Time Is Money at Juvenile Sales

Speed is a premium in Thoroughbred racing and even more so at 2-year-olds in training sales, where fifths of a second during the under tack shows can equal tens of thousands of dollars in the auction ring.

While some decry the pressure to push young horses early in their juvenile years, the economics is undeniable. A BloodHorse MarketWatch analysis of work times and prices shows a clear and surprisingly strong disparity in average price when broken down by fifths of a second.

Consignors will largely agree not much separates the athleticism of a horse that works in :10 and one that works in :10 1/5. The average prices of horses working these times, however, differed by 35% among horses sold during the 2021 and 2022 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sales. The combined results of 2021-22 showed 122 horses working in :10 flat averaged $162,172 and had a $115,000 median, which includes reported private sales. By comparison, horses working in :10 1/5 averaged $120,005 and had a $72,500 median.

Two-year-olds in training first broke the :10 barrier in 2009 at the now-discontinued Barretts March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at Fairplex in California. One horse worked in :9 4/5 at the March sale, a filly by Distant View out of Upgraded (High Yield). During the Barretts May sale that same year, two horses worked in :9 4/5. This year ahead of the March 20-22 OBS sale, 37 horses worked in :9 4/5 and two in :9 3/5.

Horses that worked in :9 3/5 or :9 4/5 during the OBS March sales of 2021-22 averaged $330,104 and had a $232,500 median.

Horses working a quarter-mile between :20 2/5 and :21 actually sold better on average than their counterparts working a furlong. Four horses working :20 2/5—the fastest time at a quarter-mile during the two years—averaged $438,125 and had a $470,000 median. The averages for horses working :20 3/5, :20 4/5, and :21 all were above $200,000 for each time category.

One anomaly appeared in 2022 among the horses that worked in :21 3/5, a $600,000 Gun Runner   colt out of Sacre Coeur that pushed the average price for this time category to $103,056. Fawzi Abdulla Nass bought the colt, named Sharar, and sent him to Dubai. Sharar most recently won the Feb. 24 Jumeirah Derby at Meydan Racecourse. Sold by Eddie Woods, the colt is a half brother to multiple grade 1 winner and 2017 Eclipse champion turf female Lady Eli .

Though horses working the fastest quarter-miles have higher averages, it was horses working blazing times at a furlong that dominated the leaders by price. For the 2021-22 sales, 19 horses sold for $550,000 or more and four of them sold for seven figures. Among these 19, nine worked in :9 4/5, two worked in :10, and three worked in :10 1/5. Five of the 19 worked a quarter-mile, ranging in time from :20 2/5 to :21 3/5.

A blistering work certainly carries no price guarantee. During the 2021-22 OBS March sales, 47 horses worked in :9 4/5 and one in :9 3/5. The price range for this group was $55,000 to $1.2 million.