Del Mar Yearling Sale Guidelines

Pedigree guidelines for accepted yearlings

A. The pedigree needs to suggest the yearling has potential to run competitively in quality races on major racing circuits.
B. Ideally, the sire would be one of the national or state leaders, and the dam would have produced several top racehorses.

Not acceptable guidelines on pedigree

A. Yearlings whose dams have produced a number of horses without producing a very high quality runner.
B. Yearlings by unproven sires who were not top level runners themselves, and out of only moderate quality mares.
C. Yearlings out of mares whose female families are lacking in quality black-type runners.

Conformation guidelines

A. Yearlings should be without major conformation flaws, especially such serious ones as back at the knee and offset knees. These two defects generally get worse with time. Any yearling accepted to the sale, that develops either defect with age, which results in a severe change in conformation, should be withdrawn from the sale. 
B. In addition to generally correct conformation, the big, good looking, well developed, athletic yearlings are historically sought by Del Mar buyers. Small, immature yearlings do not sell well at a summer sale and are better marketed later in the year.

Repository information

A. Consignors are urged to x-ray their yearlings to screen out any significant problems that would be undesirable by the buyers. A minor flaw, such as a small chip may be correctable, with the appropriate x-rays and disclosure in the repository. If the problem is very serious, it is better to discover the problem before spending thousands of dollars on entry fee, sales prepping, shipping and commission.
B. CTBA Sales encourages all owners of accepted yearlings to x-ray the sesamoids, stifles and hocks, and receive a clean opinion before actually entering the horse in the sale, even if it is accepted.

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