For the second straight year, the headlines coming out of day one of the Standardbred Horse Sale were massive gains in gross and average year-over-year, and the Meirs family’s Concord Stud Farm having the top two sellers. The average was $114,119, up from $93,541 a year ago, and the gross soared to $19,172,000 for 168 yearlings sold from $15,902,000 for 170 horses sold in 2018. "What can I say?  It was a wonderful, wonderful sale,” said Standardbred Horse Sales Company President/CEO Paul Spears.  “The top-end sold extremely well, and the middle sold extremely well. That just follows from the great Lexington sale.  I think buyers are very confident in the economy. There's a lot of good news coming out of harness racing right now. The Ohio program is coming way up, there's money in New Jersey, even Illinois is showing some signs of life again.  The Nevada people were here talking about racetracks in Nevada and a breeders program out there. What's not to like?  "All the right people were here, and I had a lot of people coming up and telling me about how much they wanted to buy certain horses that got away from them.  Everything was strong, top to bottom." Concord Stud Farm led the day with HIP 45 Gangsta Rat, who sold to Ake Svanstedt for owner Lennart Agren’s S R F Stable at $550,000, and HIP 88 Take This Society, who was acquired by Diamond Creek Farm for $475,000.  Both yearlings were bred by Stefan Balazsi’s Order By Stable. "I'm very ecstatic.  It was a great day,” said Julie Meirs from Concord.  “It's awesome. This is where the hard work pays off, and so it's great to see the hard work paying off.  This is our Breeders Crown. This is where we can do what we do. There's definitely some we were disappointed in, some that we thought were soft, but it's great to have those high numbers."   A Muscle Hill filly, Gangsta Rat is out of the Cantab Hall mare Order By Wish, making her a full sister to this year’s Beal Memorial winner Marseille (1:51 4/5, $477,965) and Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Trot runner-up Rome Pays Off (1:55, $315,494). "The pedigree is very good.  It's a good family,” remarked Svanstedt.  “She was a very good-looking horse. Everything was perfect for me.  I was hoping to get her for between $300,000 and $400,000, but (Agren) was on the phone, and he said 'keep going.'  If a colt is bad, they are done, but if a filly gets hurt or something, she has value as a broodmare. It's a very good family on the mother.  She was my favorite filly." Muscle Hill colt Take This Society is out of the Windsong's Legacy mare Thatsnotmyname (1:55, $340,730), making him a brother to the likes of Cantab Hall mare Basquiat (1:51 2/5, $289,748). "I loved the fact that the breeder was a big fan of the horse,” said Adam Bowden from Diamond Creek.  “I think when the breeder is behind a horse like this, it makes buying a horse that much easier. I would think if a client comes to you and asks you what you think your best horse is and you sell them a horse, you're going to project that.  I like that. Stefan is a great guy, he's a great success, and his families are hot right now. It's hard not to think that this is the next big thing. "We pour the money right back in.  I thought he could bring $450,000. I thought I had him and Richard (Gutnick) in front of me bid $460,000, and then I almost took him out at the knees,” joked Bowden, who was hardly upset, adding that that’s what happens at an auction. Diamond Creek has regularly purchased into horses after they’re already racing, but Bowden said he’d like to shift that approach, stating, "We want to take more prominent pieces of some of these horses before they become multi-million dollar horses. I'd rather not pay a million dollars for a $17,000 yearling." Jeff Snyder bought the sale-topper (Marlboro Seelster, C$270,000) at the recent London Selected Yearling Sale, and he was active again on Monday, taking HIP 171 Glacier Hanover, the next-to-last horse offered today, for $470,000 and HIP 127 No Ball Games Rat for $300,000.  Glacier Hanover was consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms, Inc., and No Ball Games Rat was another Concord/Order By collaboration. A Father Patrick colt, Glacier Hanover is out of the Yankee Glide mare Global Desire (1:57 1/5, $131,287), making him a full brother to the stakes-winning 2-year-old Gangster Hanover (1:52 3/5, $119,127).  The dam is a full sister to Glidemaster. A Muscle Hill colt, No Ball Games Rat is out of the Cantab Hall mare Beyond Blue (1:59 4/5,$31,905), making him a half-brother to the likes of the Credit Winner gelding Home'n Dry (1:53 4/5, $346,841). "If you notice, at the end of the sale, a lot of these horses are oversold,” said Snyder.  “I had it for $400,000. We got carried away, but let's hope for the best. That's all you can do.  He is a beautiful horse. The mare is a full sister to Glidemaster. Hopefully we'll have luck. This one and the other one we bought were the two favorite ones.  Two good consignors.   “We've done very well.  We've got a really nice trotter in Sweden.  If he wins the Breeders Crown next week, he'll pay for part of this horse, so let's hope for the best.  Then we had the Canadian one (Marlboro Seelster) a couple weeks ago, a Bettor's Delight, but that was a lot cheaper because we paid with Canadian money.  We like the exchange rate." Concord and Order By also had HIP 113 Spy Booth, who was purchased by agent Bryan Montgomery for $460,000 to check in fourth on the day.  Per Engblom will train. A Muscle Hill-Amour Heiress colt, Spy Booth is a full brother to the stakes-winning 2-year-old King Alphonso (1:52, $128,395).    "I saw him at the farm, and we've been keeping our eye on him,” said Engblom.  “Bryan Montgomery has been out looking at him at the farm, too. It's a nice colt.  He was big and strong, well built. We trained the mom with Jimmy (Takter), and the pedigree is great.  His full brother is one of the best 2-year-olds out there. What's not to like? Marvin (Katz) is part, John Fielding, it's not 100 percent set in stone yet, but we'll get to that.  