WHITESBORO, TEXAS -- The Select Online Sale grossed $2,749,000 this Labor Day, making it one of the top five sales ever hosted by the Western industry’s leading online sale company. Ms Baby Cakes broke records as the highest selling western performance horse in an online sale. The top five of the sale averaged $218,700, with the top 10 averaging $142,450.
Deep Creek Quarter Horses purchased multiple-time aged-event Open Champion Ms Baby Cakes for $540,000.
“This sale proves that buyers are continuing to see the need and emphasis on maternal genetics,” Select Online Sale founder Melanie Smith said. “We’re continuing to see the increase in the value of the big-time, open-caliber mares as they transition into their breeding careers.”
Consigned by Lloyd and Christina Cox, MS Baby Cakes, a 2015 bay mare by and out of Special Nu Baby by , won over $227,000 in her cutting career with the $11-million rider Cox.
“My dad had always wanted to own a cutting horse,” Deep Creek Quarter Horses’ Audra Holmes said. “He worked for a trainer in high school, but he’d never had the money. He started five companies over the years, and he finally came up with enough money to kick around for play. So when Melanie sent out the email announcing Ms Baby Cakes in this sale, he said, ‘Look at this one.’ I trusted him, because this is his dream, and I just wanted to help him chase it.”
Gober Performance Horses purchased the second highest seller in SS Blacks Lil Kitty, the 2006 daughter of Blue Bayou Boon out of Show Biz Kitty by High Brow Cat, consigned by Julie Jarma. The mare—a half sibling to NCHA Horse of the Year and NCHA Futurity Champion Badboonrising and the dam to Run For A Million Champion Blackish—earned $188,241 in her show career and has progeny earnings of $538,578.
“Paul and Valerie Gober continue to add superstar mares to their lineup,” Smith said. “They believe in elevating the horse business through exceptional genetics, consistently making the right calls to give their horses every chance to be great. SS Blacks Lil Kitty will join Metallic Mandy, ARC Ruby Playgunia and RPL Ich This at Select Genes, and we’re looking forward to all their futures.”
Open Futurity Finalist One Way Or Another, a 2018 bay mare by NRR Cat King Cole out of Duallys Lil Queen by Dual Pep and consigned by Pat and Lisa Taylor, sold for $155,000 and will remain at Solo Select to continue her breeding career.
“We see the horses at the top level—the true, open-caliber horses, bringing more than they’ve ever brought,” Ty Smith, CEO of Solo Select, added. “These great horses are as hard to buy as you can imagine. And the mid-level horses are leveling out, bringing sustainable, fair prices. Reproduction is a hot commodity right now. Producing high-quality foals is in demand.”
Solo Select produced the highest selling weanling, Chanel No 1, a buckskin filly by Woody Be Tuff out of Color Every Time by Fridays Gold Eclipse, also purchased by Deep Creek Quarter Horses for $107,500.
“I saw Chanel before we saw MS Baby Cakes,” Holmes said. “I was messaging Solo Select like crazy because I had to have her. I got to the last minute of the sale and was jumping for joy when it said, ‘Purchased!’”
The Select Online Sale ran from just 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 4, 2023. It offered 72 lots, including embryos, broodmares with colts on their sides, weanlings and yearlings, as well as well-started prospects and proven performers. The next Select Online Sale is the Yearling Sale on Oct. 15.
