By: Bruce A. Roy
Explosive! The Gray Transportation Percheron Production Sale held by Leroy and Carolyn Gray, Fairfield, Iowa, Friday, June 8, was explosive… exceptionally explosive.
Sixty-one head of pedigreed Percheron horses averaged $10,153, smashing all previous breed records. Bidders from across the continent stood 12 deep ringside. Many were horsemen from Western Canada. Your correspondent assisted John Marg of Black River Falls, Wisconsin, who was the auctioneer on the block.
Albertans had reason to be excited. Fifty-nine of the sixty-one horses Leroy and Carolyn Gray catalogued for sale, descended from Justamere Showtime, the breed sire that brought American buyers in number to the province. Last owned by the Wm. Gordon Young of Cayley, Justamere Showtime was bred by Jonathan Fox III of Lloydminster.
Females were to the fore at Grays Percheron Production Sale, where a three-year-old mare set the trade alight. Sold for $52,000, WestWind King’s Harper commanded the record price for a Percheron female.
This mare is a daughter of Pleasant View King out of Glenview Cousteau’s Colette, the World Champion Stallion and Mare respectively, at the 1998 World Percheron Congress held in Calgary. Justamere Showtime appears three times in Harper’s pedigree. The mare’s grandmother, Konellen, was a powerful mare Carl J. Hanson of Wetaskawin, Alberta, bred and showed to top honours at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. The stepping, 17.3 hand, black female, can tramp. WestWind King’s Harper sold to Summit Farms, a new stable in Iowa.
Talk of the day was Dream Away Jorja, the second female sold. She captured a $50,000 bid, which had breed the enthusiasts ringside in an uproar. This six-year-old, black mare, another Pleasant View King daughter, is out of Cedar Lea Justine, whose sire, Highview Justintime, Don and Jolayne Swanston of High River, Alberta, bred.
The right wheel mare in the Six Horse Hitch Leroy and Carolyn Gray campaigned, she stands a measured 18.1 hands. Winner of the Mare Cart Class at the 2002 World Percheron Congress at Lexington, Virginia; she sold to the Maple Row Dairy in Michigan.
Wishe Bush of New York paid $45,000 for Pleasant View Melody. This exciting mare, sired by M.G.’s Prince, is out of Pleasant View Michelle, a veteran matron, whose sire, South Valley Did-It, was bred by Wm. Gordon Young of Cayley, Alberta.
The right lead horse in the Six Horse Hitch Leroy and Carolyn Gray successfully exhibited this past year, Pleasant View Melody won the Mare Cart Class at the 2006 World Percheron Congress, which is further testament to the quality of the catalogued females sold..
Sterling’s Holly captured a $30,000 bid, which Wishe Bushe of New York also placed. This magnificent mare, the right wheel horse in the Gray Hitch, was sold open. Had she been in foal, the nine-year-old matron could have topped the sale, for she has many admirers.
Embryos were collected from Sterling’s Holly earlier this year. This could explain why she failed to conceive to the artificial service of Lola’s Cracker Jack. Sired by Pleasant View King, her dam, Janet of Glynlea, is the massive, grey mare, Marion Furber of Bowden, Alberta, bred and sold to Avery Sterling, owner of the Detroit Tigers.
Two Amish breeders from Iowa, Robert Detweiler of Oelwein, and his father, Allen Detweiler of Fairfield, paid top dollar for horses with Stardust Royal Command in their pedigree.
This great show horse, bred by Jack and Sandie Bellamy of Olds, Alberta, was Grand Champion Stallion at the National Percheron Show, the Michigan Great Lakes International Draft Horse Show and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, following his sale to Illinois. There are few horses, Hackneys included, which can step like Stardust Royal Command, when called upon to travel.
The six females found in Leroy and Carolyn Gray’s celebrated Grays Transportation Hitch sold for a total of $195,000. This figure surpassed the expectations of every pundit present. Ten head catalogued at Grays Percheron Production Sale were horse colts.
The top price paid for a stud foal was $12,500; the ten stud foals sold averaged $4,395. This figure will stagger those veteran draft horse stalwarts, who soldiered on when no market for a draft horse existed in the decades that followed World War II.
Leroy and Carolyn Gray retained 20 brood mares, their crop of filly foals, plus the stallions G.T.’s Hallmark and Pleasant View Michael. The 20 females retained form a court of broodmares without rival. Not least of these mares is J.P. Princess, a massive Stardust Royal Command daughter, one cosmopolitan horsemen must eyeball.
The young breeding horse, G.T.’s Hallmark, is by Blackhome Grandeur Lyn, whose sire, Highview Dragano, Don and Jolayne Swanston of High River bred; and whose dam, Sterling’s Holly, is out of Janet of Glynlea, the celebrated grey mare Marion Furber of Bowden bred.
Enthusiastic champions of the Percheron, Leroy and Carolyn Gray are in the breed for the long haul. This couple’s hospitality at Grays Transport Percheron Production Sale surpassed every expectation. The sale was a milestone for Leroy and Caroline Gray, for the Percheron breed, and for Alberta’s Percheron breeders past and present.
Prize Money Tops $80,000
The 2007 Royal Horse Show promises to be bigger and better than ever, for an increase in prize money brings the total awarded in the Heavy Horse Breeding and Performance classes to over $80,000. The Royal Horse Show is held as part of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, which takes place 2 to 11 November in Toronto, Ontario, at the Ricoh Coliseum.
The Marsh Six Horse Hitch classes will benefit most, as $15,000 is offered for the Royal Marsh Six Horse Hitch Championship. The top three six horse hitches in the Belgian, Clydesdale and Percheron classes will contest the honour Saturday, November 10 during the evening performance.
The highly popular Ladies Cart class has been split. This year a Ladies Cart class will be offered in each breed. The top placed entry in the Belgian, Clydesdale and Percheron Ladies Cart classes will be eligible for the Royal Ladies Cart Championship, which is also scheduled for November 10.
Prize money of more than $10,000 will be offered in each of the Belgian and Clydesdale breeding classes, while more than $8,500 will be offered in the Percheron breeding classes. Percheron breeding classes will be held on Friday, November 2; Belgian breeding classes on Saturday, November 3; and Clydesdale breeding classes on Sunday, November 4.
For additional information on The Royal Horse Show visit www.royalfair.org. John Dunlop. Chairman of The Royal Horse Show states,
“This year every Royal Horse Show performance is going to be a hot ticket!”
