Equine Sales Company and Evangeline Downs Announce New Sales Stakes

equinesalessquareEquine Sales Company and Evangeline Downs today announced an extended partnership that creates two new 3-year-old stakes for sales graduates to be run at the Opelousas, Louisiana, racetrack. The first running, which will offer divisions for fillies and colts/geldings at $75,000 apiece, will be contested in spring 2016 in conjunction with Equine Sales’ 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which is also held in Opelousas.

“With our sales pavilion being located so close to Evangeline Downs, we think this partnership is a win-win for everyone involved, including the horsemen,” said Foster Bridewell, sales director for Equine Sales. “We purposefully designated this race for 3-year-olds as opposed to 2-year-olds to give owners and trainers another racing opportunity on what is already a great stakes schedule at Evangeline. We believe this combined effort will help achieve our goal of having the premier in-training sale in the region.”

The stakes will be restricted to graduates of any of the three Equine Sales Company auctions held each year: the 2-year-old sale in the spring, consignor select yearling sale in late summer and open yearling/mixed sale in the fall. The race will be open to all sale graduates, no matter what state they were bred in.

Graduates of the 2015 Stars of Tomorrow 2-year-old sale at Evangeline will also be eligible for the 2016 races, but that auction will no longer be held in the future.

“We are excited to be working with Equine Sales Company in making the future sales and stake races successful for horsemen,” said Chris Warren, director of racing for Evangeline Downs and Delta Downs. “We believe we are moving in a very positive direction.”

In addition to the 2-year-old sale and sales stakes being held on the same weekend next spring, Evangeline Downs Racetrack Casino and Hotel will host a gala at the track for all horsemen and those involved in the sale.

Additional details and dates for the sale and sales stakes will be announced later this year.