Filly Out of 'Gift Horse' Goes for $155,000 at OBS

Initially meant to refer to the practice of looking at a horse's teeth to determine its age, the phrase "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" has become synonymous with not questioning the value of a gift. It is a gift, after all.

Florida breeder Linda Evans took that advice to heart when Joe and Helen Barbazon gave mares to some breeders at no charge, with the caveat they breed them back to Amira's Prince, who had entered stud at the couple's Pleasant Acres Farm near Ocala, Fla.

For Evans, the gift mare D J Trip, an unplaced daughter of Trippi, produced a filly sired by another Pleasant Acres stallion, Beau Choix .

Foaled Feb. 6, 2016, that speedy filly was purchased by agent Justin Casse for $155,000 during the June 15 final session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-year-olds in training sale.

The filly was consigned as Hip 605 by Weston Thoroughbreds Training and Sales.

While her breeding did not inspire inspection, and Beau Choix, who stood for $2,500 this year, had limited opportunities—he has sired 18 named foals of racing age, with two winners from four starters, according to The Jockey Club Information Systems—the filly's stunning pre-sale under tack show breeze in :10 flat for an eighth-mile and overall good looks impressed buyers, including Casse.

"Her gallop outs were phenomenal," Casse said of how the filly continued around the track after the official timed work. "She went from the eighth pole to the five-eighths pole in :46, which would have been probably a second and a half quicker than anything else here (in the sale). She had really good angles to her—a big girth, nice shoulders, and a nice hip—and a really good walk. She looks like a filly that's ready to run somewhere very soon and perform well.

"Obviously, her looks and her performance are what sold us on her," Casse continued. "You would have had a hard time justifying going to look at her based on anything else."

Casse, who declined to say on whose behalf he purchased the filly, liked that D J Trip has produced three other foals, including Blouberg Beach, a daughter of the Pleasant Acres stallion Treasure Beach  who has won two of her four starts.

"To me, that's important. I wouldn't buy an athletic-looking horse out of a bad-producing mare," he said. "I would rather take a chance on something like this rather than one out of a mare that doesn't produce."

Charles Weston said he was pleasantly surprised by how much the filly brought.

"At first, we were thinking $30,000-40,000, but as she got more popular and more popular, we were thinking we'd be happy with $50,000 or $60,000, so we're ecstatic," Weston said. "She's the kind of filly you fall in love with. She's very personable."