The three-day Ruidoso Select Quarter Sale, which concluded on Sunday at Ruidoso Downs, saw 450 race-bred yearlings go under the auctioneer’s hammer for an average of $37,804 (with 89 repurchases). Total sales reached $17,011,800, compared to total receipts of $15,126,100 on 427 yearlings in 2005, for a 5.4-percent increase.
The high-end of the market saw 29 horses sell for $100,000 or more. Ten of those were sired by First Down Dash; eight by Mr Jess Perry; five by Corona Cartel, a paternal grandson of First Down Dash; three by Separatist; and two by Feature Mr Jess, a son of Mr Jess Perry.
The sale topper, Captain Courage, (pictured right) by Mr Jess Perry and out of broodmare of the year Corona Chick, transferred from Julianna Hawn Holt to Chad Hart on a bid of $415,000. Corona Chick a two-time champion and producer of earners of more than $2.2 million, is the dam of All American Futurity winner Corona Cash and All American Futurity sire Corona Cartel.
The next highest seller, also a Holt consignment, brought $330,000. Red Storm Cat, by Mr Jess Perry, was purchased by GA Connection. The colt is a full brother to Dash Of Perry, runner-up in the 2003 All American Futurity, and out of Tiny Dash Of Cash, by Dash For Cash, who was second-placed in the Rainbow Futurity.
Holt, the sale’s leading consignor with receipts of more than $1.2 million, as well as four horses that sold for more than $100,000 apiece, raises foals for the annual Ruidoso yearling sale at her Cross Triangle Ranch in Blanco, Texas. She and her husband, Peter, also own the San Antonio Spurs basketball team.
Topping the second night of the sale at $300,000 was the third-highest selling yearling, DM Selexus, a full brother to 2005 world champion DM Shicago, who won the 2004 All American Futurity and the 2005 Ruidoso, Rainbow and All American derbies. The colt was consigned by Don Moler, with Roger Daly as agent, and purchased by Jim and Marilyn Helzer, Arlington, Texas.
The number of yearlings receiving a bid of $50,000 or higher also showed a strong surge, from 76 in 2005 to 105 this year – a 38 percent increase.