DIXON – As the horse Good I Will Be walked out of his stall, everyone stopped.

Then the phones came out, and the potential bidders who spent the morning wandering the aisles of Rita Crundwell’s barns took the opportunity to snap a photo of the three-time world champion.

“I feel like a tourist,” one woman said to her companion. The crowd seemed almost giddy.

The consensus among auction officials and horse enthusiasts was that Good I Will Be, affectionally referred to as Willy, would be the top seller at the auction, which is set to start Sunday morning at Crundwell’s ranch southeast of Dixon.

Potential bidders had a chance to check out Crundwell’s herd, which federal prosecutors say was developed and cared for using city funds.

Crundwell, who was Dixon’s comptroller since 1983, faces a federal wire fraud charge and 60 state charges filed Thursday of theft connected to, what prosecutors say, is the misappropriation of $53 million over two decades.

If Crundwell is convicted, money from the sale of her horses and other property will go back to the city as restitution.

Part of it also will be used to pay back the U.S. Marshals Service, which took possession of the horses following Crundwell’s April arrest, and to companies that have liens on the horses.

The auction will start Sunday morning with the sale of some of her tack, said Mike Jennings, who co-owns Professional Auction Services with his brother, Tim. Their company won the bid to conduct both the online auction and the live event, which concludes Monday.

After equipment is auctioned, they’ll move in performance horses.

“The performance horses are judged on their movement, their performance, their talent,” said Cathy Jennings, the site manager and wife of co-owner, Tim Jennings. Good I Will Be, a 2004 bay stallion, is a performance horse.

“This horse, Willy, is very accomplished in quite a number of events,” Cathy said. “He’s a world champion in performance halter. Plus, he has done very well in events like Western riding and Hunter Under Saddle. He’s just quite an accomplished horse.”

He’s the first listing in the catalog, which groups the horses by family, and has a whole page to himself. His entry includes a long list of his accomplishments, all the awards he has won and the champions he has sired.

“He’s an all-around horse,” said Marcia Freeman, who started Freeman Show Horses in 1988 with her husband, Ken. “That’s why he’s so highly sought after, because he’s able to do both things.”

“And with talent,” another bystander chimed in.

He’ll be the first horse to be sold Sunday morning.

“This certainly is going to be the highlight of this auction,” Mike Jennings said.

“He’s been a very popular show horse and even in the early stages has proven to be a prominent sire of show horses, and we have a number of interested parties coming to look at him.”

While it’s hard to judge how much Good I Will Be will go for, Mike Jennings said, they’re hoping he’ll go for more than any of the horses that sold during the online auction that concluded Sept. 12.

There will be other performance horses to watch, but none of them are even a close second to Good I Will Be, Freeman said.

Money’s Moxie is among them, Cathy Jennings said.

“She’s a little more thoroughbred type,” Cathy said, standing next to the horse, a playful 5-year-old bay mare who enjoyed chewing on her lead rope as spectators admired her.

“She’s an English horse. They’re typically taller, a little bit more streamlined. They’re judged on their manners and their movement. You want them to have a little bit longer stride, reach a little bit farther. She’s just a beautiful mover. She’s got a great mind. She’s a joy to be around.”

Partway through Monday’s sale, the auction will switch from performance horses to halter horses, with a break to sell some of the show halters, some adorned with silver or gold.

“The halter horses are judged primarily on their conformation,” Cathy Jennings said. “It’s basically a beauty contest.”

Among the halter horses to watch, she said, is Acoolest, a seven-time world champion stallion and reserve world champion sire.

“It’s really important with a halter horse, they really need to look kind of like body builders,” Cathy said.”They want all of that muscle on the horses.

“It’s breed type. It’s like you want a poodle to look like a poodle, well, you want a quarter horse to look like a quarter horse, and they typically are more muscular, stronger-looking horses. ... They’re bred to be cow horses, so they have to have all of that muscle to do what they do.”

The U.S. Marshals Service already has sold 80 of Crundwell’s horses, which were scattered across 22 farms in 13 states, for a grand total of more than $1.6 million.

Eleven of the recipient mares who are not accompanied by foals did not sell. They’ll be sold as a group at the end of the auction.