Opelousas, Louisiana – A total of 191 two-year-olds are being offered in the 6th annual John Franks Memorial Two-Year-Old in Training Sale at Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino on Sunday, March 30, beginning at 10:00 am Central time. In addition, there will be a Preview Gallop Show on Saturday, March 29, which will begin at Noon Central time. Both the Sale and the Preview Gallop Show are free and open to the public.

Named for the late Louisiana Oil Baron and Eclipse Award winning Owner/Breeder, the sale offers a pair of $100,000 races restricted to two-year-olds who pass through the sales ring. Last year's races were won by Swifty Victress & Delta Vixen. Swifty Victress, a Louisiana bred daughter of Macho Uno, defeated the $135,000 Sales topper Iknowulthinkimsexy and ended the season with more than $150,000 in earnings, an almost forty-fold return on her $4,200 purchase price for owner A. Philip Henderson. Delta Vixen, also a Louisiana bred, is a son of A. P. Delta who was purchased by agent Keith Desormeaux on behalf of owner Peter Cantrell for $9,000 and provided that pair with their second victory in as many years in this event as they won the 2006 filly division with the Stormy Atlantic filly Miss Atlantic City.

The effect of racino infused purses in Louisiana is evident not only by the large increase in horses entered for the sale, but by the quality that is being offered. Charlotte Stemmans Clavier, President of Stemmans, Inc., Administrator for the Sale, states “We have two-year-olds from outstanding and commercial sires such as Dixieland Band and More Than Ready, who each command a stud fee of more than $50,000. Other blueblood stallions from Kentucky include Stormy Atlantic, Sky Mesa, and Pleasant Tap who stand for $45,000, $30,000, and $25,000, respectively. More notable sires from Kentucky represented in the sale include Holy Bull, Point Given, Stephen Got Even, and Honour and Glory. Both Holy Bull and Point Given earned Eclipse awards as Horse-of-the-Year during their racing careers and as a sire Holy Bull has also produced a Grade I winner in each of the last four years.

Youngsters by the popular Florida stallions Peace Rules (12.5k), Milwaukee Brew ($10k), and Roar of the Tiger ($6k) a son of legendary sire Storm Cat, are also entered in the sale. Top local sires Wire Me Collect, Leestown,(who has sire a total of 12 youngsters being offered in the sale), Gold Tribute, Abajo, Erlton, and Storm Day are also well represented. Clavier also said “Racing continues on an upward trend in Louisiana in terms of both quality and overall purse structure, Evangeline Downs alone allocated purses of more than $200,000 per race program in both 2006 & 2007 and the breeders and consignors have responded to the growing needs of the horsemen by bringing this high quality group of youngsters together for what we feel is the best two-year-old sale in Louisiana."

The 2007 sale, the third held at the new facility, saw a total of 211 two-year-olds pass thru the sales ring with 192 sold at an average of more than $9,150.00. The Sales topper was the Count the Time filly Iknowuthinkimsexy at $135,000. After wowing horsemen with a brilliant 21 3/5 quarter-mile workout at Preview Gallop Show the day before, bidding was fevered on the chestnut filly and easily eclipsed the previous year's sales-topper of $105,000. Iknowuthinkimsexy was purchased by agent James Hudson on behalf of Heligbrodt Stables of Texas. With the growing popularity and length of the Two-year-old Sale, Stemmans Inc. has pushed up the start of the sale two hours to 10:00 am and has also decided not to hold the Paddock mixed sale (held immediately following the two-year-old sale in prior years). Clavier stated “Our focus in firmly on making this the best sale possible and by focusing all of our time and resources on just one sale we feel we can achieve that goal."

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