2003 Mid-America Draft Horse Sale:
For The Record (McIlrath's Captain Jim)
by Lynn Telleen
published in The Draft Horse Journal, Spring 2003

If "records are made to be broken" then many have been fulfilling their destinies in recent times. The highest price ever paid for a Quarter Horse at public auction was recorded just last December when a mare sold at a Cutting Horse auction in Fort Worth, Texas, for $530,000. Also in December, a record price for a weanling Thoroughbred filly was realized in England with a price of 1.8 million guineas, which translates roughly to $2.9 million! Incidentally, the record on a Thoroughbred stud colt stands at just over $4 million, and was set in 1997. In other species, the highest price paid for a Yorkshire boar occurred in 2001 at a Summer Type Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, fetching $220,000. At the 2000 Indiana State Fair, a Hampshire gilt brought a record $34,000.

It's difficult to explain why records would be falling at a time like the present, in the face of a national recession, war, terrorist attacks, global warming, West Nile Virus, etc., etc., etc., but fall they did at the recent Mid-America Draft Horse Saleñthe most pronounced being the all-time high price paid for a draft horse. Perhaps Rudyard Kipling in "The Ballad of the King's Jest" was onto something when he penned, "Four things greater than all things are women and horses and power and war." Though the war in Iraq had not yet begun, the irony is striking.

Back in 1917, when Grant Good paid $47,500 for the 6 year old Belgian stallion, Farceur, it was no less than a milestone. It was a record that stood for 86 years...until now, to be exact. On February 20, 2003, the 2 year old Belgian stallion, McIlrath's Captain Jim, brought $112,500. That is not a misprint...and that, too, is another milestone.

With an initial bid of $5,000, it took less than forty seconds for a barrage of bidding to dethrown Farceur. In that short amount of time, the bid on Captain Jim was at $50,000. After four speeches from pedigree reader, Steve Jones, and 17 additional minutes, the gavel fell and 7,500 mouths dropped. James Raber and Orla Yoder of Topeka, Indiana, had just made history with their new purchase.
breeding chart

Auctioneer John Marg, who was doing the honors, says, "With four or five different bidders on the horse all the way up to eighty grand, it just shows how much interest there really is. I was amazed at how quiet it was with nearly 7,500 people in and around the stands. When the horse broke a hundred grand, I didn't even need a microphone!"

"I think it will change the way people think of the whole thing," Marg continued. "I believe this record will be broken in a lot less time than the last one. Everyone is out to break records. It's good for the business. Everyone involved is to be commended. They left nothing to the imaginationñthey had the table set; they showed him to All-American honors, promoted him, JEB tested him and checked his semen." A veteran auctioneer, Marg concludes, "It was definitely a highlight in my auctioneering career."

Jim McIlrath of Grinnell, Iowa, says he bred Captain Jim with every intention of keeping him for his own herd sire. A young Amishman from Hazleton, Iowa, put a kink in those plans. William Helmuth had a similar design for the colt and approached McIlrath about selling him and made a tempting offer. McIlrath says he consulted with his wife and through a short discussion came up with the prohibitive price of $25,000. But it didn't work.

Young Helmuth swallowed hard and accepted the terms and became the new owner of the horse. McIlrath told Allen F. Detweiler that he thought he'd gotten the last dime that could possibly be had on the horse. For William, re-selling the horse was the last thing on his mind. "I wanted to stand him myself and ship semen," he says. Helmuth had seen the colt's dam when she was at his brother's place to be broke. Her action caught his eye, and her pedigree kept his attention.

To be a successful and profitable herd sire, William knew that the colt needed to be shown and promoted. Later that year he spoke with Dean and Kelly Woodbury, Winchester, Indiana, at the Michigan Great Lakes International to see if they'd take the horse on the show circuit, and they agreed. After only a couple of shows, interest in Captain Jim began to mount. The buzz had started.

Having been present for the purchase, Allen Detweiler was already well aware of the situation, but the mushrooming buzz proved to be more than he could take. To make a long story short, William soon acquired a partner. Dean Woodbury recalls, "Originally, we were just going to show him [Captain Jim] for William. But when Allen became a partner, I knew he'd be sold."

When the partnership consigned the horse to the Gordyville Sale, sale manager Vernon Yoder recalls the comment made by Allen Detweiler: "The cards have been dealt to us. All we have to do is to play our hand wisely." Kenny Rogers would be proud. Woodbury recalls, "I didn't know it was going to get wild until after the first of the year...everybody started showing up at our place to see the horse!"

If the table was set, dinner was served at the horse sale. Vernon Yoder says, "It's definitely a milestone. It went well beyond any expectations I ever had. One thing that really struck me at the time was that there were five parties bidding up to the $80,000 mark, and two parties from there."

Contending bidder Fritz Helmuth said, "It crossed my mind that the horse would top 100 grand, but I never expected NOT to own him on my bid of $112,000!"

Vernon Yoder adds, "Our goal when we started this sale was to provide a good draft horse market, but it's gone way beyond anything we ever imagined. It was an honor and a dream come true. I have never been involved with anything that has affected me this way."

When the sale was final, Allen Detweiler recalls that William Helmuth was a little pale and didn't look well. He says, "I patted him on the shoulder and said, "NOW do you understand why we had to bring this horse to Gordyville?'" He nodded in the affirmative. Helmuth reflects, ìIt's going to benefit a lot of people in the Belgian business besides Allen and me."

James Raber, co-buyer of the horse said, "I had a lot of mixed emotions. About three months ago, we decided to just go for it. We are relatively new to the business and, naturally, want to do well."

In retrospect, Jim McIlrath says, "I've read about Farceur and now to think that my name is associated with the horse that broke his record...it's unbelievable. I owe William Helmuth and Allen Detweiler my gratitude for putting it there."

So what does this mean to the heavy horse industry? Pedigree reader and master promoter Steve Jones summarizes, "It's the beginning of a new era." Deal the cards!