The Fall Classic Breeders sale achieved many firsts in 2015. For the first time, it was held at Westerner Park in Red Deer. This all-in-one facility brought out bidders and watchers in new numbers to witness the second highest sales gross in the history of the sale, and the highest in five years, at $369,750. The consignors presented 42 horses with the best pedigrees and presentation in 21 years. These excellent horses created several firsts: the highest percentage of horses sold at 86%, the highest overall average at $10,270, and the highest 2-year-old average of $11,400. It also resulted in the highest number of horses sold over $10,000 in the past five years.

 

The high selling horse under saddle and overall, receiving the Victory Tack Shop cooler, was Glasgow (Olympic Animo x Roderik x Bonaparte), bred by LEAD Partners and consigned by Lindsay Powell. This big, well-developed 4-year-old showed enormous potential for the jumper ring and sold for $27,000 to lucky buyer Vicky Oram of Calgary. 

 

There were several stars presented in the 2-year-old category that kept the bidders working hard. The high selling 2-year-old, receiving the Sparks Innovations cooler, was Sunset in the Summer MP (Rubinus x Fantast x Ky Alta), bred and consigned by Shirley England of Garden Hill Farm, and selling for $25,000 to Shadow Ridge Stables of Langley, BC. We’ll be watching for this guy to use his great movement and wonderful jump to star in hunter derbies like his dad. 

 

The broodmare/young prospect group offered stunningly well-bred mares and high quality youngsters from world class breeding this year. The high seller, receiving the Westhills Veterinary cooler, was Aurora Borealis  (Autocrat x Sailor Bold tb x Caught Short tb), bred and consigned by Dr. Heather Smith, and selling for $13,500 to Neil Gassner of Kindersley, SK. Her expected foal by Edward should be as spectacular as his dam.

 

Adding innovation to the sale, Parkland Sled & ATV donated a Polaris side-by-side ATV. Bernie Kulcsar of Red Deer, with an eye on a bargain, won the bid at $14,800 and proudly drove his new purchase out of the arena. 

The gala evening, sponsored by Parkland ATV, took on a new look with a trick riding presentation, a wonderful dressage kur by Sheri Cameron and her Grand Prix stallion Sovereign Hit, and a dog and pony relay featuring the dogs of the Hot Diggity Dogs Agility Club. Designed to encourage young riders to enter, the competition was fierce with Amanda Augustine-Fee and her partner Calista AA taking top honours. The young breeder fund was replenished through an active and entertaining Calcutta and great fun was had by all.

The sale had over 1,000 people watching the live streaming, the phone bids were many and active, and the bleachers were totally full, indicating that warmblood horse breeding and sales are alive and well in western Canada. The Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Warmblood Horse Breeders Association would like to thank all of the volunteers, consignors and buyers for their support of the 21st annual Fall Classic Breeders Sale.