Richard Barton of Barton Thoroughbreds—recently named California Breeder of the Year for the third consecutive time—brings a strong contingent of 59 yearlings to the Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings Sale to be held Sept. 30 in Pomona, Calif.
Barton's program is coming off a stellar season, having bred last year's champion California-bred 2-year-old male and female, Ocean Bear (Bolt d'Oro ) and Mohaven (Yaupon ). Both standout juveniles, who are the cover stars of this year's catalog, were graduates of the auction's 2024 edition.
Barton routinely buys mares in foal to Kentucky stallions, and ships them to California to foal, making them eligible for lucrative state-bred incentives. He then breeds them back to his California stallions.
Mohaven was tied for the top-priced filly of the 2024 sale, selling for $200,000 to Legacy Ranch. The daughter of Yaupon has won three stakes for Legacy Ranch and trainer John Sadler, with career earnings totaling $369,750.
Ocean Bear failed to meet his reserve, attracting a final bid of $75,000. The son of Bolt d'Oro broke his maiden at Del Mar last fall and followed that up with two more victories, including a win in the Golden State Juvenile Stakes. He has already surpassed his final bid of $75,000, banking earnings of $218,850 for Barton, who kept the horse to race.
On Wednesday, Barton Thoroughbreds will offer a half brother (Hip 273) to Ocean Bear by Barton's resident sire Shaaz , a son of Uncle Mo.
The graded stakes-placed Shaaz was purchased for $1.1 million by Donato Lanni, agent for Michael Lund Petersen, at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The son of Uncle Mo breezed a furlong in a co-fastest time of :10.
Hip 273 is out of the Square Eddie mare Ocean Dream, who is a full sister to Reddam Racing's multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Eddie's New Dream.
In addition to his California-sired yearlings, Barton Thoroughbreds will also offer yearlings by top sires such as Corniche , Early Voting , Maxfield , Omaha Beach , Vekoma and Yaupon.
Barton Thoroughbreds consigned last year's sales-topper—a filly by Corniche who brought $250,000 from Legacy Ranch. Barton offers a half sister by to that filly Wednesday. Hip 129 is by Tap Back out of the stakes-producing mare Carmelita.
Rancho San Miguel will also offer a quality group that includes Hip 65, a colt from the first crop of Bolden . Hip 65 is out of the Elusive Quality mare Valeria, who is a half sister to Streak of Luck, the dam of Ted Noffey, last year's Eclipse Award winner for champion 2-year-old colt.
Following the colt's three consecutive grade 1 victories, Streak of Luck was purchased in foal to Not This Time for $6.2 million by Amo Racing USA at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale.
Havens Bloodstock Agency will offer Hip 251, a filly by Hard Spun from the immediate family of Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Always a Runner.
Hip 251 is out of the Palace Malice mare Miss Segura, who is a full sister to 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) winner Structor and a half sister to Always Carina (Malibu Moon), dam of Always a Runner. Under the third dam, the pedigree is loaded with pedigree to the likes of 2010 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G2T) winner More Than Real, and that mare's daughter Miss Debutante, the dam of 2024 Golden Slipper Stakes (G1) winner Lady of Camelot.
$500,000 Bonus For First Grade 1 win
New this year, Fasig-Tipton, in partnership with the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, will offer a $500,000 bonus to the first sale graduate that wins a grade 1 race in the United States at age 2 or 3. Eligibility for the bonus is restricted to horses offered at this year's auction, covering both successful sales and RNAs.
The bonus will be divided equally between the owner of the horse at the time of the grade 1 win and the owner of the horse when it was offered at the 2026 sale.
"We are excited to offer this lucrative sale bonus at this year's California Fall Yearlings Sale," said Mike Machowsky, Fasig-Tipton's California representative. "California has a long and storied history of producing top-class horses, and we hope this bonus will give extra encouragement to both sellers and buyers to participate in this year's sale."
Last year's sale saw 143 horses change hands for gross receipts of $4,617,900, including private sales. The average price was $32,293, with a median of $15,000. Ninety-five horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 40%.
The one-day sale will begin at 11 a.m. local time. As of Sept. 29, Fasig-Tipton had reported 40 outs.
