Ocala Breeders' Sales Company

by Brian DiDonato & Steve Sherack The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company will hold its two-day March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale Tuesday and Wednesday amid unprecedented circumstances as the nation and world grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused most major events to be canceled or postponed and racing conducted without spectators, if at all. Add to that a plummeting stock market--circuit breakers were again triggered as trade opened Monday despite the Federal Reserve announcing Sunday evening that it would slash interest rates to 0% and launch a $700-billion quantitative...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company reiterated its decision to continue on with its March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, amid COVID-19 concerns which have prompted Keeneland to cancel its April 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale scheduled for Apr. 7 and Fasig-Tipton to cancel its Apr. 1 Gulfstream Sale of Selected Two-Year-Olds in Training. "We are moving forward with the sale," confirmed OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski Friday evening shortly after a meeting of shareholders. "We have been listening to...

A filly by American Pharoah breezed the fastest quarter-mile of :20 2/5 Friday, while seven juveniles tied for the quickest eighth-of-a-mile breeze of :9 4/5 during the second of three under-tack shows ahead of next Tuesday and Wednesday's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The American Pharoah filly is consigned to the sale by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, Inc. as hip 237. The half-sister to MSP My Sweet Stella (Eskendereya) was a $70,000 KEENOV weanling and $165,000 KEESEP yearling. The following horses breezed in :9 4/5: Hip...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training will continue as scheduled, OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski told the TDN Tuesday. The decision comes as organizers and administrators for institutions and events around the world grapple with just how seriously to take the Coronavirus outbreak. "We're monitoring the situation, but we are moving forward with the sale," Wojciechowski said. "There have been no restrictions placed on us by a government agency--it's a fluid situation, but right now with the investment that's at stake for our consignors...

The catalog for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2020 March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training is now available via the OBS website at www.obssales.com. A total of 681 juveniles have been cataloged for the two-day sale, set for Tuesday and Wednesday, Mar. 17 and 18, with both sessions beginning at 10:30 a.m. The Under Tack Show will span three days, beginning Thursday, Mar. 12 with Hips 1-227. Hips 228-454 will breeze Friday, Mar. 13 and Hips 455-681 will go Saturday, Mar. 14. All three sessions will begin at 8:00 a.m....

A $92,000 Summer Front short yearling colt topped the open and final session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale Wednesday. Consigned as hip 633 by Select Sales, Agent II, the Apr. 12 foal was purchased by Dailey Bloodstock's Renee Dailey. The bay was bred in Florida by Machmer Hall and Marco Medina. His now 2-year-old half-brother by Into Mischief was a $350,000 Fasig-Tipton November weanling in 2018. Unplaced dam Diva Star (Cherokee Run) is a half to MSW and GSP Captain Serious (Successful Appeal) and hails from...

A short yearling by Union Rags topped Tuesday's consignor preferred session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale when selling for $165,000 to the Blue Sky Stables pinhooking partnership led by Brian Graves. The dark bay colt (hip 4) was consigned by Pelican State Thoroughbreds as agent for breeder David Fennelly's Mountmellick Farm. The yearling, out of La Milanesa (Mr. Greeley), is a half-brother to stakes winner Ginger N Rye (More Than Ready). His second dam, multiple Grade I placed Hometown Queen (Pleasant Colony), produced graded stakes winner...

As the daughter of a Hall of Fame jockey, Sherri Boland has been involved in just about every facet of the racing game, but the Ocala horsewoman will be offering her first-ever consignment during the the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale Tuesday. "I've been in the business my whole life," Boland said. "I've trained, broke babies. And I thought, you know what, I've done every other aspect of this business, why not me? Why can't I do this?" Boland is consigning under the banner Middleground, named after the...

The supplemental catalog to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2020 Winter Mixed Sale is now available on the company's website at obssales.com. Nineteen horses have been supplemented to the Preferred Session, for a total of 186 horses cataloged as Hips 1-186. The Session will begin Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 11:00 a.m. The addition of 29 supplements swells the Horses of Racing Age Session to a total of 151, cataloged as Hips 201-351, beginning immediately following the Preferred Session. Twelve horses have been added to the Open Session, which gets underway...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-SA, $55K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 3:30 p.m. ET Trainer Bob Baffert unveils two more members of his extremely well-stocked stable in the form of a pair of pricey OBS acquisitions. Merneith (American Pharoah) was a $350,000 Fasig-Tipton November weanling turned $600,000 OBSMAR graduate after a :20 4/5 breeze in Ocala. Her dam Flattermewithroses (Flatter) became a stakes winner when breaking her maiden at 53-1 in the 2012 Voodoo Dancer S. over seven yielding turf furlongs at Belmont. Reem (Danza), a $74,000 Fasig-Tipton October...