Serving the Washington Thoroughbred Industry for over 65 years

$105,000 Thoroughbred Yearling
Tops WTBA Summer Sale

verall I think the sale was a good presentation,” offered Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association general manager Ralph Vacca following the 2001 WTBA Summer Yearling Sale held at the Morris J. Alhadeff Sales Pavilion at Emerald Downs on September 4.
    The results showed that 136 yearlings sold for $2,289,900, averaging $16,838. That represented a 17.9 percent decline from last year. The median price was $13,750 as compared with $15,000 in 2000.
    Topping this year’s auction was a Washington-bred colt by Fit to Fight purchased by Dave and Jill Heerensperger for $105,000 from Dale Leach, with Northwest Farms as his agent. The colt is out of Non Stop Chatter, a half-sister to Washington champion two- and three-year-old filly Firesweeper and Washington champion sprinter Serenity Road. Northwest Farms has sold the highest priced yearling for three years in a row, and five of the last seven years. The Yakima nursery has sold the topper a total of 11 times since 1979.
    Second highest priced yearling was a colt by Slewdledo which C.T. (Carl) Grether, Inc. of California purchased for $82,000 from Terry and Mary Lou Griffin’s Griffin Place. He is half-brother to 2000 Washington horse of the year Rings a Chime, a grade one stakes winner of $606,315.
    Top filly honors went to a member of grade two stakes winner Tale of the Cat’s first crop. The January filly is also the first foal out of Crown Ice, a Chief’s Crown daughter who is a half-sister to two stakes winners, Griffin Place consigned the bay miss for Mark Wiltshire’s British Columbia-based Canvasback Farms and the filly was known to be headed for points south (Arizona) as soon as agent Eric Kruljac signed the ticket for $72,000.
    Buyers came from up and down the west coast as well as Kentucky and Florida to bid on and purchase the 200 yearlings catalogued.

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