By Jessica Martini
Brittany Updike has been consigning under her Afleet Equine Services banner for five years now, but will offer her biggest group to date when she brings an 18-horse consignment to next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's October Yearling Sale.
A native Floridian, Updike is no stranger to major consignments. She's worked the 2-year-old sales for Torie and Jimbo Gladwell's Top Line Sales.
“I started doing MagnaWave therapy,” Updike explained of her introduction to the sales scene. “I was working on Torie and Jimbo's horses and it turned into, 'Oh, you want to help us out at the sales?' 'Do you want to help us out at the farm?' To all of that over that years.”
The opportunity to hang out her own shingle came up when Top Line stepped out of the yearling consignment business.
“I love working for Torie and Jimbo, so when they stopped doing the yearlings, I thought it was perfect,” Updike said. “I decided that was something I wanted to do. But I could still do the 2-year-old consignment with them. They have taught me a lot and have helped me in a lot of ways. They have been super supportive and they have helped guide me over the years.”
Afleet Equine Services made its first appearance at OBS in 2019, debuting with a three-horse consignment that October. It had its biggest consignment with 10 horses last year–and its first six-figure result with a $125,000 daughter of Vekoma–before nearly doubling in size this year.
“Over the years, I have had some nice horses sell pretty well and this year, I definitely have more than I have had,” Updike said. “I have nice clients that have really helped me along the way and supported me, so I have a couple repeat customers, and then I have some clients that bought some in Kentucky in the September sale and their plan was to flip them here in October. So [the consignment] started smaller and then last minute, it just doubled.”
Updike said her experience working with Top Line's 2-year-old consignments has prepared her for this year's expanded October group.
“I am very hard on myself, in terms of I really want to make everybody happy,” she admitted. “I really want to do the best job, whether I have one horse or 100 horses. My goal is to give every horse–from a $1,000 horse to a $200,000 horse–the same care. So I do put a little stress on myself with that many because it's just me. But luckily, I do have experience in handling 50 and 60 2-year-olds, so I don't think it will be too hard.”
Updike, whose aunt is involved with Quarter Horse racing in Oklahoma, is just back from a stint with consignor Scott Mallory at the 12-day Keeneland September Yearling Sale. While she enjoyed the experience, she's planning on keeping her consignment at home in Ocala. For now.
“I actually went to Kentucky for the first time this year,” Updike said. “I went to July and September and I worked for Scott Mallory. July was fine. July was easy. Keeneland is a different kind of sale. It really is. I don't feel like I would be comfortable going up there on my own just yet. Maybe in the future, I would. Right now, I really love OBS. It's home. I'm a small Florida breeder myself. I have a couple of mares. And I like selling in Florida. Obviously, the end goal is to be in Kentucky at some point. But I don't see that for a few more years.”
Among the Afleet Equine consignment at the October sale are yearlings who have already been through the ring this summer. Supplemented to the OBS sale are: hip 274, a colt by Omaha Beach who was purchased for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale in August; hip 288, a colt by Volatile purchased for $10,000 at Keeneland; and hip 591, a colt by Instagrand who also sold for $10,000 at Keeneland.
“Sometimes when they come from Kentucky and there are a bunch of horses up there, the ones that are average up there get overlooked,” Updike said. “So they can come down here and do really well. I think that's what is nice about OBS. You can take a horse that might be overlooked with thousands of horses and bring them here and they can do well.”
After witnessing first hand the competitive marketplace at Keeneland last month, Updike is hoping the demand continues in Ocala next week.
“What I am hoping is that people still need horses,” she said. “I have some nice horses and some very active families. A lot of my horses have updates already and I am getting calls back that X-rays are going great. I have a nice group of horses to offer at OBS and I feel like people who still need horses who got shut out a bunch in Kentucky will be able to come to OBS and find nice horses.”
The OBS October Yearling sale will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday. Sessions begin each day at 11:30 a.m.
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