By Jessica Martini
The under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's April Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training continued with a third session Wednesday and three juveniles equaled the week's bullet time of :9 4/5, while a filly by Malibu Moon recorded the day's fastest quarter-mile time of :20 4/5.
With Wednesday's three additions, nine juveniles have now shared the fastest furlong time at the half-way point of the six-session under-tack show. De Meric Sales sent out a filly by Quality Road (Hip 422) to work in :9 4/5. The bay is out of Favoritism (Tiznow), a daughter of graded-stakes placed Chaste (Cozzene).
Hip 504, consigned by Daylight Farm Racing & Sales, became the second juvenile by first-crop sire Prospective (Malibu Moon) to earn a bullet at OBS this week. Her :9 4/5 work joins the :20 4/5 quarter-mile drill from hip 234, which was co-fastest at the distance Tuesday. Prospective, who stands at Ocala Stud, captured the 2012 GII Tampa Bay Derby and GIII Ohio Derby.
Also sharing the :9 4/5 bullet Wednesday was hip 581, a colt by First Samurai out of the unraced Indian Bay (Indian Charlie). Indian Bay is a daughter of graded stakes winner Buy the Barrel (E Dubai) and a half to multiple graded stakes placed Mise En Rose (War Front). The chestnut colt is consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales LLC.
“The :9 4/5 is pretty elusive, but I thought if I was going to get one, it would be with him,” commented Grassroots Training and Sales' David McKathan, who purchased the youngster for $90,000 at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “He is just a good physical. He's an extremely athletic-looking horse. I started bragging on him the third day I saddled him. You could tell he was superior from an athletic standpoint. And he's got a good mind on him.”
Grassroots Training & Sales will send 35 juveniles through the ring during next week's April sale and McKathan is looking for a wide base of buyers.
“At [the OBS] March [Sale] and Fasig Miami [Gulfstream sale], there is no middle and bottom, but the April market is trying to be an international market,” McKathan said. “We get buyers from all over the world. I compare this April sale to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where you do have a middle and bottom. That's why I like April. I haven't sold any horses in March for some years now. The April sale has a top, a bottom and a middle and I think you do attract a much larger variety of buyers to this sale.”
Consignor Eddie Woods sent out the fastest quarter-mile breezer Wednesday. Hip 591 became the sixth horse of the week to work in :20 4/5. By Malibu Moon, the bay filly is a daughter of multiple graded stakes placed In the Slips (More Than Ready).
A colt by Wildcat Heir (hip 200) owns the fastest quarter-mile breeze of the week so far after working in :20 2/5 Monday.
The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. The April sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday.
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