by Pete Denk

A Harlan’s Holiday colt sold for $300,000 on Tuesday afternoon to set a new top price at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale in Timonium, Maryland.

Francis Vanlangendonck of Summerfield Sales signed the ticket on behalf of Ocala-based pinhooker Nick de Meric. Vanlangendonck said de Meric bought the colt as agent, and he did not know if he was purchased for an end-user or as a pinhook.

Summerfield’s barn in the Timonium infield was adjacent to Paramount Sales, which consigned the colt as agent, so Vanlangendonck got plenty of looks at him.

“I watched him for three days out there. He really showed well,” Vanlangendonck said. “He looked like an athlete and handled it well mentally. [Nick de Meric] didn’t tell me who he bought it for. He just told me to bid.”

Gerry Dilger’s Dromoland Farm pinhooked the colt for $150,000 out of the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Dilger bought the colt under the name Filbert Farm.

“When I saw him in November, I thought he was a nice, well balanced foal, a good moving horse, and I just liked the way he stood up,” Dilger said. “($300,000) was a good price for the horse. He’s a nice colt. He deserved it and Fasig-Tipton and Paramount did a great job.”

The first foal out of the unraced Yankee Victor mare Keep It Going, the bay colt was bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones. The colt wound up in the Timonium sale after scratching from the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings because of a foot abscess, said Paramount’s Gabriel Duignan.

Pete Denk is sales editor of Thoroughbred Times