Laoban Colt Swift in OBS July Breeze Show Finale

A 2-year-old colt from the family of Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) hopeful King Guillermo breezed the fastest eighth-mile during the July 12 sixth and final session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales July 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale under tack show.

The final works were postponed a day due to lightning damage to the electronic timing equipment at the track during a storm in the Ocala, Fla., area late Friday.

"Fortunately, our crew really kind of rose to the occasion yesterday and were able to get the timing system operating," OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski said. "We weren't able to get the display board working on the infield, but we were able to get the electric timer working. Today went pretty smooth—just people getting used to hearing and having to listen for the time rather than looking up and seeing it on video."

Sunday's fastest worker at an eighth-mile is a son of Laoban  consigned by Jesse Hoppel's Coastal Equine as Hip 983. The colt breezed in :09 4/5, the co-fastest time throughout the whole week. 

"He should be fairly popular. He's a big robust horse," Hoppel said. "You can see a lot of his granddaddy's bloodlines coming through from the Laoban and on into him. He looks like an Uncle Mo , and he did very well. We're very pleased."

The bay was bred in New York by Spruce Lane, Built Wright, Lynn Farm, Will Robbins, and Copper Beach. He is the second foal out of the winning Henny Hughes mare One Look, a half sister to graded stakes-placed winners Before You Know It and Instant Reflex. His third dam, black-type winner Slow Down (Seattle Slew), produced Pat Day Mile Stakes Presented by LG and E and KU (G3) winner Funny Duck and is the second dam of King Guillermo, the winner of this year's Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and the runner-up in a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1).

The juvenile colt was purchased by Luis Franco for $3,000 from Hidden Brook's consignment to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale.

"Some of these colts you question whether or not they'll show up. A lot of times these fillies are more honest than the colts, and he's a colt that you can count on. He's there ready to go every time," Hoppel said.

A 2-year-old filly by Bahamian Squall  turned in the quickest quarter-mile Sunday. Consigned by McKathan Bros. Sales, agent, as Hip 1030, she breezed in :20 3/5, which was the third-fastest quarter-mile of the week.

"We were thinking she was going to breeze that or even better during the conditions," McKathan Training Center farm manager Chris Alexander said. "She's been good to us all year long and been just special. We always thought she was special."

The dark bay or brown filly was bred in Florida by Courtney Meagher out of the winning First Samurai  mare Up for Grabs. Her third dam, Love From Mom (Mr. Prospector), produced graded stakes winners Sea of Secrets, Love That Jazz—the dam of multiple grade 1 winner Society Selection—Fight for Love, and Dancing Jon. The family also includes multiple graded stakes winner Mom's On Strike.

Consigned by Beth Bayer at the OBS October Yearling Sale, the filly was purchased for $1,000 by Fernando Velasquez, whom Alexander said has worked for the McKathan operation about 20 years or so.

Two horses shared the co-fastest time of :33 for three-eighths of a mile Sunday. One was a 2-year-old Florida-bred Protonico  colt out of the Brilliant Speed mare Mongolian Changa. Consigned as Hip 938 by Whitman Sales, agent, he descends from the family of multiple grade 1 winner High Yield. The other was a 3-year-old Goldencents  filly named Chambers Creek, who raced once in 2019. Chambers Creek is consigned as Hip 992 by Bobby Dodd, agent. The Florida-bred is out of the Dunkirk mare Secret Song.

Wojciechowski noted with rain in and out of the Ocala area throughout the week and warmer temperatures in July, the synthetic track at OBS was an advantage.

"I thought the track was pretty fair all week long. Certainly, the track might be a little different, say, between the temperatures in March versus the temperatures in July. But as far as from Day 1 to Day 6, I don't think you could have asked it to play much more fair," he said. "That's kind of what the surface allows us to do. We breeze more horses than any other sales company in the world. We had a seven-day breeze show in the Spring Sale and a six-day breeze show for this sale, so that consistency means a lot to the horsemen."

Though the juvenile sales calendar has been shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with OBS pushing its Spring Sale normally held in April back to June and rescheduling the June Sale as the July Sale, Wojciechowski said the auction house is cautiously optimistic heading into the sale.

"I think if anyone's looking for 2-year-olds, they'll be here. Certainly, we're still contending somewhat with the pandemic. We recognize that—that's one reason why I expect the online bidding to be robust," he said. "There were a number of people here that had their advance team here during the breeze show or that maybe weren't here for the breeze show but are coming in for the sale."

The sale is scheduled to take place July 14-16 beginning at 10 a.m. ET daily.