Upstart

by Steve Sherack & Brian DiDonato With the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping below 20,000 as the stock market continues to plummet, it was no surprise that the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its two-day run with sharp, across-the-board decreases as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to wreak havoc throughout the world. This year's two-day sale grossed $27,902,500, good for an average of $95,885 (-34%), a median of $50,000 (-38%) and an RNA rate of 40%. The 2019 auction, held under dramatically different circumstances, grossed $44,422,500,...

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan went to $600,000 to secure a colt from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Upstart (Flatter) during Wednesday's second session of the OBS March sale. The bay colt is out of Blue Beryl (Bernstein), a half-sister to multiple graded placed Brigand (Flatter). He was consigned by Woodford Thoroughbreds, which purchased him for $220,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale. The colt is the sixth six-figure juvenile for Upstart at the two-day March sale.

Through the first three installments of this series, we've repeatedly complained about ever-more manic investment in unproven stallions and the resulting potential for chronic deterioration in the gene pool. So we won't reprise the theme today, other than to remark that this situation creates a rather more immediate and specific challenge for the next group under review. Because while second- and third-season stallions can still offer breeders the possibility of riding an early vogue, this lot have just been exposed to the judgment of the yearling market--which history reveals to...