The 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale began on Monday evening (Oct. 2) in Kentucky and the Gimpanzee-Mission Brief filly Kadena stole the show as the sale topper for the opening session with a $800,000 price tag. The bid equalled the highest price of a yearling filly at auction in North America, matching the sale price of Exile in 2021.
Selling as Hip 48, Kadena was purchased by Marcus Melander of New Egypt, New Jersey. Hunterton Sales Agency consigned the filly out of 2014 Dan Patch Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly Of The Year and 2015 O'Brien Three-Year-Old Trotting Filly Of the Year Mission Brief (1:50.2 - $1,657,399).
“This was a fabulous filly,” said Melander, who purchased Kadena for owners S R F Stable and Jeff Snyder. “She had a great body, a great video. It wasn’t just us that saw it, otherwise she wouldn’t have brought $800,000. She was a great individual. Of course, she will have some other value as well as a broodmare. I was very happy to get her.
“We bought a couple other ones [by Gimpanzee] and they looked great,” added Melander, who trained the multiple Dan Patch Award-winning stallion. “It looked like they had a good temperament and everything. I was very pleased with what I saw.”
Hip 49 Treacheryinthedark earned a $700,000 final bid by Andrew Harris, agent for William Pollack of Allentown, New Jersey. The Captaintreacherous-Rainbowinthedark filly was consigned by Preferred Equine Inc. She is a half-sister to Seven Colors (1:48.1 - $706,370). Her sale price is the highest price for a yearling filly pacer, up from a $550,000 sales tag in 2016 for Come See The Show.
“We really like Seven Colors, so that was a big draw for us,” said Pollock. “She looks big, she looks strong.”
Hip 43 Readyforprimetime was also purchased by Harris, agent for Pollack, for a $500,000 bid. Hunterton Sales Agency consigned the Bettors Delight-Prescient Beauty colt. He is a half brother to Metro Pace winner Captains Quarters (1:49.3 - $525,904).
Hip 107 Charlie K Hanover fetched a $475,000 final bid by Courant Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida. Consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms, the Chapter Seven colt is the first foal out of Crucial (1:52.4 - $528,598).
Hip 44 Destiny Deo was a $460,000 purchase by Determination of Montreal, Que. The Chapter Seven-Princess Deo filly was consigned by Preferred Equine Inc. She is the first foal out of Princess Deo (1:52.2 - $470,728).
In total, 121 yearlings went through the ring on opening night for total sales of $22,222,000 with an average ticket price of $183,653. Sixty-five colts sold with an average bid of $164,637 while 56 fillies sold with an average bid of $203,182.
Last year's sale saw 122 yearlings go through the ring on opening night for total sales of $23,067,000, a Lexington record. The average sales price produced was $189,074. This year's gross came in at a 3.7 per cent decrease from 2022 while the average was down 2.9 per cent.
(With quotes from USTA)
IMPORTANT LINKS
- Sale Roster
- Sale Catalogue (PDF)
- Catalogue Corrections & Updates (PDF)
- Outs List
- Online Bidding (via Proxibid)
- Live Video Stream (also available below)
- Sale Results