THE curtain raiser to the yearling sale was Monday’s Horses In Training session. Last year’s session contained a dispersal, but, nonetheless, this time there were substantial advances in all the key numbers. The aggregate, average and median were up by 60%, 37% and 33% respectively. A dozen more horses sold this time and the clearance rate was a very healthy 85%.

Taylor Made Sales Agency sold the five-year-old Summer Bird mare Distinta for $600,000 to Medallion Racing, a partner group to the consignors. A recent runner-up in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Stakes, Summer Bird is the winner of almost $350,000 and finally garnered a stakes win this year at Gulfstream Park. She is one of four winners from her Storm Bird dam.

Bradley Weisbord and Liz Crowe recently set up Elite Sales and they enjoyed instant success when five of the seven lots to bring $250,000 or more were in their consignment. The three-year-old Kitten’s Joy filly Adorable Miss brought her race record to three wins in four starts when she landed a second stakes success recently. She was placed in a stakes race on her only defeat. She cost Bluewater Sales $585,000 and was an apt first lot to be sold by the newly formed group. The filly, a full-sister to Grade 3 winner Noble Beauty, remains with Todd Pletcher.

Elite Sales’ Sky Mesa three-year-old Happy Mesa was the only other lot to break the half a million dollar mark, the hammer falling at $525,000 in favour of Out Of This World Racing, for whom trainer Mike Maker made the winning bid.

Happy Mesa won stakes races at two and again in 2017. Winner of three of her four starts and stakes-placed, the three-year-old Lady Alexandra is a daughter of More Than Ready and a granddaughter of the Italian Group 1 winner Flagbird. She sold from Elite to the Heider Family Stables for $375,000.

Elite’s top lots also included the stakes-placed Pioneerof The Nile four-year-old Insta Erma who sold to David Meah for $290,000, and the best priced colt in the sale, three-year-old Bronson who is a son of Medaglia D’Oro. He is a 2017 stakes winner at Gulfstream Park and cost Three Diamonds Farm $275,000.

That price was matched by Somethingelse, a four-year-old stakes winning daughter of Leroidesanimaux who sold from Four Star Sales to Robert Masiello and West Point Thoroughbreds.