Strong Trade, Steady Increase at OBS Winter Sale Close

The closing session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Winter Mixed Sale Jan. 26 was capped by a short yearling colt by Destin , who topped the day's bidding at $95,000 when selling to Rosewood Farm for local consignor Sue Vacek. Total figures show a steady gain from the previous year with all indicators up and trade strong.

In total, the two days of selling showed marked improvement from 2021, with 417 horses changing hands for gross receipts of $6,693,100. An average price of $16,051 and a median price of $8,500 were achieved. The cumulative RNA rate was 10.3%. During last year's sale, 408 horses sold for gross receipts of $5,612,300. Last year's average was $13,756 and the median was $6,000.

The final session concluded with 186 horses selling Wednesday for gross receipts of $2,075,600, while the same session a year ago had 236 head sell for $2,023,500. OBS reported a rise in the session's average price to $11,159, improving on 2021's figure of $8,574, and the median price changed to $7,000, compared to last year at $4,000. The RNA rate Wednesday was 8.8%.

A short yearling colt (Hip 505) named Last Drink consigned by Vacek, agent, topped Wednesday's session at $95,000. Rosewood Farm purchased the New York-bred colt by Destin out of the winning Intidab mare, I Drink Alone, who is a producer of stakes winners May Shares  (Stonesider), Bustin It  (Bustin Stones), and Bust Another  (Bustin Stones). All of I Drink Alone's six foals to race are winners.

Casey Newick bred Last Drink when Destin's stud fee was advertised at $5,000. Destin's yearlings of 2021 sold for an average price of $13,446. This colt is currently the highest-priced yearling to sell at public auction in North America for the sire.

"He was really popular, a nice, big strong New York-bred colt," Vacek said. "The mare herself produces runners. He was a little light with Destin as his sire."

She added: "Everybody seemed to like him. We knew he would sell well, but he sold better than we thought."

Destin initially stood stud at Sequel Stallions New York but has since been sold to stand stud in Saudi Arabia.

Rosewood also purchased a short yearling filly by Neolithic   (Hip 477) earlier in the day for $20,000 from Hare Hill Farm. The bay filly was bred in Maryland by Maria Haire and out of the 5-year-old unraced Eclipticalspraline   mare Eclipticalspharaoh. At the end of the day, they picked up a short yearling filly by Palace  (Hip 601) consigned and bred by 4 M Ranch, agent. The Arkansas-bred filly is out of She's Haute (Lookin At Lucky  ), a half sister to stakes winners Espresso Shot  (Mission Impazible  ) and Venti Valentine  (Firing Line  ).

On Tuesday Rosewood purchased a short yearling Tapwrit   filly (Hip 190) from Perrone Sales, agent for McDowell Farm, for $35,000. The Arkansas-bred filly is out of stakes winner Thievery  (Valid Expectations), a full sister to a pair of stakes winners in Big Texas Daddy  and Namesake . Breeder Bill McDowell picked up the mare from the Gainesway consignment at the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $15,000.

The second-highest price of the day, $75,000, was paid by Brookdale Farm for a short yearling filly by Mendelssohn  , whose first crop are 2-year-olds of 2022. The Florida-bred filly out of Charming Becky (Dixie Union) comes from the female family of Mandy's Gold, a grade 1 winner of more than $1 million. Vargas Sales consigned the filly as Hip 454. She was bred by Destiny Oaks of Ocala.

Rosewood Farm, for which Sarah and Paul Sharp were on hand signing tickets, was active on the last day, purchasing three horses for receipts of $122,500 to be the day's leading buyer. Cumulative leading buyer over the two days, Woodford Thoroughbreds, picked up five horses for a total figure of $410,000.

The final session's top consignor Summerfield sold 51 head for a gross of $649,000. Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck's operation also led the sale as cumulative leading consignor after selling a total of 63 horses for $1,044,000.

"All the hard work paid off. It was a good day," Francis Vanlangendonck said. "I think we RNA'd two horses today. We appraised some of our horses at $5,000 and $7,000 this morning, and they brought $17,000 and $20,000, which is a huge difference when you are trying to get out."

Francis Vanlangendonck was recently voted chairman for the sales company, noting, "We have been selling down here at OBS since the mid-'80s. It's a great place to sell. We have a good base here in Ocala and there are a lot of people in the business. We can kind of sell-support just from the local buyers. People here get out of bed, go train a few horses, and then come to the sale."

Vanlangendonck added: "There were around 100 people in the back ring until the end of the sale. It's terrific. It keeps everyone in the business. For someone to walk out of here unhappy would be unusual. If someone walked out of this sale at the end with a horse and weren't happy, then they were unrealistic."