Breeze Show Begins in Ocala

by J.M. Severni 
The undertack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale began Monday. The first session of the six-day breeze show saw two horses share the co-fastest time for an eighth at :9 4/5 in hip 33, a colt by High Cotton consigned by Harris Training Center, and hip 139, a filly by Maimonides consigned by King's Equine. Five lots posted the co-fastest quarter time of :20 4/5 in hip 34, a colt by Street Boss consigned by SGV Thoroughbreds; hip 58, a filly by Girolamo consigned by Hoppel's Horse & Cattle Co.; hip 64, a colt by High Cotton consigned by Ocala Stud; hip 78, a colt by Scat Daddy consigned by SGV Thoroughbreds; and hip 109, a filly by Singing Saint consigned by Niall Brennan. The youngster is out of the unraced Bambuyan (Gone West), who is a daugther of GSW Big Bambu (Salt Lake). 

Brennan was very keen on the speedy filly in his consignment. 

“The filly is a very nice physical,” Brennan said. “She's a fast filly, and is very well built with a great demeanor, she's a very professional, relaxed filly. She doesn't have a fancy pedigree, but she's Ontario-sired and bred and she's very nice for that program. She handled the track very well, and she has a very turf-oriented pedigree and she got over that track very well.” 

“I think the OBS track stays very consistent,” Brennan continued. “The track seemed to be playing fair, it's normally a very fast track. The synthetic tracks are, obviously, faster and it seemed to be playing fair and consistent. In the hotter weather, the perception is that the synthetic tracks get a tick slower because of the wax. But the times were consistent across the board and consistent with the April sale.” 

Brennan believes the June sale continues to improve and he looks for the strong market from the record setting OBS March and OBS April sales will continue. 

“June has been getting better each year, due to the fact that everything is getting later, and later in our season,” he explained. “The 2-year-old sales seem to be getting better later. Horses do get pushed back, as well. Some horses have physical issues or immaturity, and I think those kind of horses, the genuinely nice horses, will be in good shape. 
Brennan acknowledged that the middle-market will give the buyers an advantage. 

“The unknown will be the middle-market. It is the end of the season. There are still a lot of horses in the June sale and I think the middle market horses are going to be a buyers' market. With the buzz about the wonderful Triple Crown winner, maybe that helps increase some enthusiasm with it being the last 2-year-old sale of the season for people to get horses. That's me being optimistic, but we have several nice horses in the sale with pedigrees. We have a couple of them who haven't been in sales before, so these are the first time people are getting a look at them. The problem, of course, is that some people could possibly have spent their budget already. It is June so, some people are getting focused on the racetrack and trainers are busy, so sometimes the June sale gets a little bit overlooked because of that, but truly the quality has improved each year and there are quite a lot of nice horses in this catalogue.” 

The undertack show continues through Saturday, beginning daily at 7:30 a.m. The June Sale begins next Tuesday and runs through Friday. Sessions begin daily at 10:30 a.m.