At this beginning, Bayne Welker, who was a founding member and the CBA’s first president, said, “One of the reasons the CBA was formed was to provide a voice and to have a trade association for North American consignors.” The others aligning with Welker, then of Mill Ridge Farm and currently vice president of sales at Fasig-Tipton, in the formation of the CBA included Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales, Pat Costello (Paramount Sales), Kerry Cauthen (Four Star Sales), and breeder Rob Whiteley, with Mike Cline of Lane’s End joining them quickly in forming the organization.
“This was a small group that drew up articles of incorporation,” Welker recalled, “and then we formed a calling tree where we rang up other consignors with a call to get on board. It was a straightforward call to action and it worked out.”
Pat Costello noted that the CBA is “an amazing group. We are all competitors in business but leave our hats at the door for the CBA. At this stage, I believe both [Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton] look to us for input at their sales.”
One of the fundamentals of the organization was that the founders and the board work on the principle that constructive dialogue and a fair-minded approach are good for the sport and for the business in the long-term.
The group has managed to live up to its ideals through the first decade of its existence and has prospered by providing an organizational voice for consignors and breeders on large and small issues. The CBA describes itself as “your seat at the table” when addressing thorny and sometimes controversial subjects like scoping, OCDs, the yearling sale process, and most recently, steroids.