As she heads into the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July select sale, which is the first major auction of the yearling selling season, consignor Kitty Taylor of Warrendale Sales said she feels like the manager of a baseball team. The sale is scheduled for July 13-14 in Lexington and has 494 horses in its catalog, many of which fit into the middle market range.

"It's kind of like the opening day of the season at the ball park," Taylor said. “Your team has practiced and you've looked at your players, but until they play, you really don’t know how good they are."

With yearlings, the concern is whether they will be good enough to catch the eyes of buyers, who are looking for the right combination of pedigree and physical appearance. Another worry–especially in 2010–is the health of the overall yearling marketplace itself.

Most yearling sales in 2009 experienced significant setbacks as financial crisies domestically and abroad caused a variety of businesses to struggle