LOS ALAMITOS, CA—OCTOBER 2, 2010—The Los Alamitos Equine Sale enjoyed a strong opening session, as its average price for yearlings sold was up 30% in comparison to the yearling average of the first day of 2009 sale.

A total of 170 yearlings were sold Saturday for a strong average of $13,559 and a gross total of $2,304,600. The Los Alamitos Equine Sale will continue on Sunday with the sale starting at 9:30 a.m. sharply. Live video of the sale is available at www.losalamitosequinesale.com.

The high seller of the first day of the sale was Aquaholic (Hip #139), a colt sired by Splash Bac out of AQHA champion broodmare Runaway Wave. Consigned by Lucas Racing Inc., Aquaholic was purchased by Salvador Berron of Mexico City, Mexico for $150,000. The colt was one of two $100,000 purchases on the day. The second high seller was the First Down Dash colt Travesty (Hip #235), who was purchased for $112,000 by MPC International Trading of Monterrey, Mexico. Lazy Creek Ranch consigned Travesty, who is out of a full sister to 2007 World Champion Blues Girl Too.

A total of 12 yearlings were purchased for $50,000 or more on day one of the sale, equaling the amount of yearlings that were purchased for at least $50,000 during the entire 2009 edition of the Los Alamitos Equine Sale.

Aquaholic is a half brother of three-time AQHA champion and millionaire Ocean Runaway ($1,642,498) and 2006 World Champion millionaire Wave Carver ($1,005,946). He is also a half brother to both Grade 1 stakes winner Trisk ($254,233) and Texas Merial Distaff Challenge winner Little Surfer ($97,999).

“In my opinion he was as attractive as any yearling at this sale,” said Berron. “He is out of a super mare and he has a wonderful body. He also looks like he’s been raised with a lot of tender loving care. This horse stood out in the catalog and when we saw him we were equally impressed. He has excellent conformation and simply looks like a complete horse. He’s the type of horse you’re always looking for. He’s got everything to be a tremendous stallion prospect. Now we need him to be quick.

“He’s paid to everything here in California and in New Mexico, so we have a lot of options,” Berron said. “Our team looked at a lot of horses bred by the outstanding breeder Dan Lucas and this horse is one that we love.”

Berron’s family, headed by his father Alvaro Berron, has been in the racing industry in Mexico for more than 40 years, racing Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses at the Hipodromo de las Americas. A native of Merida, Mexico, the Berrons won the Hipodromo’s most important race in 2009 - the Subasta Selecta - with a mare bred by Rancho El Alacran named Nothing Seeker.

The ticket for the second high seller Travesty was signed by Salvador Pimienta for MPC International Trading, a company that concentrates in the exporting and importing of cattle in the United States and Mexico.

“Travesty’s family is one of the best in the industry,” Pimienta said. “This horse also has a great temperament and that’s one of the things that attracted us to him. We’ve been looking at him since Wednesday. We looked at a lot of other horses but we kept coming back to see him. At the end, we were convinced that for the price he was our best option. We felt that the horse would go for more than $100,000, but we feel that he is worth it. First Down Dash babies have been red hot this year, winning a lot of Grade 1 races, so we felt we had to pay very close attention to his babies.”

Hernando Guerra, who raced Grade 1 stakes winner Vital Time in the AQHA Racing Challenge races in the United States, is among the business partners associated with MPC International Trading.

“We’ll certainly run him in the United States and most likely in California,” Guerra said.

Travesty’s mother is the Corona Cartel mare The Blues Girl, who won the Leo Stakes at Los Alamitos. Her mother is Run The Dash, the 2007 AQHA Broodmare of the Year. The Blues Girl is a half-sister to 2010 Vessels Maturity winner Blues Man Too and Los Alamitos Million Futurity third place finisher The Blues Man.

Consigned by Ed Allred, Illicitly (Hip #68) was the session’s third highest seller at $90,000. Purchased by Robert Williams, Illicitly is a filly sired by Walk Thru Fire out of the outstanding broodmare Oh La Proud. The sorrel filly is a half sister of champions Hawkish and Hawkinson and stakes winner Pride Of Katella, Look Her Over and Mister Katella.

“She caught my eye when I first saw her,” said Adan Farias, who trains horses for Williams at Los Alamitos. “Oh La Proud is a superior mare and we’re thrilled to have purchased her daughter. We looked at her x-rays and she was pristine. We feel very comfortable with her and for $90,000 we felt that it was a great price. She’ll stay here in my barn at Los Alamitos.”

Idols Special Dash, sired by First Down Dash and from the family of 2009 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity winner Good Reason SA, was the fourth high seller at $80,000. Agent Jose Flores signed the sale ticket for the colt. Mihara, a filly sired by freshman stallion FDD Dynasty and out of the Mr Jess Perry mare Shes Jess Special, was the fifth highest seller at $70,000. Bobby Cox consigned the filly, which was purchased by Atwood Quarter Horses.

In addition to the strong yearling figures, 21 broodmares sold for an average of $4,790, while two horses of mixed stock sold for an average of $14,750. The total average for the opening session was $12,615 for the 193 heads sold. The gross figure for horses sold was $2,434,700. There were 53 horses repurchased on day one of the sale.

For complete yearling results from day 1 including hip-by-hip prices CLICK HERE.

For complete mixed results from day 1 including hip-by-hip prices CLICK HERE.

The final session will get underway promptly at 9:30 a.m. (PDT)on Sunday offering hips 267 thru 532.

Final sale results will be posted on stallioneSearch.com when they become available.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com