A Western Estate Auction with more than 250 items from the famed Vessels Farm estate will be held June 15 in Fort Worth, Texas.

© Robbi Knudson Photo

FORT WORTH, TX–MAY 16, 2024–B A RIGBY Auctions announced today that they will conduct a Western Estate Auction with items from the famed Vessels Stallion Farm on June 15 in Fort Worth, Texas.

More than 250 items from the Vessels California Estate will be offered at Billy Bob's Texas – 81 Club in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Preview days are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, June 13-14 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the 81 Club.

The fabulous and tasteful collection includes stunning gold and diamond jewelry, with appraisal certificates available, turquoise and coral jewelry, hundreds of collector coins, firearms, bronze sculptures, western art, Lalique Crystal, saddles, bits, spurs, and more (click here for auction highlights).

"This will be an opportunity to own a piece of racing history," auctioneer Brian Rigby said.

AQHA Hall of Famer Frank Vessels Sr. built Los Alamitos Race Course and held the first parimutuel meet for Quarter Horses in 1951. Mildred Vessels took over the operation of Los Alamitos, the track that the family had started on Orange County farmland, after the death of her husband Frank Vessels, Jr. in 1974.

In 1984, Vessels and her son, Frank "Scoop" Vessels III, sold Los Alamitos and a golf course next to the track to Hollywood Park for $58 million.

“The value of the land had appreciated to the extent that it hardly paid to keep it any longer,” Millie Vessels said at the time of the sale.

The Vessels family continued ownership of a breeding farm, a golf course, and the 832-acre San Luis Rey Downs horse training center in Bonsall, California, where they built and operated the legendary Vessels Stallion Farm. Millie passed away in 1992.

The Vessels family bred and raced many important horses, including owning First Down Dash, who won the quarter horse World Championship in 1987. First Down Dash won eight of nine races and became the industry's all-time leading sire with more than $90.4 million in money earners.

The Vessels also raced Timeto Thinkrich, who won the 1973 All-American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs, N.M., in the second year that the race was worth $1 million.

"Scoop" Vessels, a past President of the American Quarter Horse Association and Hall of Fame inductee, was killed in a plane crash in 2010 and the breeding farm was subsequently sold five years later. This will be a rare opportunity to own a piece of the Legendary Vessels History!

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Billy Bob’s Texas – 81 Club is located at 2525 Rodeo Plaza, Fort Worth, Texas. Live and online bidding will be accepted. For additional information, call the auction office at (417) 849-1167.

CLICK HERE to request a catalog.