Ocala Stud Homebred Shines at OBS March Sale

The iconic O'Farrell family's Ocala Stud sells all of its horses at 2-year-olds in training sales if they aren't sold privately. That business model played to perfection during the March 13 second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, when a daughter from the first crop of The Big Beast  brought $850,000.

After striking March 12 for an OBS March-record $2 million Tapit colt on behalf of West Point and partners, David Ingordo of Lane's End Bloodstock emerged victorious on the filly for West Point, M. Anthony, and B. Sandbrook.

Bred and consigned by Ocala Stud and consigned as Hip 302, the filly was produced from the winning Trippi mare Lucky Trip, a full sister to multiple stakes winner Dream of Angels and the stakes-winning, grade 1-placed Candrea. The Big Beast, a grade 1 winner campaigned by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, stands at Ocala Stud for a 2019 fee of $6,000.

During the March 8 under tack show, the filly breezed a quarter-mile in :20 4/5, and the catalog page had a significant recent upgrade as I Am the Danger, a 5-year-old son of Adios Charlie  out of Lucky Trip, set a track record Feb. 3 at Santa Anita Park, going 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:01.64 over a sloppy (sealed) track.

"When you see a horse like this, you just know she's a runner," Ingordo said. "That's clearly a lot of money, but she's worth it if she runs. The Big Beast was a very good horse. He isn't without some merit. She is a good horse and good horses cost money, and these are the kind that end up in the big races. (I liked) the way she looks, the way she breezes, everything about her. I've had a lot of good luck buying from Ocala Stud. They are like the Claiborne of Ocala (Fla.)."

Ingordo said the filly will be raced in California with trainer John Sadler.

The filly was the biggest score by far of the two-day sale for Ocala Stud. Their next-highest priced sale was a $300,000 Kantharos  colt consigned as Hip 62, purchased by Eddie Plesa, agent for Karl and Cathi Glassman.

"I'm speechless," Ocala Stud's David O'Farrell said of Hip 302. "That filly never had a bad day in her life. She's a quality filly; she can flat run. It doesn't hurt, but this filly sold on her own merit. She was all class and had a phenomenal breeze. Great gallop out. She showed herself extremely well."

"I was a big fan of The Big Beast as a racehorse and am just fortunate we were able to stand him for the Lieblongs and get the stallion off to a start like this. These 2-year-old sales are our livelihood, and we support our stallions with our better mares. We bring our entire crop to 2-year-old sales. We have been tied into this female family for 20-25 years. It's been very good to us and produced a lot of runners and is still alive, and we're building toward the future."