TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1075818
"I actually love to sell horses. I get a kick out of it," she said. "That's my favorite thing. It's so neat to see something you've bred and foaled out and raised do well. I love the whole process about it." Their biggest sales score so far has been a Strong Mandate colt out of the Henny Hughes mare Diva's Tribute, who sold for $250,000 at 2018's OBS April 2-year-olds in training sale. That colt, now named Policy, has since broken his maiden at Del Mar and finished second in a statebred stakes at the same track. The mare is also the dam of Spectator, a GII winner at two who finished second in the 2018 GI Santa Anita Oaks behind Midnight Bisou. "That was the most by far that we'd ever gotten for a horse and it was really exciting," said Barton, who bought the mare with Policy in utero for $4,700 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale. She has since produced consecutive foals by Champ Pegasus and is carry- ing a full sibling to Spectator for 2019. While the resulting foal Diva's Tribute is currently carrying promis- es to be commercial anywhere in the country, that isn't always the case with California-breds. Of course, the elephant in the room is that California is an historically tough market to find fiscal success in Thoroughbred breeding. Is it even possible to sell for a profit in California? "It's kind of our life now. EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND THIS."