Four More OBS Juveniles Breeze Co-Fastest Eighth-Mile

Four juveniles shared the fastest eighth-mile time of :9 4/5 during the final under tack show sessions March 13 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, including a colt from the first crop of Spendthrift Farm's Gormley  .

Consigned as Hip 531 by Eddie Woods, agent, the Gormley colt is out of the Tale of the Cat   mare Green Eyed Cat and is a half brother to black-type winner Little Kansas . His second dam is dual grade 1 winner Critical Eye .

"He's a beautiful horse. He's been nice all year," Woods said. "He was a nice horse when we bought him and he's just gone and developed. He worked well; it was a work we were expecting."

Hip 531 was bred in Kentucky by Ledgelands and Andrew Ritter. He was purchased for $160,000 by Quarter Pole Enterprises from Summerfield's consignment to the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase.

"He's very good-looking. He's got beautiful markings. He's a really attractive horse," Woods added. "Gormley's a Malibu Moon  , and when you get those really good 'Malibu' colts, that's what he looks like."

The bay is one of nine 2-year-olds sired by Gormley entered in the OBS March Sale as of Saturday evening.

"They're fast. They're good sharp horses, (and) they look like good sharp horses. They're very much your all-around American 2-year-old looking type," Woods said of Gormley's progeny.

The other 2-year-olds to breeze the co-fastest time Saturday were all fillies.

Among them was Hip 439, a daughter of Blame   named No Horn Unicorn. The bay filly consigned by King's Equine, agent, is out of the Street Cry mare Cry Value and from the family of champion sprinter Gold Beauty  and graded stakes winners The Prime Minister  and Oxy Lady .

Bred by Ghost Hollow Farm in Kentucky, Hip 439 was first purchased by Todd Frederick for $17,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale from the War Horse Place consignment. King's Equine purchased her later in the year for $28,000 out of Warrendale Sales' consignment to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Sequel Bloodstock, agent for breeders Chester and Mary Broman, sent out Hip 539, a New-York bred Carpe Diem   filly. Produced from the More Than Ready   stakes winner Hard to Say Notgo, the bay filly's family features champion Minardi , grade 1 winner Joking , and grade 2 winners and sires Tale of the Cat   and Fed Biz  .

Rounding out the fastest eighth-mile times Saturday was Hip 344, a filly from the first crop of Taylor Made Stallions' Midnight Storm   consigned by Robert Brewer. The daughter of the stakes-placed Holy Bull mare All On the Table was bred in Kentucky by Burleson Farm and McKenzie Bloodstock. She was a $27,000 purchase by Paul Neatherlin from Timber Town's consignment to the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase.

Overall, 25 juveniles still entered as of Saturday evening recorded the co-fastest time of :9 4/5, with 14 on the first day and seven on the second.

"The track has been pretty much the same for all three days," Woods said. "It's quick but it's safe. They did a great job of keeping it the same texture for all three days."

A colt by American Freedom   and a filly by American Pharoah   shared the fastest quarter-mile time of :20 4/5 Saturday.

The colt, part of the first crop of his Airdrie Stud sire, is consigned as Hip 461 by Pick View, agent. He was bred in Kentucky by Brereton Jones out of the Divine Park mare Divine Happiness.

"I only got the one (American Freedom) and if they're anything like him the sire's got a real shot," said Pick View's Joe Pickerell. "This is one of those good Airdrie families that just keeps producing. The half sister (Perfect Happiness ) just topped the Keeneland digital sale and is now with Brad Cox, so we would hope for some black-type in the near future out of Perfect Happiness. And this horse trains with every indication of having that kind of talent as well. After buying this colt and getting him into training, we tried to buy several American Freedom—they'd be yearlings now—foals of last year and just couldn't seem to get anymore bought, but I kind of wish we did now."

Hip 461 was previously purchased by Marquee Bloodstock for $110,000 out of Airdrie's consignment to the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase.

"We were very pleased with his work. He's been a top-level kind of colt all year and we had high expectations for him coming in," Pickerell said. "When they show up and work the way they've been doing it all year, it's rewarding.

"(He's) just very athletic, does his job really easily. Not a horse that you have to overtrain. He gets a lot out of his training and he's progressed naturally and handled everything we've thrown at him to this point."

The American Pharoah filly who covered a quarter-mile in the same time is consigned as Hip 547 by Wavertree Stables (Ciaran Dunne), agent. She is out of the grade 3-placed stakes winner Henny Jenney , by Henny Hughes, and from the family of graded stakes winners Cozi Rosie  and Lexicon . Bred in Kentucky by Camas Park Stud, Hip 547 was a $200,000 purchase by Spartan from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Over the three under tack days, a trio of 2-year-olds shared the fastest quarter-mile time of :20 2/5, four shared the second fastest time of :20 3/5, and 13 the co-third-fastest of :20 4/5.

"I feel like (the track) was a tick off today," Pickerell said Saturday. "It was a little hotter today with no wind, and temperature definitely affects that surface. I feel like the buyers do a pretty good job of handicapping that track due to the weather, but today was a tick off from previous days in my opinion."

The sale will take place March 16-17, with sessions beginning at 11 a.m. daily.