Grassroots Training and Sales

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - Without a breakout horse and numerous outs, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training dutifully marched through its paces Thursday, with a colt by Nyquist attracting the session's highest price of $550,000 late in the day. Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, bidding on behalf of Zedan Racing Stable, signed the ticket on the session topper for the third straight day. From a catalogue of 302 horses, just 187 went through the ring Thursday and the session, which started...

A colt by No Nay Never (hip 332) turned in the fastest quarter-mile work of the second session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Monday in Central Florida, covering the distance in :20 4/5. The juvenile was the first of three from an initial pinhooking group owned by Houston Astros third-baseman Alex Bregman to hit the OBS track ahead of next week's auction. Bregman Family Racing made its debut on the racetrack a winning one just last May when the...

TIMONIUM, MD - The final session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale under-tack show, delayed an hour by overnight rains, concluded with 11 juveniles sharing the fastest furlong time of :10 flat, while a filly by Violence turned in the day's fastest quarter-mile work of :21 1/5 Thursday in Timonium. The Top Line Sales consignment was responsible for three of the furlong bullet workers Thursday, including a pair of fillies by freshman sire Sharp Azteca. A filly by Speightster (hip 484) was first to hit the :10 flat...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds, which had already surpassed its record gross during Thursday's penultimate session, powered straight through to the finish Friday, concluding with new highwater marks for average and median, as well as gross. At the end of four days of selling, 707 head had grossed $91,984,000. The previous record gross, set just last year, was $73,907,900. The average of $130,105 and median of $65,000 were well ahead of previous marks of $108,903 and $60,000,...

David McKathan's Grassroots Training & Sales had their fourth bullet worker so far when a Jimmy Creed filly (Hip 939) was one of five juveniles to breeze in :9 4/5 Friday during the sixth session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale under-tack show. Hip 939 is one of three :9 4/5 workers for Grassroots this week with the others being a Tapiture filly (Hip 87) (video) and a Macho Uno colt (Hip 674) (video). McKathan also had a :9 3/5 breezer in Hip 346, a daughter of Street...

A filly by War Front (hip 276) zipped a quarter-mile in a bullet :20 1/5, while a daughter of Street Boss (hip 346) claimed the fastest furlong work of :9 3/5 during the second session of the under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Monday in Central Florida. Hip 276 is consigned by Eddie Woods on behalf of her breeder, Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holding. "We were expecting her to be quick, but we didn't know she was that quick," International Equities...

The under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, delayed a day by Sunday's stormy weather, got underway Monday in Central Florida with 13 juveniles sharing the bullet furlong time of :10 flat and a filly by Violence turning in the day's fastest quarter-mile breeze. Eddie Woods consigns hip 107, a daughter of Violence out of the unraced Royal Paradise (Unbridled's Song). The bay filly claimed the session's quarter-mile bullet time of :20 3/5. "I was expecting a good work for her," Woods...

The six-session under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's July 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale began Monday and, with temperatures quickly rising into the upper 80's, the day's last of three sets was twice delayed as fierce rainstorms swept through the area. A filly by Shackleford (hip 15), working early in the day's first set, turned in the session's fastest quarter-mile time of :20 4/5. Consigned by Jesse Hoppel's Coastal Equine, the bay filly is out of Peace Queen (Indian Charlie), a half-sister to multiple graded...

A colt by Chitu (hip 297) turned in the fastest quarter-mile breeze of Thursday's fifth under-tack preview for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training when covering the distance in :20 3/5 for Kenny Davis and Sherry Mansfield's Hawk's Nest. The youngster, one of three juveniles consigned to the auction by the couple, was purchased by Davis and partner Gary Logsdon for $48,000 at last year's OBS October sale. "When I bought him as a yearling, I figured he could do it," Davis said from...

A filly by Not This Time, mirroring the quick start of her freshman sire's progeny on the racetrack, claimed the fastest quarter-mile breeze time of the week so far when covering the distance in :20 1/5 during Monday's second under-tack preview ahead of next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Consigned by Top Line Sales, hip 1254 is out of graded stakes winner Sheza Smoke Show (Wilko). "When we led her up there, we knew she would go fast, but we had no idea she...