the end of 2018. Two-year-olds made up the biggest part of the 151-hip catalog, which also included broodmares, yearlings, and a few supplemental entries.
Hess was excited to get the sale-topper—consigned as Hip 110—because he trained Merit Man to three stakes wins and a third in the 2013 Besilu Stables Florida Derby (G1) behind eventual Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Orb . The trainer said he would likely put together a partnership of several of his regular clients.
Hess also bought a 2-year-old, Cal-bred filly by Merit Man (Hip 138) for $30,000. Terry Lovingier’s Lovacres Ranch consigned both horses.
“Merit Man was a lovely horse,” said Hess by phone from Florida. “We’re really excited about him as a stallion. My father (trainer Bob Hess Sr.) looked at all of his horses (at the sale) and said that I had to buy these.”
Lovingier offered a large consignment and was pleased with the way his group sold.
“They were very, very good horses,” he said, adding of the sale-topper, “If he had been by Tapit , he’d have sold for $500,000.”
The sale-topper is out of the stakes-placed Aldebaran mare Seaside. The Merit Man filly is out of Lovingier’s homebred Unbridled Meeting, a California-bred stakes winner by Red Bullet.
Larry Lewis bought the highest-priced 2-year-old filly of the sale and the second-highest priced overall. He bid $36,000 for Hip 98, a Cal-bred daughter of Clubhouse Ride —Protect Freedom, by In Excess. Andy Havens’ Havens Bloodstock Agency consigned the filly on behalf of breeder Rozamund Barclay.
Lewis is the brother of Craig Lewis, who trained Clubhouse Ride. Craig Lewis also trained 1995 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Larry the Legend, named for his brother.
“This is a gorgeous filly,” said Craig Lewis. “She really resembles Clubhouse Ride. She has the same head and the same body. I bought him at the same sale. Like today, it was a rainy day, and I paid $22,000 for him.”
That was at the 2010 January sale, conducted by Barretts, that Lewis bought the colt as a 2-year-old for Six-S Racing Stable. Clubhouse Ride went on to earn $1,341,132 and now stands at John Harris’ Harris Farms near Coalinga, Calif.
Barclay said she still has Protect Freedom. The mare is in foal to Barclay’s stallion Northern Causeway, who stands at Rancho San Miguel near San Miguel, Calif.
Colleen Turpin-Boyce sold the top-priced broodmare, Tall and Sweet, for $32,000. NW Management bought the mare, a 7-year-old, winning daughter of Lemon Drop Kid . Consigned as Hip 127, she is out of the stakes-placed Pulpit mare Reverently, who is a half sister to California leading sire Square Eddie . Tall and Sweet was offered in foal to Danzing Candy , a multiple graded stakes winner who stands at Rancho San Miguel.
Melanistic, consigned by Havens for Abbondanza Racing as Hip 81, was also sold in foal to Danzing Candy. Agent Gayle Van Leer purchased the mare for $23,000. Melanistic is a stakes-placed, 10-year-old daughter of Ministers Wild Cat—Back Door Girl, by Charismatic.
CTBA reported 80 horses sold for gross sales of $586,800. The average was $7,335, and the median was $4,100. A total of 42 horses went unsold for an RNA rate of 34%.