by Christie DeBernardis & Jessica Martini
A filly by freshman sire Not This Time topped Wednesday's session of the Ocala Breeders Sales Company's Spring Sale at $1.35-million and the young Taylor Made stallion came out on top once again Thursday with one of his son's bringing the day's highest price of $700,000. Consigned by Randy Bradshaw, Hip 1283 was purchased by Donato Lanni on behalf of owner Michael Lund Petersen. Like the toppers from the first two days, Hip 1283 was originally slated for Fasig-Tipton's Gulfstream Sale.
“[The market has] been very spotty,” Bradshaw said. “It's been that way for a long time, but even more so at this sale. We just need to get the confidence back, get the stock market back and all of that stuff. The horse business is going to be just fine. One thing about horsepeople is that we are optimistic and if you give us a shot, we'll go out and buy a horse and keep it going.”
A total of 149 juveniles changed hands Thursday for gross receipts of $10,748,500 compared to last year when 170 horses brought $17,968,500. The average decreased from $105,697 last year to $72,138 this season and the median was also down from $58,500 to $40,000.
“Another day of trade, some nice horses sold and there are some nice horses still left to sell,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “You can't really compare it to last year because we are in uncharted waters, but it has picked up a little each day.”
Over the first three days of selling, 452 juveniles have sold for $39,550,000 with an average of $87,500 and a median of $50,000. At the conclusion of the third session last term, 519 2-year-olds had summoned $56,217,000 for an average of $108,318 and a median of $65,000.
Bloodstock agent Steve Young has signed the ticket on four juveniles thus far, including two colts Thursday. He said that bidding was still competitive on the top horses.
“I think there is a lot of competition for the good-looking, quick horses with good mechanics that pass the vet,” said Young. “I think that for the horses that are perceived to be a tick under that, it gets dicey. It is the same way it's been for a while. It doesn't mean the non-elite horses aren't good horses. I think when you like a horse and go up to the ring to buy it, there is someone up there waiting for you.”
Tonja Terranova, wife of New York-based trainer John Terranova, made just one purchase, but she made it count, going to $425,000 for a son of Quality Road (Hip 628). She expressed similar sentiments to other buyers earlier in the week about the lack of a middle market.
“The good horses have brought money,” Terranova said. “The middle market is a little bit weaker right now, but you still have to pay for the good horses. I think overall there are a lot of nice horses. You have to step up to get the good ones.”
The final session of the four-day OBS Spring Sale is Friday, starting at 10 a.m.
Not This Time on Top Again at OBS
Hot freshman sire Not This Time, represented by a $1.35-million filly in Ocala Wednesday, had the top lot of Thursday's session when bloodstock agent Donato Lanni made a final bid of $700,000 to acquire a colt (hip 1283) by the Taylor Made stallion on behalf of Michael Lund Petersen. The bay juvenile will be trained by Bob Baffert.
“Bob decided at the last minute to come to the sale with [son] Bode and his wife Jill and this was a horse that we both liked very much,” Lanni said. “He jumped through all the hoops. The hoops were high, as usual, but he did it all really well. He's a nice horse and hopefully we get lucky.”
Petersen has campaigned Grade I winner Mor Spirit (Eskendereya) and graded winner Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man). He is currently represented on the racetrack by 'TDN Rising Star' Gamine (Into Mischief). All were purchased as 2-year-olds by Lanni and trained by Baffert.
“He's a really good guy and he loves the game,” Lanni said of Petersen, who is a founder of Pandora Jewelry. “We've had some luck for the guy.”
Not This Time has already had two winners at the track and his stock has continued rising at OBS this week. Also Thursday, he had a filly bring $200,000 (hip 869) from Belladonna Racing.
“I never know what to expect–no one knows what to expect, but I am glad to see that there is a freshman sire out there that is throwing some precocious horses,” Lanni said of Not This Time's success.
Hip 1283, who worked a furlong last week in :10 flat, was consigned by Randy Bradshaw. He is out of Business Decision (Put It Back) and his second dam is graded stakes winner In Conference (Dayjur).
“We've been waiting to sell this horse all day,” Bradshaw said. “We knew he was special and we would probably get a good bit of money for him. And everything worked out.”
Bradshaw purchased the bay colt for $200,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton sale and his price tag Thursday matched the $700,000 Bradshaw sold subsequent Baffert trainee and GI Arkansas Derby winner Nadal (Blame) for at last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale.
“He was a big, athletic horse,” Bradshaw said of hip 1283. “He's probably 16.3 now, but for as big a horse as he is, he is as athletic as a horse gets. He's amazing. Like Nadal, same purchase price, same trainer, so hopefully we will have the same result.”
The colt sold in the Spring Sale's supplemental section and had originally been targeted for the Gulfstream sale.
“Thank goodness he didn't get any bigger,” Bradshaw said of the impact the delay had caused. “He's a bigger horse than I generally buy. So was Nadal, so maybe I need to start buying bigger horses. But he's just a special horse. I've never been around a horse that big who is that athletic.”
During Wednesday's second session of the OBS sale, Bradshaw sold a son of Empire Maker (hip 1258) for $700,000.
“We had a great day today and we sold the Empire Maker yesterday,” Bradshaw said. “And we have a Speightster (hip 1306) we are selling tomorrow that we really like. So if we can get a little lucky tomorrow, we are going to be golden.” @JessMartiniTDN
Quality Colt Headed to New York
A son of top sire Quality Road proved quite popular in Ocala Thursday and he will head to New York after Tonja Terranova, wife and right-hand to trainer John Terranova, signed the $425,000 ticket. She was acting as agent for an undisclosed client.
“We knew we were not going to get him cheap for sure, being a Quality Road with a nice page and good breeze,” Terranova said on her drive back to the airport to return to the Empire State. “We knew we were going to have to pay for him.”
Bred by Peter Blum Thoroughbreds, the colt, already named Original, is out of the unraced Empire Maker mare Unforgettable, a half-sister to GSWs Academy Award (Secretariat), Statuette (Pancho Villa) and Good Mood (Devil's Bag). A $250,000 FTKOCT purchase by Marc Tacher, Hip 628 breezed in :21 1/5 for the de Merics.
“He is a really well-balanced colt,” Terranova said. “He breezed really nice on the synthetic and we saw videos of him breezing on the dirt. I got here on Monday and just every day he was a cool customer. He never turned a hair. He came out and walked great every single day and went in the ring like a champ.”
–@CDeBernardisTDN
Another Marquee Year for Restrepo
It was always going to be hard for Ramiro Restrepo's Marquee Bloodstock to duplicate its right-out-of-gate pinhooking success of 2019–which included the blockbuster sale of future Grade I winner Structor (Palace Malice)–but the operation had another profitable year capped by the sale of a filly by No Nay Never (hip 710) for $430,000 to Team Casse at OBS Thursday. Restrepo was part of a partnership of American buyers who had purchased the filly for $148,000 at Arqana in 2018.
“I was overseas doing Tatts and Deauville winter for the first time last year,” Restrepo, whose family involvement in racing goes back five generations, explained. “I went on an exploratory mission just to see the market. I was there with a couple of other Americans, they are all sharp guys, they know the game and we all got together to buy the filly.”
The original plan was to offer the filly as a yearling at the American sales, but the team ultimately decided to give her extra time and she was sent to Jim and Torrie Gladwell's Top Line Sales to prepare for the juvenile sales.
“It wouldn't have done her justice to sell her as a yearling,” Restrepo said. “We chose Jimbo and Torrie, who some of the guys have had great luck with before. They are awesome people. I went to the farm two or three times over the winter and saw the progression of this filly and it was jaw dropping. It was like go-go gadget. It was so awesome to see how they brought her along. They did a monster job.”
Of Thursday's result, Restrepo said, “The group is thrilled. I give all the credit to my partners-they are great people, great friends. They are successful in this business and it was a cool result for all of us.”
Earlier in the week, Marquee Bloodstock sold a colt by Frosted (hip 96) for $185,000. The youngster was purchased with another partner for $80,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
In partnership with Joe Pickerrell of Pick View, Restrepo sold a Mineshaft colt (hip 54) for $150,000. He had been a $105,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling. At OBS March, the partners sold an Outwork colt for $125,000. He had been a $65,000 Fasig-Tipton October purchase.
Restrepo, who also serves as Fasig-Tipton's South Florida representative, had dabbled with pinhooks over the years before kicking off Marquee Bloodstock, a nod to his past life in the nightclub industry, last year. His first purchase under the new banner was a son of Palace Malice acquired for $160,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale. The colt resold to Mike Ryan at OBS last March for $160,000 and, named Structor, he went on to win the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.
“You have to give Joe all the credit,” Restrepo said of Structor's sale success. “The way he brought him along to peak for the sale was just magical and to have him breeze in such a professional and awesome manner with a dynamite gallop out was so exciting.”
Restrepo continues, “And then, all of a sudden, you start seeing every famous big name bloodstock agent that's had all this success and they are coming back to seem him over and over and over again. It validates all of the time that you put in looking for these yearlings when you are walking sales grounds for hours and hours trying to pick one out.”
As proud as he is of the sales ring success, Restrepo is clearly just as proud to see his sales graduates go on to success on the racetrack.
“I really want them to go on and become awesome race horses,” he said. “When something you pick out goes on to win, that's the Visa commercial. That's priceless. That's the validation as a horseman.”
Marquee sold four 2-year-olds this year, but Restrepo won't confine himself to any structure going forward.
“I never say this is going to be the price point or the number,” he said. “I do it by feel. You don't want to buy just to buy. If you only buy two, that's what you end up with. If you buy 10, you buy 10. I don't have a preconceived idea of how many we need to buy every year. You want to buy the right ones.”
And throughout it all is the common theme of teamwork and making the right connections.
“I'm a big believer in partnerships,” Restrepo said. “Joe Pickerrell has been my rock through all of this. He is my main consignor partner and partner in purchasing the horses with as well. We cruise the sales grounds together and whenever there is an interesting horse we kind of decide on the spot what kind of split we might want to do.”
He added, “Surround yourself with the right people and it shows you who you are. It's so important to partner up with people like Joe, Jimbo and Torrie. You need to combine forces in this game because it's so tough. This is such a hard game. There is strength in numbers.”
Restrepo concluded, “It's been a really cool two-year run. Hopefully these horses go on and do their thing.”
@JessMartiniTDN
Young Stays Busy at OBS
It was back to business as usual for Steve Young in Ocala this week. The bloodstock agent kept himself quite busy, purchasing four juveniles through the first three days of the OBS Spring Sale.
The former trainer picked up his first juvenile during the opening session, taking home a daughter of Street Boss (Hip 286) for $230,000. Bred by Calumet Farm, the :9 4/5 breezer was purchased by Grassroots Training & Sales for $37,000 as a KEESEP yearling. Her dam Pride of Place (A.P. Indy) is a full-sister to MGISW Flashing, dam of SW & MGSP Floodlight (Medaglia d'Oro).
“She is a very strong Street Boss filly out of an A.P. Indy mare from a good family,” Young said. “Her dam is a full-sister to a multiple Grade I winner in New York. She went :9 4/5 the right way. We were lucky to get her and I think she can really run.”
On day two, Young went to $250,000 for a Quality Road colt (Hip 575) from the Woodford Thoroughbreds consignment, which is having a very good sale. This was the William Humphries and Altair Farms-bred colt's second time in the Woodford consignment, having RNA'd for $225,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale last year. Breezing in :10 3/5, the bay is a half to stakes-placed Fashion Runaway (Old Fashioned) and Pronouncement (Declaration of War).
“He is a very good Quality Road colt,” Young said. “He got a slower than perfect run to the pole, breezing in :10 3/5 and he re-broke after the wire. He is a very fit horse. I usually don't buy horses by time, but this horse is very fit and the time is not indicative of his ability or his quickness. He is a very nice horse.”
Young snapped up two in quick succession Thursday, starting with a $330,000 Empire Maker colt (hip 826), who breezed in :10 1/5. Bred by Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holdings, the bay is out of a half-sister to MGSW & MGISP Protonico (Giant's Causeway). Gary Smith's English Range Farm purchased the colt for $85,000 at Keeneland September and he was consigned by Envision Equine here.
“He was a very good-moving, quick Empire Maker from a deep Sumaya, South American family,” Young said. “He is out of a half-sister to Protonico and the third dam was a Horse of the Year in Chile [Wild Spirit (Chi)], who came to America for Bobby Frankel. There is dirt and pace all through his page and he showed that on the racetrack.”
Young was back at it just three hips later, securing a son of More Than Ready (Hip 829) for $175,000. Bred and consigned by Ocala Stud, the :21 1/5 breezer is a half to champion Musical Romance (Concorde's Tune), MSW & MGSP Forevamo (Uncle Mo) and Vuelve Ruben M. (Concerto), a three-time champion in Puerto Rico following his import from the U.S.
“Once again, he was a horse that lit up the racetrack,” Young said. “He is a 16-hand More Than Ready from a tick older mare, but he does not look like an older mare's foal. He is an awfully well-bought horse at that price.”
Young was also connected to one of the top-priced hips on day two, a $700,000 colt by Empire Maker (Hip 1258). The horseman purchased the bay for an undisclosed client for $275,000 at KEESEP. –@CDeBernardisTDN
McGreevy Strikes for Breeze Easy
Tom McGreevy joined the team at Mike Hall and Sam Ross's Breeze Easy last month and is scouting sales horses for the operation for the first time this week in Ocala. Breeze Easy made its biggest purchase of the Spring Sale when going to $430,000 to acquire a filly by Curlin (hip 847) from the de Meric Sales consignment.
“Right now, the only thing we've done is put our hand up,” McGreevy said laughingly. “You'll have to call me back next year and we'll know how we did.”
The filly is out of Canadian champion Catch the Thrill (A.P. Indy) and is a half-sister to stakes placed Chic Thrill (Smart Strike). Her second dam is Canadian champion Catch the Ring (Seeking the Gold).
“She is a typical, Classic two-turn filly,” McGreevy said. “This is my first sale with Breeze Easy and that's what they want. She sure looks the part.”
McGreevy admitted the filly's final price was no surprise to the team.
“For a Curlin who looks like that, you've got to expect a price like that,” he said.
The filly was bred by Sam-Son Farm and was purchased by de Meric Sales for $180,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
Also this week, Breeze Easy purchased a filly by Midnight Lute (hip 266) for $150,000 and a colt by Hard Spun (hip 380) for $45,000.
“It's the same everywhere, I don't care what the sale is and what the economy is, the really good horses are going to sell good,” McGreevy said of the market. “That's not going to change.”
While McGreevy scouts the horses back at the barns, Hall and Ross are doing their bidding on the internet, an option offered for the first time at the sale this year.
“They are bidding on the internet,” McGreevy explained. “They send me back to the barns to find the horses. That's fine with me.” @JessMartiniTDN
A Pair of Fillies for Promenade
Bloodstock agent David Meah purchased a pair of fillies destined for the Promenade Bloodstock Wednesday in Ocala, although one of the juveniles never made it to the sales ring. Meah was in the back ring to bid on hip 353, but couldn't find the daughter of American Pharoah.
“I was in the back ring looking for her, I saw 354, 355 and I thought, 'What happened here,” Meah said with a laugh. “They didn't take her out of the sale until five minutes before. Literally I found out in the back ring that the horse wasn't coming in. But I saw Nick de I Meric and we worked a deal out.”
The bay filly, who worked a furlong in :10 3/5 last week, is a daughter of graded stakes winner Renee's Titan (Bernstein), a mare Meah knows well.
“I used to ride the mother for Doug O'Neill, Renee's Titan, so I knew the family and knew how tough and hardy that filly was,” Meah explained. “We liked that she looks like she could potentially get two turns and she had a bit of a turfy look about her, too. Which was kind of nice to see because obviously on the dam's side it's all dirt.”
Meah was back in action later to acquire an Irish-bred daughter of No Nay Never (hip 421) for $350,000 from the Top Line Sales consignment. Out of stakes-placed Seeking Solace (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), the filly is a full-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Ten Sovereigns (Ire).
“We loved her,” Meah said of the filly. “She is an absolute queen. We were delighted to get her for that. We were prepared to spend a little bit more, so we were very happy when the hammer came down at $350,000.”
While Meah was bidding in the U.S., his English-based partner in Meah/Lloyd Bloodstock, Jamie Lloyd, was coordinating with his Promenade Bloodstock clients.
“They are big clients of Jamie's,” Meah said of Promenade. “He has their mares, he foals them out. He does their breeding. He does everything for them. I just do the bidding over here for them.”
While both fillies were purchased to race, the long-term goal is for them to part of Promenade's broodmare band.
“These guys want to race, but at the end of the day, if they can win a Grade I, they are not selling them, they are going to breed out of them,” Meah said. “They want to put a strong broodmare band together. Their end game is to have good-pedigreed fillies to race and then once they are done, they will be breeding them.”
While Meah was adding to its potential broodmare band in Florida, Promenade was enjoying a trip to the winner's circle in England as the 3-year-old filly Ascraeus (GB) (Poet's Voice {GB}) broke her maiden for trainer Andrew Balding at Wolverhampton.
Meah agreed there were plenty of opportunities to buy quality at a discount this week in Ocala.
“I think there is a lot of value to be had here,” he said. “Thankfully I have a great team who have been short-listing and they have been here since the beginning of the breeze show. We have lots of notes on all of the horses. There is definitely value to be had if you are out there doing your homework.” @JessMartiniTDN
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