Into Mischief Filly Sets New OBS June Sale Record

As Torie Gladwell of Top Line Sales made her way to the Ocala Breeders' Sales grounds June 14, she thought about the Into Mischief  filly waiting for her back in Barn 1 and tried her best to manage expectations. 

"I woke up this morning and I was like, 'I'll be happy if she sells for $400,000, and I won't cry,'" said Gladwell.  "Then on the way here I said, 'I'll be happy if she sells for $500,000, and I still won't cry." 

The trip through the ring was the second for the daughter of Spendthrift's famed sire, who was previously offered at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. While she had breezed well enough to please buyers in the spring, the bay went unsold on a final bid of $400,000. 

"She did everything right at OBS March," said Gladwell. "She was just a heavy filly and she looked still like a big, immature baby. She just got better and better and we ended up coming here. Those big horses are sometimes hard to get ready for the early sales. " 

One of a handful of pinhook prospects entrusted to Top Line Sales by Carlo Vaccarezza, the filly had been a pricey yearling in her own right, purchased by Vaccarezza for $375,000 from Bluewater Sales' consignment to The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 

Any nerves that Gladwell or Vacarezza felt turned out to be unfounded. Sent through the ring in the early afternoon hours, their filly set an OBS June record when she was purchased for $900,000 by bloodstock agent John Dowd on behalf of Larry Best's OXO Equine. 

"After she brought $900,000 all of our expectations flew out the door," said Gladwell. "We've never sold one for a $1 million. That's the closest we ever got, so I'm probably still shaking. It's fantastic."

The previous June record was set in 2016, when a colt by the late City Zip was purchased for $800,000 by Frank Fletcher Racing from the consignment of Stephens Thoroughbreds. 

"I just have to thank Jim and Torie Gladwell," said Vaccarezza. "They helped us a lot. There are a lot of good people who helped us. She has bloomed with the three extra months. The extra time really let her show off her talent. I really loved her. Jimbo and Torie Gladwell did a phenomenal job and it paid off." 

Bred in Kentucky by H. Allen Poindexter, Hip 748 is out of the Indian Charlie mare Rosemonde and is full sister to grade 1-placed colt Rowayton, who is also owned and campaigned by OXO Equine. The filly's second dam, Kid Majic, produced stakes winner and Canadian champion Miss Mischief. During the under tack show pre-sale workouts, the filly breezed a quarter-mile in :20 4/5.

Rowayton was acquired by OXO Equine for $320,000 at The Saratoga Sale in 2017, and finished second in last year's Del Mar Futurity (G1) and third in the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) as a 2-year-old of 2018.

"She's a very nice filly, and obviously we have her full brother and we really like him so it made sense," said Dowd. "She was a standout." 

"Carlo has had a fantastic year," said Gladwell. "He did an excellent job picking these horses out. We just stood back and let him do his job. We had confidence in him. He's a very humble guy, a very generous man, so we're thankful to have him.

"June is a great sale. That filly was vetted by five or six of the right guys who had plenty of money to buy her. There is definitely money at the June sale." 

"You have to do a lot of homework and you have to surround yourself with good people," said Vaccarezza, who said he will plan to attend the yearling sales this fall in hopes of repeat success. "Jimbo Gladwell and John Shaw really helped us a lot. So we have a really good team and hopefully we can duplicate this next year." 

During Friday's session, a total of 183 juveniles were sold for receipts of $7,426,100 for an average of $40,580. The average was up 27.5% compared with $31,828 for 183 sold last year for gross receipts of $5,824,500. The median price rose 30.8% to $17,000 compared to $13,000 in 2018. The 38 that went unsold represented an RNA rate of 17.2% compared to the 54 that went unsold last year, a buyback rate of 22.8%. 

Cumulatively, OBS has reported 609 2-year-olds from 756 offered sold for gross receipts of $21,493,300. The cumulative average was $35,293 and the median price $17,000. At this sale last year, OBS sold 530 horses for gross receipts of $17,231,000 with a $32,511 average and a $17,000 median. The total buyback percentage for this year's juveniles was 19.4%, down from 20.3% last year. 

During the Horses of Racing Age section, nine Thoroughbreds changed hands for receipts of $69,200 compared to five older horses that were purchased for $96,500 in 2018. The three that went unsold represented an RNA rate of 25%.  

"We are happy with the results of the whole sale," said OBS sales director Todd Wojciechowski. "We set a record for the highest priced-selling horse and increased our gross. This isn't your father's June sale. It bodes well for OBS as a whole that consignors can have confidence that no matter what sale they bring a horse to, they have the opportunity to get what it's worth."

The second-highest price of the day was Hip 914, a Ghostzapper  filly consigned by Gayle Woods who was purchased by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni on behalf of Stetson Racing. One of only two juveniles to work a bullet three-eighths of a mile in :32 3/5 during the under tack show, the filly was bred in Kentucky by Blue Devil Racing Stable out of the Tiznow  mare Tizahit. She is a half sister to graded stakes winner Come Dancing.

"She's a beautiful filly," Woods said. "I thought she'd make $400,000 or $500,000, maybe $600,000 if the right people got into it and it happened. She's got so much class." 

"It's competitive here for decent horses," said bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who purchased two individuals during the three-day sale for total receipts of $225,000. "Something that should be said about the 'middle market' is that there is a price that we want to buy horses at, it's a value you have on them. They still have to jump through the hoops. They have to be sound, they have to vet cleanly, they have to have a good physical. There are a lot of people that want to buy horses in what we call 'the middle market,' and what the buyers think they should bring and what we as sellers want them to bring are two different things. Sometimes, when you make those two match, you get a high clearance rate." 

OBS president Tom Ventura said he was extremely pleased with end results of the sale and the strides that the auction has made in recent years as a venue where consignors can feel comfortable selling their later-developing horses for the first time. 

"Consignors put horses where they're ready to go," said Ventura. "Sometimes it's their second time through but more often you see a lot of first-time horses in the sale. I think that is certainly the direction the sale has been going.

"I think one thing that was evident that there was a lot of activity in the moderately priced horses. Being out back in the last 25 or 30 horses, there were people scrambling to buy horses. It wasn't like we had an empty building and it was at the $100,000 price level to $20,000 price level so that was good to see.

"I want to give props to the track. One thing we feel very confident in regardless of the amount of rain we got as that we know we can have a very good, safe under tack show. That's important. We had a very fair surface throughout. At the end of the season you look back and reflect. We're super happy about the way things went throughout the season. There are a lot of people that work here behind the scenes that make this work. The logistics of putting on a 2-year-olds in training sale is challenging. It's the people that are in the trenches that make this happen and need recognition."