Super Saver Colt Joins Record Parade

by Jessica Martini
It was another day and another $575,000 juvenile at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June 2-Year-Old Sale Thursday, with a colt by Super Saver joining sons of Scat Daddy and Into Mischief to hit that auction-record mark. Hip 771, consigned by Bobby Dodd, agent, was purchased by the Three Amigos Stable of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. In addition to the Super Saver colt, Dodd also sold a filly by Unbridled’s Song for $500,000 Thursday. Four horses have sold for $500,000 or over during the first three days of the four-session sale. Only one horse reached that level a year ago. 

Through three sessions, OBS has sold 456 horses for $17,644,400. The average is up 23.5% to $38,694. The median, which was down 23.9% after the sale’s first session Tuesday, has continued to inch up and, after three sessions stands at $19,000, down only 5% from last year’s corresponding figure of $20,000. 

With 51 horses reported not sold during Thursday’s session, the buy-back rate was 25%. With 158 not sold during all three sessions, the cumulative buy-back rate is 25.73%. 

The OBS June sale concludes Friday with a session beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Super Saver Colt Leads Dodd Exacta at OBS
A colt by Super Saver earned a share of the OBS record when selling to the Three Amigos Stable of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman for $575,000 during Thursday’s third session of the OBS June sale. The youngster joins a Scat Daddy colt, who brought that figure during Tuesday’s opening session, and an Into Mischief colt who sold for that amount Wednesday, as record June sellers. 

Out of Quiet Kim (Real Quiet), hip 771, is a half-brother to these connection’s multiple graded stakes winner Fiftyshadesofhay (Pulpit). He worked a quarter in :21 3/5 at last week’s under-tack preview. 

The youngster was purchased by Brad Grady’s Grand Oaks for $160,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky sale and was consigned by Bobby Dodd, agent. Grady and Dodd teamed up earlier in the day to sell a filly by Unbridled’s Song for $500,000. 

“He didn’t have any hiccups, he has been a nice horse the whole time,” Dodd said of the Super Saver juvenile. “He’s just come together at the right time. So I am really excited.” 

Of the colt’s appeal as a yearling, Dodd added, “We liked the Super Saver. He was a big, leggy colt who looked like he would go a route. And he was a half to Fiftyshadesofhay. He looked more like a Real Quiet than a Super Saver. He’s a narrow horse and he looked like a horse that would stay sound.” 

Unbridled’s Song Filly Jump Starts OBS Thursday 
A filly by the late Unbridled’s Song got Thursday’s third session of the OBS June sale off to a rapid start, selling for $500,000 to Paul Pompa, Jr. Bloodstock agent Nick Sallusto, on the phone with Pompa, signed the ticket on hip 603, who worked a co-bullet furlong in :9 4/5 at last week’s under-tack show. The juvenile is out of Miss Abita (Dixie Union), a half-sister to the dam of GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles (Unbridled’s Song). 

“For a filly to be bred that well and to be able to go that fast and appear to be a two-turn filly, it’s very hard to find that kind with that kind of pedigree,” Sallusto commented. “We’re just hoping she can be somewhat like the rest of that family.” 

The filly became the third horse to reach the $500,000 plateau at the June sale this year, following a pair of record-tying colts at $575,000. 

Sallusto said he wasn’t surprised by the filly’s final price. 

“That was well within the range we thought she could bring,” he said. “We were definitely prepared to be there; Mr. Pompa didn’t hesitate. I think the top end [of the market] has been competitive for quite a long time. Everybody is fighting over the cream and she is definitely the cream.” 

Bred by Grousemont Farm, the gray filly was consigned by Bobby Dodd, agent. She was purchased by Brad Grady’s Grand Oaks for $200,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. 

Sallusto added the youngster will now get some time off before embarking on her racing career. 

“I think [Pompa] is planning on giving her a little down time and let her grow up a little bit more,” Sallusto said. “Hopefully, she’ll come on and be a late-season 2-year-old and she’ll go on and do what we all dream about as a 3-year-old.”

A Tart for Rockingham
Royal Tart, a daughter of Candy Ride (Arg) who worked a furlong in a co-bullet :9 4/5 last week, will be heading to the West Coast barn of trainer Peter Miller after she was purchased for $350,000 by Gary Hartunian’s Rockingham Ranch Thursday at OBS. 

“She is just beautiful,” commented bloodstock agent Raymie Lightner after signing the ticket. “She moves great. Peter and Gary really liked her.” 

Hip 712 is out of People’s Princess (Meadowlake) and is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Carolyn’s Cat (Forestry), the dam of graded stakes winner and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Mufajaah (Tapit). 

Lightner agreed the upper end of the June market has been very competitive. 

“The top end of the market is so strong here, you feel like you have to reach on some of these horses,” he said. “But I think we bought a really nice horse.” 

The bay filly, bred by Summer Wind Farm, RNA’d for $45,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale before being purchased privately. She was consigned Thursday by de Meric Sales. 

Rockingham Ranch also purchased hip 443, an Awesome Again half-brother to champion Judy the Beauty (Ghostzapper), after the fall of the hammer. The dark bay colt RNA’d at $199,000 in the ring Wednesday, but was a private sale at $160,000. 

“We bought a lot of pedigree and a really pretty, nice-moving horse,” Lightner confirmed. 

Hartunian is co-owner of Grade I winner Finnegans Wake (Powerscourt {GB}).