Diverse Catalog has Something for Every Buyer at OBS

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Winter Mixed Sale kicks off the Florida season Jan. 25-26 with a diverse catalog of 570 horses on offer, including supplemental entries.

The first day of selling includes the consignor preferred session, Hips 1-206, beginning at 11 a.m. ET, followed immediately by the horses of racing age portion (Hips 251-365). The final day of selling concludes Wednesday with the open session of Hips 401-649. That session also begins at 11 a.m.

The catalog includes 255 short yearlings, 103 racing prospects, 20 broodmare prospects, and 135 broodmares. As of Monday afternoon, 71 horses had been withdrawn from the sale.

"We have a nice cross-section of Florida-, New York-, and Kentucky-bred short yearlings on offer here," said OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski. "People have done well with their purchase from this sale, and I think that keeps them coming back."

Monday's under tack show saw its start time pushed back an hour to allow for cool temperatures to warm up a bit for buyers and horses.

"The under tack show start time was pushed from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. to help let it warm up—for all us weather wimps—just a bit more," Wojciechowski said. "All-in-all, we have a good catalog of short yearlings and horses of racing age with some of the supplements having some attractive live horses that people can certainly have interest in."

The two fastest times breezing three furlongs during the under tack show Monday came from Hip 253, a 3-year-old American Freedom   filly named Freedom Speaks, who went in :31 2/5 for Best A Luck Farm. The day's second-fastest time at :31 4/5 came from Hip 268, Sonic Thrust, a 4-year-old colt by Twirling Candy   consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales.

In a move that was seen often in 2021, as well as at the first sale of this year at Keeneland, OBS elected to accept late entries to its catalog.

"Most of the supplements are horses of racing age, but we also have added some horses to the preferred and open sections. I think along with online bidding, allowing supplemental entries has become a part of the auction process," Wojciechowski commented.

Bobby Jones Equine will carry out a one-time dispersal of breeding stock for Jacks or Better Farm, the operation of stalwart Florida breeder Fred Brei. Jacks or Better Farm has produced horses for the past 23 years, seeing success on the track with 26 wins in stallion stakes and was awarded the 2001 and 2004 Needles Award as the top small breeder in Florida. Brei's breeding program saw Awesome Feather  win the 2010 Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and be named champion 2-year-old filly.

"Mr. Brei is 79. He recently sold his farm and felt this was the time to move into the next chapter," Jones said. "He kept all of the 2020 stock (now 2-year-olds), which are now in training. He kept all of the 2021 horses, all of the young stock, and is selling 28 mares here at OBS."

Of the 28 broodmares on offer, all but one of the mares are homebreds of Jacks or Better Farm, 17 mares are in foal, and 11 are open for the 2022 season. The dispersal includes Garter Belt , Hip 162. A stakes winner herself; she has six winners from as many starters, including three stakes winners and two stakes-placed horses. Her stakes-winning 2017 Awesome of Course  foal Shivaree  finished second in the 2020 Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

"Fred is a longtime friend of mine. I sit on the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association board with him," Jones said. "Mr. Brei was a past president of FTBOA, and he's been around for the past 23 years."

Of the short yearlings on offer, popular Florida sires Adios Charlie  , Bucchero  , Girvin  , Khozan  , and St Patrick's Day   are represented. Sires with first yearlings of 2022 include Audible  , Breaking Lucky  , Flameaway  , Maximus Mischief  , Mitole  , and Solomini  .

Beth Bayer brings a draft of 38 for the January sale noting, "I have some lovely freshman sire short yearlings that I like a lot. Hip 2, by St Patrick's Day, is a nice horse that I am excited to represent. The Audible colt, Hip 122, is also a very nice individual. And the last freshman sire offering I have is Hip 103, by Maximus Mischief; I'm excited about all of them."

"All of our short yearlings are good physicals, correct, and have nice bodies," said Christy Whitman of Whitman Sales. "The Unified  , Hip 626, is a nice, big solid colt. Hip 496 is by new sire Free Drop Billy  , and he has a lot of body on him. Our Upstart   filly, Hip 464, is typical of her sire, taller and longer. Bucchero has been well-received here as a Florida-based sire. I'm hoping the colt I have, Hip 532, will do pretty well. They are all decent babies with good size and physicals on them."

Leading consignor Summerfield brings a large offering of 78 broodmares and yearlings for the two days of selling.

"It's a typical draft for the OBS January sale. We have some nice yearlings and mares bred to some nice stallions," said Francis Vanlangendonck of Summerfield. "Seems like everybody in Kentucky wants to come down when it gets too cold up there, so people are rolling in from out of town."

"The St Patrick's Day yearlings look awfully good; he's a good-looking horse and stands out as much of any of them," Vanlangendonck commented. "You never know where a good stallion will come from, as we have seen over the years. … Bucchero is throwing some athletic-looking individuals as well."

All consignors agree that the market is strong at all buying levels. Interest got rolling in 2021 initially at the yearling sales and carried on through the breeding stock sales. Momentum is expected to continue into 2022.

"I feel like the top horses will be represented well. We may struggle a little on the middle- to lower-end horses, but I am hopeful it will carry through," Bayer said. "Last year was very strong. Everything sold, we found a buyer at every level, and I think that will carry through to this year."

"I feel like with the trend we are in right now, the demand for horses across the board at all price ranges is up, which is great if you are trying to get something sold," commented Whitman. "In the past years, it was polarized toward the top where the outstanding horses were bringing ridiculous amounts of money, but it was more difficult to sell the middle- to lower-level horses. This year, starting with the yearling sales, there has been demand all the way, across all price ranges, which is encouraging.

"As we have seen repeatedly, there are good horses at all price ranges. Plenty of horses have come out of the lower tier of price ranges. I'm glad people are starting to look harder for the horses perceived to have a little less pedigree or are later maturing. The demand is up across the board."

Traffic in the barns began Sunday as horses shipped in, and the under tack show Monday went off seamlessly, albeit with the cold weather.

Last year's Winter Mixed Sale saw 406 horses sell of the 519 offered for gross receipts of $5,686,600, at an average price of $14,006 and a median of $6,000. The sale saw an RNA rate of 21.7% as 113 horses failed to meet their reserve.

Kaizen Sales finished as the top consignor by gross with 45 horses sold for receipts of $949,200. Kerri Raven finished as top buyer, securing three horses for a total of $300,000. Raven landed the sale's second-highest priced horse, Hip 368, consigned by Summerfield, agent for Stonestreet Stables. The stallion or racing prospect Bear Brian , by Tiznow , sold for $150,000 on the first day.

The 2021 sale topper was consigned as Hip 805 by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, agent, a yearling filly by Laoban out of the Grand Reward  mare Best Reward  that sold for $175,000 to Sand Hill Stables.