A Dash Of Sweet Heat sets record of $1 million
Courtesy of Track Magazine
November 2, 2012
Influential breeder Julianna Hawn Holt sent a trio of trusted associates to Oklahoma City this week with a definite set of instructions. “She told me to bring the filly home,” said Bennie Ray Greathouse, the long-time manager of Hawn Holt Cross Triangle Ranch. With C.J. Aber and her husband Dr. Gary Aber, DVM, assisting Bennie Ray, A Dash Of Sweet Heat was purchased for a record $1,000,000 as Lot 237 Thursday afternoon in the first of three days of the Heritage Place Fall Mixed Sale.
The two-yearold filly sired by Mr Jess Perry and out of three-time Champion and 1997 Broodmare of the Year Corona Chick was part of the nearly 400 horses seized after a federal indictment charging numerous individuals with money laundering was unsealed in Austin, Texas, on June 12.
Some 390 of those horses were consigned by VSE on behalf of the United States Department of the Treasury and 103 head of those went through the Heritage Place ring Thursday for a gross of $3,534,499.
The penultimate foal of Corona Chick, A Dash Of Sweet Heat was purchased for $650,000 in 2010 at the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale. A Dash Of Sweet Heat Partnership was listed as the owner at the time of that purchase.
A Dash Of Sweet Heat had started just once, that being in a May 25 trial for the Ruidoso Futurity G1. Sent out by trainer Carlos Gonzalez for Bonanza Racing Stables, A Dash Of Sweet Heat ran fourth by 1-1/4 lengths in her only out and was later promoted to third when Wicked Courage was disqualified.
Eighteen days later, she was seized by representatives of the federal government.
Corona Chick, now 23-years-old, was pensioned by Mrs. Holt after producing her final foal in 2011. That foal, a Walk Thru Fire filly named Lovely Corona Chick, is expected to race for Mrs. Holt in 2013. A Dash Of Sweet Heat is expected to join the Cross Triangle broodmare band and not race again.
The first 149 head in the catalog at Heritage Place on Thursday were yearlings and two of them reached six figures.
Trainer Eddie Willis signed a $105,000 ticket on a February 11 Mr Jess Perry colt out of Blue Ribbon Futurity G1 winner Libbys Cartel. The colt is a half-brother to current two-year-old black type earners Ground Hero and Yield To Libby.
R.D. Hubbard, a long-time owner/breeder and a partner in Ruidoso Downs, paid $100,000 for Coronas Class Act. The yearling son of Corona Cartel, Corona Class Act is out of the minor stakes winning
Strawfly Special mare Act Up.
Twenty head sold for $50,000 or more and those 20 consist of:
8 yearlings (foals of 2011)
2 two-year-olds (foals of 2010)
6 weanlings (foals of 2012)
2 embryos (prospective foals of 2013)
2 mares
The No. 1 selling broodmare was Triffle, a five-year-old daughter of Teller Cartel and $1.3 million earner Corona Kool. Consigned by Vista Equine of Colorado for Juniors Quarter Horses, the Grade III winner earned nearly $93,000 was purchased by Hubbard for $62,000.
Hereford, Texas-based owner/breeder Johnny Trotter and his ofttime partner Burnett Ranches bought the high-selling weanling for $75,000. That was a February 12, 2012 colt by Tempting Dash and out
of Dashing Follies. The colt is a half-brother to leading sires PYC Paint Your Wagon and Ivory James.
Tempting Dash and Dashing Follies are two of the horses seized by the Treasury Department. They both are part of a five-horse package seized by the feds that are being held over until after several of the indicted individuals are tried. That trial is set for March 2013.
The two top selling embyros both are Corona Cartel—Dashin Follies. Mike and Mary Ellen Hickman of Oklahoma paid $70,000 for a foal in utero with an April 22, 2013 estimated foaling date. Melvin
Neugebauer of Colorado paid $67,000 for a foal in utero with a potential foaling date of April 4, 2013.
Dashin Follies was purchased at the 2010 Heritage Place Winter Mixed Sale for a then Quarter Horse record of $875,000. While many thought that individuals somehow connected to some
of the individuals named in that federal indictment might purchase horses in this sale from the Treasury Department consignment, that did not appear to be the case on Thursday.
The Top 20 sellers went to Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Iowa and Kansas.
The Trotter/Burnett partnership bought three of the Top 20 sellers. Hubbard purchased the aforementioned top two. Others taking two of the Top 20 were Charles Robinson of North Carolina; the Hickmans and Neugebauer.
While Mrs. Holt was the day’s leading purchaser, Robinson spent $230,000 on four while with the Trotter/Burnett partnership spent $190,000 on three head.
While a few horses were purchased by individuals with Latin American surnames, none of the horses among the Top 100 sellers were sold to anyone who gave an address in Mexico.
The Treasury consignment grossed $3,534,499 on 103 head. The first day sale grossed more than $4.75 million with an average of nearly $18,000 and a median of more than $6,000.
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