Ocala Breeders' Sales Company

The catalogue for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale is now online at www.obssales.com. The two-day auction will be held Jan. 26 and 27 and supplemental entries will be taken until Jan. 13. Tuesday's Consignor Preferred Session of the sale begins at 10:30 a.m. and will include hips one through 177. The Horses of Racing Session, catalogued as hips 251 through 345, begins immediately following the conclusion of the Preferred Session. The Open Session, with hip numbers 451 through 789, is set for Wednesday, Jan. 27 and will...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2-year-old sales attract all the heavyweights in the business, people who are ready to spend millions and have proven records of picking out future stars. Then there is Mark Schwartz. Schwartz arrived at this year's OBS Spring sale with a modest budget and ready to buy a horse at a sale for the first time. A Brooklyn-born retiree living in Florida, he knew the odds were not in his favor. "I did my research, but this was kind of like playing the lottery," he said....

A colt from the first crop of California-based stallion Danzing Candy topped the open yearling session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's October sale on a $115,000 bid from agent Donato Lanni. Overall numbers held up reasonably well compared to last year, especially considering the current economic pressures brought about by COVID-19. After 2-year-olds, horses of racing age and selected yearlings sold Tuesday, Wednesday's open session saw 256 yearlings bring a combined $2,859,400 at an average of $11,170 (down 11.1% year over year) and median of $8,000 (unchanged). The RNA...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's October Sale opened its two-day run Tuesday with an offering of 2-year-olds and selected yearlings and the polarized demand that has come to define the market in recent years accentuated by all the uncertainties of the global pandemic. A filly by Not This Time brought the session's highest price when selling for $225,000 to Tonja Terranova from the consignment of Lisa McGreevy's Abbie Road Farm. The yearling was one of two to sell for $200,000 or over. Eight yearlings sold for six figures during the...

A filly by Speightster turned in the fastest furlong work of Sunday's under-tack show ahead of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's October Sale. The juvenile (hip 50), consigned by Julie Davies, covered the distance in :10 1/5. She is out of Bern Legacy (Bernstein), a half-sister to graded placed Centrique (Malibu Moon). A $55,000 Keeneland November purchase, the bay filly RNA'd for $70,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale. Three 2-year-olds shared the day's fastest quarter-mile work: a filly by Candy Ride (Arg) (hip 2, :21 1/5) consigned by Top...

The supplemental catalogue for the Oct. 13-14 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2020 October Sale is now available online. It will also be available in printed form at OBS on or about Wednesday, Oct. 7. Three 2-year-olds and two horses of racing age have been added to the two-day sale and will sell as Hip No.'s 55-59. Twenty-seven yearlings have been supplemented to the Selected Yearling portion and will sell as Hip No.'s 243-269. In addition, 28 horses have been added to the Open Yearling Sale, selling as Hip No.'s 694-721....

With pandemic-induced travel restrictions and crowd-size limitations nipping at its heels, the Thoroughbred auction scene finally made its debut on the internet this year, first with the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale in June and most recently with the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The company tasked with helping both OBS and Keeneland offer their buyers the opportunity to bid online was Xcira Global Technologies. Founded by Gary and Nancy Rabenold, the Florida-based company helps facilitate online auctions across the globe in industries as diverse as art, livestock and automobiles....

Gerry Sandin, who grew up near Bay Meadows Racetrack and played Little League with future trainer Bill Morey, always knew he wanted to own racehorses one day. The California native finally made the dream a reality when he purchased a son of Curlin at the OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale this year and he was cheering the colt on from his Bay Area home when Pico d'Oro became his first winner while breaking his maiden in stakes company in the Runhappy Juvenile S. at Ellis Park Sunday. "That was...

A reshuffled and rearranged juvenile sales season like no other came to a conclusion with the final session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's July 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale Thursday and, with a market left shaken by the fallout of the ongoing global pandemic, numbers were predictably down at the three-day auction. "Certainly the numbers were off comparatively, but it's hard to compare this to other years with so much that has gone on," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said. "There were some bright spots...

A colt by Distorted Humor, supplemented to the OBS July sale, sold for $700,000 to bloodstock agent Jacob West late in Thursday's final session of the three-day auction. Out of Tizacity (Tizway), the juvenile was consigned by McKathan Bros. and was purchased by Kevin McKathan for $165,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale. Co-breeder Matt Lyons purchased Tizacity for $5,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton February sale.

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's July 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age sale, the last of the company's traditional three juvenile auctions which this year have all been billowed and buffeted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, gets underway Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. OBS staged its March sale  just as the pandemic was causing mass shutdowns and economic upheaval across the globe and, at the close of business, the two-day auction had suffered across-the-board declines and a buy-back rate of 40%. The OBS Spring Sale, pushed from its normal April...

A colt by Laoban work the co-fastest furlong of the week Sunday during the sixth and final session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's July 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale under-tack show. The session, originally scheduled for Saturday, was delayed a day after lightning damaged the track's timing equipment. From the first crop of GII Jim Dandy S. winner Laoban (Uncle Mo), hip 983 was the second juvenile to work the furlong in :9 4/5 during the under-tack show. Out of One Look (Henny Hughes), the bay is...