OBS Spring Sale Starts Tuesday

by Jessica Martini 
The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training begins its four-day run Tuesday morning in Ocala with the first of 1,203 catalogued lots scheduled to go through the sale’s ring at 10:30 a.m. 

The Spring sale has been steadily growing in strength each year, with the sale average, just $27,918 in 2010, exploding to $73,981 a year ago. The 2014 renewal also marked the second year in a row the auction set records for gross, average and median, with 767 horses selling for $57,032,000 and a median of $45,000. In 2013, 815 horses sold for $48,757,000, an average of $59,825 and a median of $35,000. 

Those burgeoning figures have been backed up by a rapidly increasing list of successful graduates. Among the horses to earn graded stakes victories since exiting the Spring sale’s ring in 2014 are GIII Delta Jackpot S. winner and GI Kentucky Derby hopeful Ocho Ocho Ocho (Street Sense), GII Remsen S. winner Leave the Light On (Horse Greeley) and GIII Sham S. winner Calculator (In Summation). 

“I think once again the consignors have done a fabulous job with the stock that they’ve brought to this sale,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “We’ve been looking around all day and there are an awful lot of good horses on the grounds.” 

Wojciechowski continued, “The graduates are the proof in the pudding. With the way the horses are performing at the racetrack, I just think that draws buyers in. And they understand that there are a lot of horses here, a lot to choose from, and they have confidence that they can find what they are looking for and then be successful at the racetrack.” 

This year’s auction follows in the wake of OBS’s hugely successful March sale, which jettisoned its select status in favor of an expanded open auction in 2015. The new format was well-received by both buyers and sellers and the two sales are now well-positioned to complement each other, according to Wojciechowski. 

“We hope that we can continue the momentum that we created in March,” Wojciechowski said. “It really has gotten down to now, with the way March went, and the way April has been going, that the decision now isn’t, ‘Can I get this horse sold at this sale or that sale?’ It is, ‘What is the best thing for the horse as far as the timing?’ And I think it really gives consignors the opportunity to place the horse when they are ready.” 

Nick de Meric, who was the leading consignor at last year’s Spring sale, acknowledged the additional 200 horses catalogued for the March sale could have an impact on the April auction’s bottom line. 

“Did we milk 100 nice horses from April and put them in March and now that they are missing in April will that thereby affect the average,” de Meric asked. “That’s a question we aren’t going to know until the sale is over. But opening up March was my idea and I felt strongly that that was the way the industry was headed and that boutique 2-year-old sales are currently going out of vogue. You need a certain critical mass of horses to attract the right cross-section of buyers. And [expanding March] was an effective way to do it. I think there is going to be a little bit of a ripple effect on this sale and probably June as well, but I think when the dust settles, it will make for a much more equitable market and it will be better for buyers and sellers alike.” 

The horses that the Spring sale may have lost in March may be made up for by the absence of Keeneland’s April sale, which was put on hiatus this year, according to consignor Ciaran Dunne. 

“I think that April is going to buoyed a little bit by Keeneland not being there,” Dunne said. “I think quite a few of the horses who maybe would have gone to Keeneland are here because March and Gulfstream [Fasig-Tipton Florida] would have come too soon for them. So I think what the sale lost in March, they might make up in what they gained from Keeneland.” 

De Meric is expecting another strong renewal of the Spring sale. 

“I would hope it’s going to be a very bullish market,” he said. “At the moment there is tremendous demand for quality horses and history has shown that we provide a lot of them in this sale. I expect the sale results to reflect that.” 

Dunne agreed. 

“March was such a strong sale and the only way you can have a strong sale is if a lot of people got outbid,” he commented. “And if they got outbid, hopefully they’ll come back here this month even more determined to get the job done this time.” 

Through six sessions of the under-tack show for the Spring sale, three horses shared the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5. Hip 692, a daughter of Lemon Drop Kid, was first to hit the mark (video). Consigned by Bobby Dodd, the youngster is out of stakes winner and Grade I placed Yonagucci (Yonaguska). A pair of juveniles consigned by de Meric Sales also shaded :10; hip 1032, a filly by Harlan’s Holiday (video) and hip 1073, a colt by Street Cry (Ire) out of a half-sister to Grade I winner Honey Ryder (Lasting Approval) (video). 

Hip 608, a filly from the first crop of sprint champion Big Drama, turned in the fastest quarter-mile breeze of :20 3/5. The youngster is consigned by Eddie Woods. 

A pair of juveniles shared the fastest three-furlong work of the breeze show. Hip 11, a colt by Magna Graduate from Blue River Bloodstock consignment, worked in :33 2/5. A colt by Tale of Ekati (hip 257) also worked in :33 2/5. The bay is consigned by All Dreams Equine. 

The OBS Spring sale runs through Friday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m.