Distorted Humor Colt Fastest at OBS Workout Session

It was a brisk 41 degrees when the first under tack show session for the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale began at 8 a.m. ET March 7, but both the temperature and work times eventually warmed up.

With OBS' Safetrack artificial surface described by consignors as consistent and fair throughout the six-hour session, the fastest time of the day was :20 3/5 for a quarter-mile turned in by a big bay colt by Distorted Humor  consigned as Hip 142 by Greg and Karen Dodd's Southern Chase Farm as agent.

The colt, bred in Kentucky by Russell L. Reineman Stable, is a half brother to Glamoride, a hard-knocking mare who won six of 31 starts and earned $201,720 while placing in three restricted stakes in Louisiana. The colt's dam, the unraced Foresty mare Driven, is a half sister to stakes winner and $335,557 earner Out for a Spin.

"It's nice when you get one that goes that fast and does it so easily," Karen Dodd said. "We were thinking he might go :20 4/5, and he shaved a little off that. It just worked out."

The colt had been acquired privately by the First Finds operation of Tami Bobo and Fernando De Jesus from Rachel Holden and was considered for placement in the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale before the owners opted for the OBS sale.

"We are always grateful and blessed when a horse works this well, but you know when you have a nice horse on your hands," Bobo said. "We toyed with selling him in the November sale, but it just felt like we were better served in a 2-year-old sale."

Dodd said all the Southern Chase horses worked well, including a Conveyance  filly (Hip 77) that was among a handful of juveniles that shared the day's second-fastest quarter-mile work time of :20 4/5.

The other :20 4/5 workers were Hip 55, an Uncle Mo  filly (Hoby & Layna Kight, agent); Hip 62, a Kantharos  colt (Ocala Stud); Hip 110, a Wicked Strong  filly (de Meric Sales, agent); Hip 141, a City Zip colt (Wavertree Stables, agent, for JSM Equine); and Hip 169, an American Pharoah  filly (de Meric Sales, agent).

Six juveniles shared the day's fastest eighth-mile time of :09 4/5. They were Hip 24, a No Nay Never filly (Wavertree Stables, agent); Hip 31, a Take Charge Indy colt (Top Line Sales, agent); Hip 49, a Verrazano  filly (de Meric Sales, agent); Hip 81, a Justin Phillip  colt (Hoppel's Horse & Cattle Co., agent); Hip 134, a Wicked Strong  filly (Mayberry Farm, agent); and Hip 140, a Karakontie  filly (All Dreams Equine, agent).

Consignor Pat Hoppel said the Justin Phillip colt had always been a fast worker on the farm, but it's uncertain what will happen during the timed trials leading up to the auction that takes place March 12-13 with sessions beginning at 10:30 a.m. daily.

"He was a very forward horse," Hoppel said of the colt who was purchased by a client for $70,000 at Fasig-Tipton's The October Sale. "We just wanted him to go fast enough so (potential buyers) would come to the barn and see him. It was no surprise that he was that fast, but if you make one little mistake here, you're not the fastest."

The under tack show works continue through Saturday, beginning at 8 a.m. daily.