OBS Spring Sale Concludes With $1.3M Into Mischief Colt

The final day of the Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training at Ocala Breeders' Sales finished April 28 with similar results to last year's record-breaking year. Friday was headlined by a son of leading sire Into Mischief   selling for $1.3 million to Rich Mendez, signing as More Play.

The colt out of grade 3-placed Singing Kitty  was consigned by Wavertree Stables (Ciaran Dunne), agent as Hip 967. The fleet-footed bay laid down the co-fastest furlong last week, going in :09 3/5 during the under tack show. The partnership of Paul Reddam and Dunne purchased the colt for $300,000 as Red Wing Enterprises during last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

More Play's single purchase Friday made them the session's leading buyer by gross. Wavertree Stables sold 16 juveniles to be the leading consignor of Day 4 with receipts of $4,359,000.

"It was a great day; we finished up strong, right to the very end having a half-million dollar horse. It was a great day to end the sale," OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski said. "There is a chance (after post sales) we may be slightly over last year's figures, but we are right on par."

The fourth session saw 165 horses trade hands of the 193 through the ring, recording gross receipts of $22,609,000. An average price of $137,024 and a median of $65,000 was made. A buy-back rate of 14.5% accounts for the 28 juveniles who failed to meet their reserve price.

During last year's final session, OBS reported 160 horses sold of the 200 to go under the hammer for a gross of $18,835,000. An average price of $117,719 and a median of $60,000 was recorded. An RNA rate of 20% represents the 40 horses that went unsold.

"Good horses are selling very well," consignor and OBS vice president Barry Eisaman said. "I think it's surprising that we can market so many horses to so many good people, and year after year, it keeps going. I think it's been fine."

Eisaman added: "(We saw) a little more of the middle market (compared to the March Sale). You could not say this sale was weak at the top. It seemed like March was even stronger in the top third. It's been a pretty good marketplace."

Friday's session saw nine horses sell for $500,000 or more by sires Nyquist   (Hip 928—$535,000, Hip 1024—$900,000, and Hip 1219—$550,000 ), Lookin At Lucky   (Hip 942—$500,000), Into Mischief (Hip 967—$1,300,000 and Hip 1036—$725,000), Gun Runner   (Hip 1068—$525,000), Audible   (Hip 1093—$535,000), and Solomini   (Hip 1109—$700,000).

As for the market at the Spring Sale, consignor Karl Keegan of Lucan Bloodstock said, "It's been very tough. I have scratched a lot of horses this week, and horses that are clean and x-rayed. I don't want to bring them up and expose them. We will have to move on and go racing with them."

Keegan added: "It's a lack of a middle market," he added. "That (type of) owner that would come to these sales and buy a horse, or a couple of horses for $50,000 or $75,000 and send to a trainer isn't here. You have a lot of New York trainers that aren't here. I don't know if it's the economy, and people don't want to spend. I thought we were overpaying for yearlings in Kentucky last year. I felt myself stretching $25,000, $30,000 or more than I valued the horses at."

Cumulatively over the past four days of selling, OBS reports, 698 horses changed hands of the 840 to go under the hammer for gross receipts of $90,755,000, suitable for an average price of $130,021 and a median of $65,000. The buy-back rate for the four-session sale was 17%, representing the 142 horses who failed to meet their reserve.

Three horses sold for $1 million or more including Hip 782 a colt by Gun Runner   for $2.2 million and an Arrogate colt, Hip 253, for $1.45 million, both to Donato Lanni. The third horse was Friday's Into Mischief colt, Hip 967, to More Play for $1.3 million.

During the 2022 sale, 711 horses sold of the 837 on offer for a gross total of $92,129,000. An average price of $129,577 and a median of $65,000 was achieved. The RNA rate was 15% to represent the 126 horses that failed to sell.

"Outs historically are frustrating for the sales companies and the buyers at the 2-year-old sales; they typically run about 25-30%," Tom Ventura, president of OBS said. "It's one of those situations where the horses that didn't breeze up to the consignor's expectations or they don't feel are live in the marketplace, they opt to scratch them."

Ventura added: "Some of these pinhookers or partnerships have a racing component to them, and they can take these horses onto the racetrack, and that's probably what they will opt to do. We are just glad we could hold up to last year's high bar. The world has changed a lot since last April; plenty of things could have impacted the marketplace, and it didn't, which was great to see."

At the conclusion of the four-day sale, Wavertree Stables sold 37 horses for $9,041,000 to be the sale's leading consignor by gross. Agent Donato Lanni made five purchases over the past week totaling $5.8 million, including three for client Zedan Racing Stables to the tune of $4,550,000, to be the leading buyer.

The next sale on the calendar for OBS will be the June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale, which runs June 13-15 with an under tack preview June 5-10.