by Lisa Groothedde

A filly by champion sprinter and freshman sire Speightstown was sold for $135,000 to top the fourth annual Barretts/CTBA California fall selected yearling sale, which posted across-the-board declines on Tuesday in the Hinds Pavilion at Fairplex Park in Pomona, California.

The California-bred filly out of the stakes-winning A.P. Indy mare All the Moves was purchased by Dr. Patrick Sheehy’s Super Horse Inc. from Tom Bachman’s Pegasus Ranch consignment.

A half sister to Group 3-placed winner Hard Rock City, the filly was the only yearling from the 208 offered this year to reach a six-figure price. Four yearlings sold for more than $100,000 during the 2007 sale, which was topped by a $150,000 Friends Lake colt.

The one-day sale was co-hosted by Barretts Equine Ltd. and the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

Barretts reported 149 of 208 yearlings offered as sold for total receipts of $2,486,600, a 26.2% drop from the 2007 auction, in which 169 horses sold for $3,369,600. This year’s average price of $16,689 was 16.3% lower than the $19,938 average achieved last year. The median fell 18.2% from $11,000 last year to $9,000. The buy-back rate of 28.4% was a significant improvement compared with 40.1% in 2007.

“Our market held up reasonably well, in light of what we were up against,” said Barretts President and General Manager Jerry McMahon, who pointed to this week’s Wall Street woes and recent declines at Thoroughbred sales nationwide as indicators of a weaker commercial market. “Our drop in average is a lot better than what is going on [elsewhere] in the industry.”

A Tribal Rule colt out of the winning In Excess (Ire) mare Never to Excess brought $90,000, the highest price for a colt and the second-highest price overall. Trainer Jeff Bonde signed the ticket on behalf of Sierra Sunset for the California-bred colt, who was consigned by Andy Havens’s Havens Bloodstock Agency, agent.

Havens led all consignors and agents at the 2008 sale with 21 horses sold for $423,000. The top buyer, with five yearlings purchased for $139,500, was trainer Mike Harrington, D.V.M., agent.

Lisa Groothedde is a California-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent