By Jessica Martini
A colt by Not This Time (hip 654) equaled the fastest-furlong time of the week when covering the distance in :9 3/5 during the final session of the under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Friday in Central Florida.
The chestnut colt is consigned by trainer Gerard Ochoa's GOP Racing Stable.
“I was hoping for a :9 4/5,” Ochoa said through an interpreter Friday. “I wasn't expecting a :9 3/5. So, of course, I was very, very happy with the work.”
Ochoa purchased the Iowa-bred, who is out of multiple stakes winner Meadow Bride (Runaway Groom), for $50,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
“Of course the pedigree was a good thing,” Ochoa said of the colt's appeal last fall. “I paid attention to that, but also I liked the conformation.”
In addition to Friday's bullet worker, GOP was also represented by a trio of juveniles who worked the week's second fastest furlong time of :9 4/5.
“I am very happy with this week's results,” Ochoa said. “These horses have been working for months and these results couldn't have happened without the work of the whole team.”
GOP Racing Stable has 18 horses slated to sell at next week's OBS sale, none of the group was purchased for more than $55,000 last year.
“Last year when I was planning to buy, I was looking for very good horses who would train on well and would sell well this year,” Ochoa said.
Ochoa has been consigning under the GOP Racing Stable banner since 2018. His 2022 March consignment was led by Hard to Figure (Hard Spun), a $40,000 Keeneland September purchase who sold for $200,000. Trained by Bob Baffert on behalf of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, the sophomore was a narrowly beaten runner-up in the Feb. 4 GIII Robert B. Lewis S.
Asked if he had another graded stakes performer in his 2023 consignment, Ochoa said, “It could be similar,” before quickly adding, “Or it might be even better.”
A filly from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Enticed (hip 631) equaled the week's fastest quarter-mile time when she worked in :20 3/5 Friday for Omar Ramirez Bloodstock. The gray filly is out of Love's Illusion (Tapit), a half-sister to graded winner Unchained Melody (Smart Strike) and the dam of stakes-placed J C's a Legend (Lea).
The OBS March sale will be held next Monday through Wednesday with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m.
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