Average up 17.5 percent

The Standardbred Horse Sales Company’s annual Harrisburg yearling auction concluded Wednesday night with 1,044 horses sold for an average price of $37,081, an increase of 17.5 percent from last year’s sale.

The top end of the market was exceptionally strong with 66 yearlings bringing prices of $100,000 or more. Last year 53 yearlings brought six-figure prices at the sale. But the median—the price point where half the yearlings sell for more and half for less—also climbed by 19 percent, jumping from $21,000 to $25,000.

The strong sale in Harrisburg continued the pace that was set by the Lexington Selected Sale earlier this fall. A total of 786 yearlings were sold in Lexington for an average price of $39,117, up 24 percent from that sale’s prior year average.

As was the case at last year’s Standardbred Horse Sales auction and in Lexington this fall, trotters generated the highest average price this year in Harrisburg. Trotting-bred yearlings brought an average price of $43,427 versus $32,878 for pacers. Last year trotting colts were most in demand at the sale, generating an average price of $36,065; this year trotting fillies stole top billing at the sale with an average of $44,864.

The sale topper at this year's Harrisburg auction was the $375,000 paid for Mary Ana Hanover, a filly by Andover Hall out of Milestone Hanover, the dam of 2006 stakes winner Monkey Bones. Jeffrey Snyder bought the filly. He also bought the second-highest priced yearling at the sale, paying $350,000 for a daughter of Conway Hall out of Bold Dreamer, the dam of Pampered Princess. One other yearling, an Artsplace filly out of Cathedra, brought in excess of $300,000. Anderson Farms bought the filly with a bid of $325,000. A total of three yearlings fetched prices in excess of $300,000. The top price at last year's sale was just $270,000, also for a filly by Andover Hall.

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