OBS Spring Freshman Sires by Average Under Tack Times

Under tack shows at 2-year-olds in training sales are particularly important with freshman sires whose progeny have had limited opportunities to show what they can do at the racetrack.

At the four-day Ocala Breeders' Sales' Spring Sale that starts June 9 the progeny of 28 freshman sires will be offered and there are plenty of quick ones to be evaluated. These progeny include 24 that worked an eighth-mile in :10 or faster, with four that worked in under :10. Among those that worked a quarter-mile, 21 worked in :21 or less and included 11 that worked in under :21.

One blazing work is enough to get tongues wagging but BloodHorse MarketWatch decided to look at the average under tack times by freshman sires for both eighth-mile and quarter-mile works. Because the times posted by OBS are in fifths of a second, MarketWatch converted all the times to equivalent tenths of a second to make the averages easier to calculate. In the accompanying table, all sires represented by at least two runners at one of the distances are included. If a sire had only one runner at a distance then that result was excluded. For the purposes of analysis, the focus is on stallions that were represented by three or more runners at a distance.

Gainesway's grade 2 winner Anchor Down  has the lowest average of :10.1 among those that worked an eighth-mile. The son of Tapit  has three daughters that all worked in :10. They include Hip 734 out of the Harlan's Holiday mare Annies Law, Hip 969 out of the Broken Vow  mare Divine Vow, and Hip 1107 out of the Greek Sun mare Grecian Star. Anchor Down didn't start at 2 but showed plenty of speed during his career, winning the Kelso Handicap (G2) and Westchester Stakes (G3) and finishing second in Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap (G1), all at a mile.

Taylor Made Stallions' Not This Time , currently the leading freshman sire with two winners, is second-leading freshman by the eighth-mile average at :10.2 from 12 to work at this distance. His fastest sale prospect is Hip 869, a filly out of the Gold Fever mare Chilling Effect that worked in :09.4 during the June 4 under tack show. The sire is represented by two others that worked in :10—Hip 953, a colt out of the Tapit mare Delightful Melody, and Hip 1283, a colt out of the Put It Back mare Business Decision.

Not This Time, a son of Giant's Causeway, found success at 2 by winning the Iroquois Stakes (G3) in his third start and finished his juvenile campaign with a second in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) to Classic Empire . He came out of the Breeders' Cup with a soft tissue injury to his right front leg that ended his racing career.

At a quarter-mile, Claiborne Farm's champion sprinter Runhappy  has the lowest average of :21.1 from four to work. Runhappy's quickest runner at this distance is Hip 1266, a colt named Happymac who is out of the Is It True mare True Kiss, who worked in :20.6. Runhappy, a son of Super Saver , won three grade 1 stakes at six and seven furlongs, including the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), NYRA.com King's Bishop Stakes (G1), and Malibu Stakes (G1).

Taylor Made has another freshman sire among the leaders by quickest average time in Mshawish , who has a :21.1 average from three to work. The sire's fastest sale prospect is Hip 512, a filly out of the Malibu Moon mare Starship Luna that worked June 2 in :20.8. Mshawish's progeny could show some versatility considering he won grade 1s on dirt and turf, having captured the 2015 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1T) and the 2016 Donn Handicap (G1) on Gulfstream Park's main track. Mshawish is a son of Medaglia d'Oro .

Of course, we'd be remiss if we did not mention that under tack times don't give the whole picture of a horse's potential as a racehorse. Last year's OBS Spring sale offered a colt by Mr Speaker  out of the Successful Appeal mare Appeal to the Win. The colt worked in :22 and was a $25,000 buy-back and later bought privately by Alfonso Cammarota. Named Mr Phil and trained by Jim Ryerson, the colt went on to win or place six times out of nine starts and has earned $99,650 so far. This same sale also sold a son of Bernardini  who worked in :21.4 and trainer Jeremiah O'Dwyer bought for $50,000. The colt named Skyscanner went on to be runner-up in last year's Sapling Stakes.