OBS April Evolves Into 'World Market' for 2-Year-Olds

A key attraction to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training is the broad range of horses available by type, price, and ability.

"Overall, this sale is similar to the Keeneland September Sale, but for the 2-year-old world," said Barry Eisaman, vice president of OBS and a consignor, who has exclusively offered his racing prospects at the April sale for the last three years. "A lot of buyers come for all levels and qualities of horses. If you happen to have a valuable offering, someone is here that can buy it. If you have an offering with lesser commercial value, someone is here to buy it to go to a regional market."

The sale begins April 25 and continues through April 28, with 1,222 horses cataloged for consideration. The precocious juveniles worked through their paces the previous week during the seven-day under tack preview on OBS's all-weather track.

"April has become the go-to spot for 2-year-olds in training, and the reason for that is our graduates have done well all over the world," said OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski. "This sale has become the world's preeminent 2-year-old sale; it has been fun to see the evolution over the years."

Eisaman said the results of OBS's sale in March and the activity on the sales grounds over the weekend makes him optimistic that the Spring sale will produce equally strong results. During last month's three-day sale, gross receipts set a record of $71,110,500, with an average of $154,588 and a median of $75,000 for the entire sale.

"As I watch around the grounds, I think there are plenty of people here, and hopefully, things will work out quite well. There is a positive feel to the environment," Eisaman said.

New York-based consignor Becky Thomas of Sequel Bloodstock also is expecting results similar to the March sale, including a soft middle market. Sequel sold six horses in March for an average $225,000 and will be offering 16 during the April sale.

"It is somewhat more of the same from what we saw in March; the middle market is nonexistent," Thomas said. "There are a few one-offs, and I feel very fortunate that we are big participants in the New York program because it gives us a middle market that other people may not have. Because I train so many New York-breds, I feel I am pretty good at finding who can win in New York maiden special weights; it's a huge advantage. The top end is like 'wow!'"

Wojciechowski said hoping for a strong middle market is desired at every sale.

"The top always seems to take care of itself," he said. "It's a bit of the same battle cry we have heard for all sales for several years now, but if there is one 2-year-old sale that can do it, it's April. If a juvenile buyer only goes to one sale, April is the one they attend.

"The consignors do an excellent job of upping the quality of horses they bring to market every year. The one thing that doesn't get talked about enough is the consignors; they do a masterful job of preparing young horses for racing. When someone comes to buy a 2-year-old, the one advantage they are getting is the expertise of these guys, having prepared that horse for its future career. It gets overlooked sometimes, and it's a valuable commodity. The consignors put in a lot of work and effort and take pride in what they do."

At last year's April sale, five horses sold for seven figures, including Southwest Stakes (G3) winner Arabian Knight , who sold for $2.3 million to Gary Young, agent for Zedan Racing Stables. Torie and Jimbo Gladwell consigned the Uncle Mo   colt from their Top Line Sales banner for pinhookers Scott and Evan Dilworth.

The 2022 sale overall reported 711 horses sold out of 837 through the ring, grossing $92,129,000 at an average price of $129,577 and a median of $65,000. The buy-back rate was 17.7% for 126 horses that failed to meet their reserves.

Lane's End Bloodstock, agent made nine purchases during last year's sale for gross receipts of $3,450,000 to be the sales leading buyer. Closely behind followed agent Chad Schumer who purchased 15 head for final figures of $3,030,000.

De Meric Sales saw 35 horses of its 39 change hands for a gross of $9,308,000 to be the sale's leading consignor a year ago, with Eddie Woods falling in second with a gross of $8,444,000 for 28 horses sold of his 31 offered.

This year's offerings include half siblings to current runners on the Kentucky Derby trail, along with other graded stakes winning families. During last week's under tack preview, four juveniles breezed the co-fastest eighth-mile in :09 3/5. These included a Mendelssohn   filly consigned as Hip 141 by Off the Hook, agent; a Frosted   colt consigned by Longoria Training and Sales, agent as Hip 449; an Into Mischief   colt consigned as Hip 967 by Wavertree Stables, agent; and Scanlon Training and Sales' Hip 1012, a filly by Speightstown  .

One individual worked a quarter mile in :20 1/5, which was Hip 618, a Speightstown filly consigned by All Dreams Equine as agent. A fifth of a second behind her at :20 2/5, followed a Nyquist   filly, Hip 1024, consigned by Wavertree Stables.

Consignor Dean DeRenzo of Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds brings a draft of eight elite horses up for grabs. Among them is a colt from the final crop by the late Arrogate, Hip 253. The homebred colt breezed an eighth in :10 last week.

"Our Arrogate colt is a homebred that has everything you look for, scope, length, size, and speed. It is a rarity to have a horse that is 16.2 (hands tall) run like a sprinter but wants to be a two-turn horse. It's the one thing we are always looking for," DeRenzo commented. "He has been raised up, never through a sale, born at Taylor Made Farm and turned out, never hot-housed. He's a fun horse to have here, and we picked this sale because he is so big... to give him more time to fill into himself. He's a standout.

"We are blessed to have these horses in our barn; this colt (Hip 253) loves the dirt; we are setting up TVs in the barn so buyers can see him move on the dirt."

"We're riding on top of the wave from March, but I think we brought the right horses," he continued. "We try to bring the top end of quality more than quantity. We will sell 20 horses for the year and have eight here this week. I'm probably biased, but these are probably eight of the best horses in the sale."

Tuesday will see Hips 1-306 through the ring beginning at 10:30 a.m., Hips 307-612 follow on Wednesday, Thursday Hips 613-918 are to head under the hammer, followed by Hips 919-1222 Friday.

As of Monday afternoon, 242 horses had been withdrawn from the sale.