Brisk Activity Bodes Well for OBS Spring Sale

Eddie Woods was busier than a mid-town Manhattan traffic cop the morning of April 24 as the Florida horseman directed the movement of horses in and out of stalls to be inspected for the April 25-28 Ocala Breeders' Sales spring 2-year-olds in training sale.

"Hey, don't take the horse away when the man is looking at it," Woods tersely advised one of his employees confused by the hectic pace of the inspection process.

If the brisk activity at Woods' barn and other consignments Monday is any indication, OBS is poised to improve off last year's strong sale when 853 horses were sold for more than $52 million. The 2016 average of $78,923 was down only slightly from the all-time high of $79,068 reached in 2015. Last year's median price rose 4% to a record $47,000.

"We've been pretty flat out," Woods said of the activity at his barns the last two days, noting that the auction will likely follow the same trend that has taken place over the past several years in which there has been greater polarization between the top and price levels below. "You can see it will be pretty much the way we've seen the other sales go. The top will take care of itself. You hope you have some spots that will fill in after that."

Asked what his most popular offerings have been from inspectors, Woods began rattling off a list that included some half-dozen in his consignment.

While Becky Thomas' Sequel consignment had a lot of lookers, the horsewoman lamented on the juvenile buyers' proclivity to focus on the sale prospects that worked the fastest during the under tack show sessions, although there are plenty of other good horses on the grounds that for one reason or another did not have fast breeze shows over the synthetic OBS track.

Slower times—even a difference of a fifth-second from :10 2/5 to :10 3/5—can impact the buyers' market.

"On this track, when it gets hotter in the afternoon, the track gets slower," Thomas said. "People who are here (for the six-day under tack shows) know it and take it into consideration. People coming here now, who don't have advisers here who know that, they just go by the numbers.

"(The workout time) is something that comes into play when you have a large number of horses and product that needs to be moved. Unfortunately, as we have had a narrowing of our market, we have the same number of horses spread among a smaller group of buyers."

"You have to work fast just to get on their lists," said Woodford Thoroughbreds general manager Matt Lyons. "If you work slower than :10 2/5 I don’t think you have much of a chance… That’s just the perception among buyers. Most of ours went faster than :10 2/5."

Lyons was optimistic about Woodfords' OBS prospects.

"We had a good breeze show and good action at the barn," he said, adding that the scoping and X-rays performed by veterinarians were still the unknown variable. "We just need to jump through the final hoop that is the vet."

Among the large number of buyers inspecting horses at Randy Bradshaw's consignment was Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Taking a break from his busy training schedule, Baffert said he planned to inspect the horses on the short list compiled by agent Donato Lanni and leave Ocala late Tuesday.

One consignor hoping that the elusive middle-market buyer materializes at OBS was David O'Farrell, whose family's Ocala Stud breeds only to sell at OBS auctions.

"We have a lot of bread-and-butter horses," O'Farrell said. "That’s how we make our money. There has been strong activity for those horses and hopefully it will show in the ring."

O'Farrell said Ocala Stud was pointing the two best of its 2-year-old crop to the April sale, but each developed an issue that resulted in removing them from consideration.

Consignor Randy Miles said he is optimistic about the upcoming sale based on the amount of activity in the barn area once the under tack shows ended Saturday.

"From what we've seen yesterday and today, I'm optimistic," Miles said.

Miles said potential buyers have been really high on two of his offerings—an Orb   colt consigned as Hip 28 and Hip 1202, a City Zip   colt.

"They are just really nice individuals," Miles said. "Both are very professional, worked well and galloped out well, and presented themselves to the buyers very well."

The OBS sale begins Tuesday and runs through Friday, with sessions at 10:30 a.m. EDT daily.

The catalog is available via the OBS website. A sortable master index provides searchable pedigree and consignor information as well as access to pedigree updates occurring since the catalog was printed.

The iPad version of the catalog can be accessed via the Equineline Sales Catalog app. The app allows users to download and view the catalog, receive updates and results, record notes, watch under tack videos, and also provides innovative search, sort, and rating capability features. For more information and downloads go to: http://www.equineline.com/SalesCatalogApp/.