Sam Houston Race Park hosted the annual Texas Quarter Horse Association (TQHA) Yearling Sale on July 25 & 26, 2008. The event, in its 10th year, hosted nearly 4,000 guests and broke sales record with receipts totaling $3.9 million dollars. The two-day event is part of the Texas Summer Showdown Weekend at The Park, which is one of the highlights of the American Quarter Horse meeting.

The sale offered more than 340 horses for the live auction portion of the weekend. The sales topper for the weekend was Mr Jess Kue (Hip #170A), by Mr. Jess Perry out of Kool Kue Baby. The horse was purchased for $250,000 by Narcisco Flores.

“The 2008 TQHA Yearling Sale was the strongest event’s 10-year history,” said SHRP Vice President of Racing Eric Johnston. “We had top-quality horses in record numbers, great attendance, and interest from the public, as well as horsemen, for the live action, and we are pleased that we continue to see the sales and attendance grow every year. In addition, we had an exciting weekend of racing, with some of the best race cards at The Park since the meet began.”

In addition to the equine expo and live auction, The Park hosted an exciting weekend of Quarter Horse racing including four stakes races on Friday evening and the highly-anticipated $418,984 TQHA Sale Futurity (RG1) on Saturday night, which was captured by Jodys Money Pop ($12.80). Jodys Money Pop was the morning line second favorite behind frontrunner Show Me Your Toole. The two-year old colt broke out of the starting gate on top with a strong drive and maintained a convincing lead for the duration of the 350-yard race. He crossing the wire in a final time of :17.786.

Owners Jim and Dina Pitts, from Burkburnett, Texas, were on hand to watch their horse claim top honors. The couple picked the colt out at the 2007 TQHA Yearling Sale and purchased him for $18,000.