It’s official. The 2009 NCHA Futurity Sales averaged $13,260 on actual sales of 778 horses for completed sales of 80 percent. The average was just $300 shy of last year’s figure ($13,688), while completed sales rose by 3 percent.
“We believe the market has bottomed out and it’s on the rise,” said Jim Ware, a director of Western Bloodstock, the company that produces the sales. “While we didn’t have the numbers or some of the great broodmares to sell that we’ve had in the past, the horses we did have sold well, and there were some high-dollar lots that came within just a few thousand dollars of meeting their reserves.”
Two of the sales – 2-Year-Olds by Select Sires, as well as the Mid-Futurity Sale of Show Horses – averaged more than they did in 2008, and the average for the Select Seasoned Cutting Horse Sale remained the same, proof, according to Ware, that the market for show horses under saddle is especially strong.
“In the end, the results were very positive,” said Ware. “The top 100 category was off by a big amount because we didn’t have those great broodmares to sell, but prices for the mid-range horses were so strong that they pulled the average up.
“What we’ve seen in year’s past, with a big adjustment like there was last year, due to the national economy, when the market starts to go back up, the mid-range horse averages improve first. That’s the sign we look for to tell us the market is on the upswing. The top-end horses will follow, when they are offered.”
The sale topper and high-selling mare was Tootsie Rey at $175,000. The 6-year-old daughter of Dual Rey, consigned by Phil and Mary Ann Rapp, sold with an embryo by One Time Pepto to Michelle Cannon, Venus, TX.
Bets Cat, the high-selling yearling, brought $170,000 from Gordon Sevig, Walford, IA. The red roan High Brow Cat daughter is out of NCHA world champion Bet Yer Blue Boons and was consigned by Oxbow Ranch.
Spookystimetoshine, half-brother to four horses that have each earned over $100,000, brought $125,000 as the high-selling 2-year-old. Trained by Gary Gonsalves for McLaughlin Ranch, the One Time Pepto-sired colt went to Darol Rodrock, Bucyrus, KS.
Iced Out, a red roan 3-year-old filly by Smooth As A Cat, was the high-selling show horse at $113,000. The 2009 Brazos Bash Futurity and South Point Futurity open champion was consigned by Waco Bend Ranch and purchased by Jerry Erwin, Ridgefield, WA.
One Time Pepto topped all categories of the New Sire Spotlight Sale with the high-selling colt, the high-selling filly, and the highest average, while offspring of proven sires High Brow Cat, Dual Rey and Smooth As A Cat were also in high demand.
For complete results go to www.westernbloodstock.com