By Jessica Martini
A colt by Lemon Drop Kid and a filly by Majesticperfection turned in the fastest furlong works and fillies by The Big Beast and Liam's Map shared the fastest quarter-mile time during Wednesday's fourth under-tack preview for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Randy Miles sent a son of Lemon Drop Kid (hip 701) out to work a furlong in :9 4/5 Wednesday in Ocala. The gray colt is a half-brother to stakes placed La Dame Blanche (Point of Entry). His unraced dam Adjudication (Giant's Causeway) is a daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Criminologist (Maria's Mon) and a half-sister to multiple graded winner Inspector Lynley (Lemon Drop Kid).
“We were expecting something good, but you never expect a :9 4/5,” Miles said. “I was in the back chute when he did his breeze and I could see all the way across the track that he was just running. He took off and he was happy to do it. You wouldn't expect a Lemon Drop Kid out of a Giant's Causeway mare to be your bullet of the day, but he's a very attractive, racy-looking colt.”
The juvenile was purchased as part of Miles's Royal Flush pinhooking partnership for $85,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
“When I saw him at Keeneland when we bought him as a yearling, he was my favorite of all of our purchases,” Miles said. “So I was very excited to get him. And he never let us down, not one day. He's always been a very attractive horse. He's always trained very well and he didn't let us down.”
Hip 701 was the second to hit the :9 4/5 mark for Miles. The consignor sent out a filly by Munnings (hip 318) to work in :9 4/5 Monday.
“We love her, but she's supposed to do that,” Miles said of the filly. “She is built like that. She is built like a sprinter and she's always been fast. We were expecting that. We even took her in the third set that day, so you can see how much confidence we had in her. She has the temperament of a pony. She's the quietest one in the barn, but boy when you ask her to go, she just goes. She's the barn favorite.”
While the Munnings filly worked in the final set Monday, Miles said he thinks the OBS track tends to be slower later in the day.
“If you take a fast horse, they go plenty fast and stay true to their form,” he said. “But the horses that need a little help, it hurts them. I have noticed just watching horses gallop out, they look like they are more tired than usual. I don't think it's the heat. I think the track later in the day pulls them down. It gets a little sticky later in the day.”
Miles said he has been inundated by people looking at horses following the breeze show each day.
“We were not prepared for the activity. When they showed me the amount of cards we had yesterday, I was really shocked,” he said. “It's great. It's not a complaint. It's nice to see. You sleep good at night with all of the activity around the barns. I hope these guys aren't just going through the motions. I hope they really have orders to fill.”
A daughter of Majesticperfection (hip 634) shared Wednesday's :9 4/5 bullet time. Consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, the bay filly is out of Very Few Details (Great Notion), a full-sister to stakes-placed Details R Sketchy. The juvenile was purchased by Dunne's Waves Bloodstock pinhooking partnership for $70,000 at last year's inaugural Fasig-Tipton California Yearlings Sale.
A filly by Into Mischief owns the fastest furlong work of the preview so far, covering the distance in :9 3/5 Tuesday. Through four sessions of the under-tack preview, seven horses have worked the furlong in :9 4/5
A filly from the second crop of The Big Beast (hip 558) shared Wednesday's quarter-mile bullet time of :20 4/5. Bred and consigned by Ocala Stud, the bay filly is out of stakes-placed Take Me to Zuber (Toccet).
“We expected her to breeze very well, but you never know until you get down to it,” said Ocala Stud's David O'Farrell. “We are very ecstatic with the breeze, she looked good doing it and she came back good.”
Among the fillies in The Big Beast's first crop to race are Grade I placed Inspiressa, stakes winner Hear My Prayer and the talented Up in Smoke.
“I think she is similar,” O'Farrell said when asked to compare hip 558 with other well-regarded fillies by the Ocala Stud stallion. “She is very athletic. She is a medium-sized filly, but just has a lot of quality about her. I think she is typier than some of the other ones we've had, but she is just a solid filly.”
O'Farrell sees plenty of upside to The Big Beast, who won the 2014 GI King's Bishop S.
“I think he's done really well,” O'Farrell said. “He wasn't a 2-year-old himself per se, so I think they are going to be better as 3-year-olds and going on. I think it's a bonus that they performed well at the 2-year-old sales, but I think they are able to carry their speed a little bit from what we've seen with his first crop. I think the best is yet to come with him.”
Ocala Stud is offering the first 2-year-olds by its resident Jess's Dream next week at OBS. The regally bred freshman stallion is by Curlin out of champion Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro).
“We have one that works on the last day (hip 1150) that we love,” O'Farrell said of his offerings by the stallion. “And we have another filly that we really love that is unfortunately going to miss the sale due to a minor setback. But the ones that we have tend to have a little more quickness than I anticipated. I think he's a horse that they are not going to be really designed for quarter-mile or eighth-of-a-mile breezes. They are going to want to go a route of ground, I believe. But the ones that we have are showing some early speed and I think that's kind of exciting because I wasn't really expecting it. I am very hopeful, given Jess's Dream's pedigree, that they can certainly show some of the quality that's in the pedigree line.”
After all the disruptions to the sales season, O'Farrell is excited to see things returning to normal around the industry.
“I am optimistic about the sale,” he said. “I think the breeze show has gone on very well. I think it's been very well attended. People seem upbeat and back in the routine. I think people are starting to relax a little bit. We will see if the money shows up and how well the market can sustain this. But I want to be optimistic. I am happy with how the week has gone so far.”
Also working in :20 4/5 Wednesday was hip 1275, a filly by Liam's Map consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds. She is a half-sister to stakes winner Our Caravan (Daaher). Her unraced dam Alwaan (Elusive Quality) is a daughter of multiple Grade I winner Jersey Girl (Belong to Me) and a half-sister to Grade I winner Jersey Town (Speightstown). She was purchased by Hoby Kight for $130,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale and had been catalogued in the canceled Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale.
A filly by Not This Time owns the fastest quarter-mile time of the breeze show so far, covering the distance in :20 1/5 Monday. Four juveniles have worked in :20 3/5 and 15 have gone in :20 4/5.
The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 7:30 a.m. The Spring Sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday with bidding commencing each day at 10 a.m.
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