With a final bid of $44,000 from trainer Jack Fisher on behalf of new client Matt Groff, three-time hurdle winner Selection Sunday topped a select sale of steeplechase horses and prospects Sunday at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, Va.
Gross receipts for the sale were $138,000, with seven horses changing owners. Sold by the estate of longtime steeplechase owner Andre Brewster, who died in February, Selection Sunday brought the most form into the sale. The 7-year-old son of Harlan’s Holiday raced on the flat for Richard Santulli and trainer Alan Goldberg, winning twice in 18 starts. Purchased by Brewster, and trained by Fisher, the Kentucky-bred won his jump debut in 2014 and added an allowance hurdle start late that year. Last season, he made just two starts – a novice stakes win in April and a second to eventual novice champion African Oil in another stakes at Saratoga. Fisher traded late bids with underbidder Tim Shaw to keep Selection Sunday in the barn.
A new steeplechase ownership group went to $30,000 to get Extensible, a 4-year-old son of Malibu Moon. Winless in six flat starts for Bob LaPenta and Chad Brown, Extensible moved to the Virginia barn of Mo Baptiste, who plans to syndicate the Kentucky-bred. Baptiste operates a foxhunting barn in Middleburg, Va. and will add steeplechasing to the list for her clients.
The sale, organized by the National Steeplechase Association’s Promotion and Growth Committee, raised money for the National Steeplechase Foundation’s efforts to enhance the sport.
