Eddie Woods

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - While it took some time to find its stride, the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training gained momentum throughout the day and concluded with figures in line with the first session of its record-setting 2023 renewal. "I thought it was a good day," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "A good horse sells well and I thought we had a lot of nice horses today. Holding true to last year, that's a...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, with 1208 catalogued offerings, begins its four-day run Tuesday morning. Bidding begins at noon during the auction's first session. "I anticipate it being a good sale," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "We've got a lot of people here. The under-tack show was well-attended and the interest that we are getting is high. Certainly, the April sale is the go-to sale of the year." The size of the Spring sale's catalogue helps attract a diverse buying bench, Wojciechowski...

A filly from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner McKinzie (hip 1143) equaled the fastest quarter-mile work of the seven-session under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training when covering the distance in :20 1/5 Sunday in Central Florida. The juvenile is consigned by Eddie Woods on behalf of breeders Brent and Beth Harris. "We expected her to work well," Woods said. "I'm not going to say I thought she would go in :20 1/5. That would be ridiculous. But she really...

A filly from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Tiz the Law (hip 365) tied the track record when working a quarter-mile in :20 1/5 during the third session of the under-tack preview for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, while 17 juveniles shared the session's fastest furlong time of :9 4/5, Tuesday in Central Florida. "It was pretty special," consignor Tom McCrocklin said of the bullet quarter-mile work. "I have one disability that keeps me knowing that one will go that fast...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - With a pair of colts topping the seven-figure mark, the tempo picked up during the second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Wednesday. With 144 horses sold Wednesday for $25,488,000, the session average was $177,000--up 6.2% from last year's corresponding session--and the median of $87,500 declined 2.8% from a year ago. The buy-back rate was 31.8%. "I thought it was a very good session," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "It felt like...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, the first of the spring's juvenile auctions, kicks off Tuesday with bidding on the first of 853 catalogued lots beginning at 11 a.m. The OBS March sale, which transitioned from a select to an open sale in 2015, was held over three days for the first time since 2014 in 2023 and again returns in that expanded format in 2024 after a power-packed renewal a year ago. "I was really impressed by the number of people who were here watching...

An Ocala Stud-bred and -consigned filly from the first crop of GI Forego S. winner Win Win Win (Hat Trick {Jpn}) equaled the record time for a quarter-mile breeze over the SafeTrack surface at the OBS sales grounds, covering the distance in :20 1/5 during the fourth and final preview for next week's OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds In Training. "It wasn't a real surprise," said Ocala Stud's David O'Farrell. "She prepped very well last week, did it very easily and she's just a really, really good filly. She's got...

A total of 15 juveniles shared the bullet :9 4/5 furlong work time during the second session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale Thursday in Central Florida. Three of the bullet workers came from the Wavertree Stables consignment: a filly by Nyquist (hip 304) out of High Heeled Girl (Malibu Moon); a filly by American Freedom (hip 400) out of Limitless (Discreet Cat); and a colt by Shancelot (hip 421) out of Magnolias in Bloom (Flatter). Wavertree also had a McKinzie...

A son of two fan-favorite Hall of Famers, the impeccably-bred colt by champion Curlin and out of champion Beholder was sure to bring the house down when he entered the ring this summer at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and the striking chestnut did not disappoint as the hammer dropped at $4 million to Donato Lanni on behalf of Zedan Racing, making the Spendthrift-bred, Taylor Made-consigned colt the highest-priced horse to sell at Saratoga in over two decades. Since then, the youngster's pedigree has grown even more impressive as his elder...

The stable name traces to a ranch they once owned in the Oregon outback: "Bar C" was how they branded their cattle. But while Neal and Pam Christopherson are proud of their home state, and have achieved a great deal there, even they couldn't make horses pay in those gulch-carved scrublands, under those huge empty skies. "Telocaset, Union, Oregon," Neal says. "Snows an inch, drifts 10 feet. Cold country." But horses are tough, no? "Well, they are," replies Neal. "But we lost a heck of a nice Quarter Horse colt...

Midnight Lute gave a masterclass in devastating closing speed in his back-to-back Breeders' Cup Sprint wins, with his 4 3/4-length score in 2007 an eye-popping performance visually and his 1:07.08 time in 2008 still holding the Sprint record. Veteran yearling-to-juvenile reseller Eddie Woods broke the champion, who was a $290,000 RNA at OBS March in 2005 as a 2-year-old. "He was a wonderfully big, good-looking black horse," said Woods. "Tom McGreevy bought him to pinhook him to OBS. It's shameful to say for a champion sprinter, but he didn't work...

Under his Quarter Pole Enterprises banner, noted yearling-to-juvenile reseller Eddie Woods signed for the two top horses during Wednesday's second and final session of the OBS October Sale in Central Florida. The veteran horseman paid $250,000 for a colt by promising young sire Mitole about a third of the way through the session and hung around to the bitter end, when he gave $150,000 for a colt from the first crop of Global Campaign (Curlin). The topper was the most-expensive at the October Sale since 2018, when a colt by...