Stronger Sales at Summer Spectacular

One of the most anticipated sales in the cutting horse world was this year\’s edition of the NCHA Summer Spectacular Sale, held this past weekend in various sale arenas in the Fort Worth, Texas, area. A major part of the attraction of this year\’s sale was the complete dispersal of Bobby Pidgeon\’s Bar H Ranche, home of leading sire\’s, Dual Pep and CD Olena.

The high selling horse of the sale was of the Bar H Ranche Dispersal. Little Baby Sister, sold for $230,000 to Tim and Pat Dewey, Cimarron, Kansas. The 16-year-old Dual Pep daughter, with offspring earnings of over $1 million, sold with a filly at side by Third Cutting, and with embryos by Metallic Cat and High Brow Cat.

The second highest-seller was also a broodmare – 8-year-old Miss Rey Hickory, by Dual Rey, with a colt at side by High Brow Cat and an embryo by High Brow CD. She sold for $98,000.

The return of better prices for broodmares is a good sign, according to Western Bloodstock pedigree expert and commentator Jim Ware.

“During the 2011 Summer Sale, 10 outstanding mares averaged $58,150,” Ware is quoted as saying in Sally Harrison\’s blog post on the sale. “The industry’s number one commodity, broodmares, and its number two commodity, yearlings, showed considerable strength in this sale.”

Also, interesting to note was the higher demand of yearlings, which Ware again, saw as a strong factor in the future of the horse industry.

“The fact that 15 December-quality yearlings and weanlings averaged $30,000, indicates a strong demand for yearlings, of which there is a short supply,” said Ware. “Western Bloodstock annually researches yearlings by cutting’s most popular sires and, in 2010, AQHA supplied us with 4,542 yearling records by those stallions. In 2011, on the same date, AQHA provided us with records for 2,779 yearlings, by the same sires.”

The highest selling yearling was Spoonfuls Supercat, a Hes A Peptospoonful colt, out of 2005 NCHA Futurity champion, Highbrow Supercat. The red roan sold for $37,500.

Abbigal Grace, a yearling filly by High Brow CD, brought $37,000.

According to Harrison\’s post, “The limited supply of yearlings available in 2011 amounts to a 61 percent decrease compared to 2010, according to Western Bloodstock’s AQHA records. This number, in addition to an increase of $2.5 million to a total of $3.5 million in funding for NCHA Triple Crown events in Fort Worth, points to a big demand for yearlings during the NCHA Futurity Sales in December.”

The industry\’s yearling prices sure could use a boost. I\’m looking forward to the December Sales to see this become an actuality.

You can read Sally\’s entire post here, and find a complete listing of stats for the sale at the Western Bloodstock site.