Why It's Best to be Last

Better Than Honour, the dam of back-to-back Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winners Jazil and Rags to Riches, will be last horse offered Nov. 2 during the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November select mixed sale in Lexington.

 According to Fasig-Tipton president, Boyd Browning, her position in the catalog is a result of a mutual agreement between Fasig-Tipton officials and John Sikura, who will consign the mare through his Hill ‘n' Dale Sales Agency, and is her co-owner. A couple of factors were involved in the decision.

"John and I actually talked about it," Browning said, "and she is a such a high profile mare, that we wanted go to go on and position her where basically she sold last and the sale would build up to her selling.

 It's also nice for all your other consignors," he continued. "We've all seen it happen: A horse brings huge money, there is the rush of the crowd for the next 10 or 15 minutes, and it's hard to get everything put back together and to get the attention focused on the other horses. You know, frankly, every horse in our catalog we think deserves to be special in its own way and needs plenty of time and attention, so we decided to put Better Than Honour last. It was the best thing to do for his (Sikura's) consignment and the entire sale."