It was a little bit more than we wanted to pay, but sometimes you've got stretch a little bit to get the one. "We did good in Lexington, and this is the first one we've gotten today.  We've been bidding on a couple other ones. You've got to get ones you like and get quality horses, just not a lot of horses." Tony Alagna will get to train the two other horses to reach the $400,000 mark on Monday in HIP 47 Panda Hanover and HIP 90 The Ice Countess.  Panda Hanover, the full sister (Somebeachsomewhere-Panera Hanover) to Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champ and Metro and Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Pace runner-up Papi Rob Hanover (1:50 2/5, $462,858), was sold to Dana Parham from the Hanover consignment. “I have quite a few broodmares now, and we're just adding to it,” stated Parham.  “Everything I look at, I want to have a serious pedigree. I read an article years ago about trophy assets, like properties - five-star hotels in Hawaii or Hong Kong.  These are trophy assets. I want to have trophy broodmares, nothing less. That's where I'm at. She's striking, and it was one I had singled out in the catalog, and then Tony (Alagna) also liked her a lot.  The pedigree was there, and then the looks." Alagna, acting as agent, took The Ice Countess.  A daughter of Muscle Hill-The Ice Queen, she's a full sister to both The Ice Dutchess (1:51 1/5, $774,029) and Ice Attraction (1:50 1/5, $730,630).  Preferred Equine Marketing, Inc. consigned The Ice Countess for breeders Stephen P. Dey III and David Reid. "She's a beautiful filly,” Alagna said of The Ice Countess, who will go to a group including Brad Grant, Marvin Katz, and Daniel Plouffe.  “She's got so much residual value as a broodmare based on the fact that she's got Mission Brief under the second dam, plus the two fillies that have already hit.  There's so much upside to this filly either way. If she just does a little bit of something on the track, her value's gonna stay where it's at. "I've been blessed every year.  I can't complain. I've got great support, and we buy great horses.  We work hard at it to try and find them too. We spend a lot of time looking and going to the farms.  We were here on Friday night to start Saturday morning. We're very lucky that we have people who support what we want to do.” Coming in slightly below the $400,000 yearlings, HIP 44 Profile In Style was a $350,000 seller to Emilio and Maria Rosati.  Selling from the Fair Winds Farm, Inc. consignment, this Muscle Hill colt is the first foal out of the Credit Winner mare Open Access (1:54 1/5, $113,438).  The dam is a full sister to Dejarmbro (1:52 2/5, $1,137,285). "The gentleman that bought him has been chasing the family for probably seven or eight years,” relayed trainer Mark Harder.  “He's tried to get a filly out her, but this one came along, and it was a horse that he likes, so that's what prompted us more to him to begin with.  We're very happy with this one and happy we got a colt. Hopefully you can't go wrong (with a Muscle Hill). He's proven it, so that's why they're expensive." The top seller from a first-crop sire belonged to HIP 149 Dean B Hanover.  A colt from the first crop of Betting Line, he's the second foal out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare Deli Beach (1:52 1/5, $106,181).  Deli Beach is a half-sister to the Dragon Again mare Little Miss Dragon (1:50 2/5, $767,634). "Dr. Jablonsky (from Hanover Shoe Farms) had told me how much I'm going to like him ever since the time he was born,” said Casie Coleman, who also trained Betting Line.  “I went to the farm three times to go see him. I didn't want to have to pay that much money for him, but saying that, John Liviakis and Mac Nichol are the partners on him, and I actually just told Mac when I went $340,000, I said ‘that's my last bid.’  After we got him he said ‘no it wasn't.’ He's phenomenal. Anybody that sees him, you've got to stop and do a double-take. Dr. J rated him very high and she knows what she's doing. She's been with him since he was born.  “There was a bunch of action going on over there, but there was a lot of people liking him.  There's a bunch more coming up, too, and that's my third Betting Line now, and I want to get another good handful of them.  I own him and I believe in him. He was my fastest sire. He never got beat at 3, and his pedigree is phenomenal. I don't see how he's not going to hit as a stallion, and I'm willing to support him." Courant Inc.’s Greenshoe was defeated by Forbidden Trade in the final of the Hambletonian this year, so they went to Harrisburg and bought Forbidden Trade’s full sister (Kadabra-Pure Ivory), HIP 56 Illicit Funds, from the Hunterton consignment for $335,000.  Courant also took HIP 76 Keep Your Coins for $250,000 from the Concord/Order By tandem. Keep Your Coins is a full sister (Chapter Seven-Steamy Windows) to their two-time Breeders Crown champion and Dan Patch Award winner Gimpanzee. "We loved that horse very much because she had a really nice body, and I think the conformation was very good,” said Courant’s Sabine Kagebrandt.  “Forbidden Trade has beaten our Greenshoe, so it must be a good line. As a matter of fact, she also matches all our good "G" (Greenshoe, Gimpanzee, and Green Manalishi) horses, so I think she will be a perfect filly for us. “(Keep Your Coins) has a really nice family that we love, of course.  Gimpanzee is such a great and cool horse, so we hope she can be something as well.  She also fits very well to Greenshoe, so that's also a very good point." While there were plenty of fireworks and ones to watch on Monday, Spears said Tuesday should be another day full of spirited bidding and intrigue. "I think tomorrow is going to be better than Tuesday last year, not only in prices but in quality,” offered Spears.  “There were a large number of horses that would have ended up on Monday last year, but because they're in this year, they're on Tuesday.  There are a lot of opportunities tomorrow.” The session on Tuesday begins at 10 A.M. and HIPS 180-487 will be offered. --quotes by Derick Giwner--