BY CYNTHIA MCFARLAND
In the wake of a record-breaking March sale highlighted by a $3 million Gun Runner colt, enthusiasm is high for the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company Spring Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale on April 15 -18.
“I think we’ll see the momentum we had in March carry over,” OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski.
April has always featured the largest of the OBS 2-year-olds in training sales. With 1207 juveniles catalogued this year, this year’s sale features almost the identical number of horses as the 2024 Spring sale.
“Over the last ten years or so, it’s really established itself as the anchor 2-year-old sale in the world, quite honestly,” Wojciechowski noted. “We certainly get a lot of international buyers, from literally all over the world, and we’ll see a wider variety of international buyers here compared to March.”
Lifetime Leading Sires are well represented among the juveniles catalogued for this April’s sale, and include such respected stallions as Tapit, Into Mischief, Medaglia d’Oro, Curlin, Candy Ride (Arg), Ghostzapper, Quality Road, Street Sense, Uncle Mo, etc.
All stallions in the top five rankings of the 2024 First Crop Sires by Progeny Earnings are represented by multiple juveniles. These stallions are Vekoma, Tiz the Law, McKinzie, Complexity and Volatile.
The top three leading Florida sires by 2024 progeny earnings—Khozan, Adios Charlie and Neolithic—each have multiple representation.
“The consignors always do a great job with the quality of horses they bring. They’ve stepped it up year after year and I don’t expect anything different this year,” Wojciechowski said.
At the 2024 OBS Spring sale, 637 juveniles sold for a total of $82,373,500, bringing an average price of $129,315 and a median of $70,000. The 2024 sales topper was a $1.9 million Tiz the Law filly out of Moonlight Sky. Donato Lanni as agent for Michael Lund Petersen, bought the sales topper from the consignment of Tom McCrocklin as agent VIII.
Numerous OBS Spring sale grads have recently won Grade 1 races.
Among those is “catalog cover boy” Chancer McPatrick, now a multiple graded stakes-winner of $605,000, who won both the 2024 Hopeful (G1) and the Champagne (G1). The McKinzie colt races for Flanagan Racing and was purchased last April for $725,000 by Kimmel & Sallusto as agent, out of the Caliente Thoroughbreds consignment.
(Chancer McPatrick’s Under Tack Video / Walking Video)
Cogburn is an outstanding April sale success story. The Not This Time colt breezed in :20.60 at the 2021 April sale where he was bought for $150,000 by Clark Brewster out of the Pick View Consignment. The 6-year-old horse is now a multiple graded stakes winner with earnings of $2,422,630. Owned by Brewster and Williams and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Cogburn won three graded stakes last year, including the Jaipur (G1).
(Cogburn’s Under Tack Video)
Power Squeeze is another April sale millionaire. Purchased at the 2023 April sale by Lea Farms out of the Halcyon Hammock Farm consignment for $90,000, the Union Rags filly won the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes in 2024 and is a multiple graded stakes winner of $1,017,150.
(Power Squeeze’s Under Tack Video / Walking Video)
“OBS April has become not just the ‘open’ sale of the older days. There are some open horses, but it’s more a select sale and the top end of it could go anywhere,” consignor Tristan de Meric said. “There are a lot of international groups who shop the April sale and we know several who are coming this year. It’s well supported by both local and international buyers. OBS can pull the buyers from all over the world to Ocala to sell horses.”
At the 2024 OBS Spring sale, de Meric Sales was the leading consignor, selling 46 head for $9,100,000. A long-time OBS stalwart, de Meric Sales also ranked first among leading consignors for 2024 North America Sales selling 114 juveniles for $19,992,100, for an average price of $175,369.
Last April, two juveniles sold for $925,000, the second-highest price of the sale, with de Meric Sales consigning a $925,000 American Pharoah colt, purchased by Donato Lanni for Frank Fletcher Racing Operations.
(Sam’s Rocket’s Under Tack Video / Walking Video)
“Last year we had a very strong sale. Although we didn’t have the sale topper in that group, we had a high average, and it was a great market. We have 49 entered this year, a very nice group from top to bottom,” de Meric said.
“As the Spring sale has evolved, people realized there are plenty of shoppers for these top tier horses if we give them time to develop. Most of the horses that don’t get ready early, this sale hits them perfectly. We try not to rush them and this seems to be a time they flourish. There’s a great opportunity for buyers and sellers here,” said Paul Sharp, who has had a juvenile consignment at OBS sales since 1988.
With seven juveniles entered in this April’s sale, Sharp says about half of those are pinhook horses he owns in partnership with Lexington-based bloodstock agent Liz Crow in their Crow-Sharp Pinhook Ventures.
“We had a good sale in March,” said Sharp, who sold one of the five highest priced horses on day two of the recent OBS March sale, a $610,000 Tiz the Law colt purchased by Japanese trainer Hideyuki Mori.
(Hip 498’s Under Tack Video / Walking Video)
“Our training operation is at full capacity and our sales grads are running all over the world,” Sharp said.
On April 5, graded stakes-winner Mixto ran second in the $12 million Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1), bringing his earnings to $3,330,680. The Good Magic colt was purchased out of Sharp’s consignment by Calumet Farm for $140,000 at the 2022 OBS Spring sale.
(Mixto’s Under Tack Video / Walking Video)
Breeze shows for the Spring sale took place April 6 – 12.
OBS now allows consignors to designate “gallop only” on a horse’s catalog page. There has always been a gallop option, but by designating this at time of entry, buyers can be confident this was always the intention for that horse.
With sessions beginning at 10:30am EST each day of the sale, hip numbers 1 – 302 will sell on Tuesday, April 15. Hip numbers 303 – 604 sell on Wednesday, April 16, while hip numbers 605 – 906 go through the ring on Thursday, April 17. The sale concludes on Friday, April 18, with hip numbers 907 – 1207.
To participate in internet biding during the live sale, buyers should register for bidding approval at https://obssales.com/obs-online-bidding-2/
Check Florida Sire Stakes Eligibility: OBS Spring Sale
Return to the April 14 issue of Wire to Wire
