By Alan Carasso
The Ocala Breeders Sales Company stages its major yearling sale in the month of October for the second time beginning at the noon hour Tuesday in Central Florida, with a total of 789 cataloged. The sale begins with a session of 213 selected yearlings followed by two open sessions Wednesday and Thursday. Given the results from the year's previous auctions, no one could blame sales officials for taking a bullish stance as it relates to their expectations.
“We feel really good about the catalogue we've put together, the state of the market looks good right now and we're excited for a good sale,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “There is a good mix of sires from all over the country, not just Florida. There's a good representation of the industry as far as the sire power. We think we've put together a pretty good catalogue this year.”
Indeed, there are a pair of offerings from the first crop of Triple Crown hero American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), which has played to rave reviews from Hokkaido to Saratoga and from Deauville to Lexington. Hip 144 is a New York-bred son of My Dixie Doodle (Dixie Union) from the family of the treble New York-bred Grade I winner Affirmed Success (Affirmed), while hip 192 is a filly out of Toast to Ashley (First Defence) whose third dam includes Pioneerof the Nile himself.
Other Kentucky-based stallions represented in the catalogue include Animal Kingdom, Awesome Again, Congrats, leading first-crop sire Goldencents, the latter's sire Into Mischief, Kitten's Joy, Lookin at Lucky, More Than Ready and Shackleford. The sales calendar at OBS always caters to its Florida-based clientele, and Ocala-area stallions represented in the catalogue include Adios Charlie, Big Drama, First Dude, He's Had Enough, Khozan, Poseidon's Warrior, Soldat, The Big Beast, Two Step Salsa and Uncaptured. Kantharos was relocated from Florida to Kentucky in late 2016, but he is well-represented in the catalogue with 19 yearlings, the bulk of which were bred in the Sunshine State. Kantharos is set to be represented in the Breeders' Cup by Bucchero in the Turf Sprint and possibly X Y Jet in the Sprint.
Wojciechowski is only too pleased that the October sale takes place less than four weeks from racing's championship day, and OBS grads like Mind Your Biscuits (Posse), Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), Stormy Liberal (Stormy Atlantic) and blue-collar Discreet Lover (Repent) and the aforementioned Bucchero are all set to feature prominently at Churchill on the first Friday and Saturday of November.
“We have been on a streak and it's a streak that's only possible because consignors bring us good horses,” Wojciechowski said. “We are fortunate to have those good horses that can then go on and prove themselves on a stage like the Breeders' Cup. We look forward to that every year.”
A total of 405 horses were reported as sold in 2017 for gross receipts of $8,120,000, an average of $20,051. John Oxley purchased last year's sale's topper, a $275,000 colt by Violence–Frank's Hope (Pulpit) now named Strike Silver, who won his maiden at first asking at Churchill this past June and missed by a neck in second GIII Sanford S. Strike Silver went on to notch a rallying victory in Sunday's Indian Summer S. at Keeneland. Oxley was also the high bidder on $170,000 open session topper Catherinethegreat (Uncaptured), who has gone on to win the GIII Schuylerville S. this year.
For the full catalogue, visit www.obssales.com.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
