Alpha Colt Fastest at OBS Tuesday

Hip 367 | Tibor Szlavik

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A colt from the first crop of Alpha (hip 367) breezed a quarter-mile in a bullet :20 3/5 Tuesday during the second of six under-tack previews for next week's OBS April Sale.

Bred in New York by Sequel Stallions, who stands Alpha, the bay colt is out of Forever Valentine (Silver Deputy), who also produced SW Force (Flatter) and GSP Beau's Valentine (Alphabet Soup). Hip 367 is the only horse in the sale consigned by Jose Munoz.

“I usually buy a few horses, one or two in partnership and one or two on my own,” said Munoz. “I've been doing this for a while. I train them myself in a little barn at Eclipse Training Center, where the de Merics train. I keep mine there with Vicki Donnon.”

The Mexico native, who has been living in Ocala for almost 20 years, continued, “I have two others at home. One was supposed to come in March, but I had to scratch him from the sale. He will come back in June. He is a good-looking colt by The Lumber Guy and is a New York-bred. I also have an Ontario-bred by Trappe Shot going to June.”

Munoz picked up the colt for just $18,000 at the OBS October Sale.

“I thought the price would be higher, considering Alpha did pretty good on the racetrack,” Munoz said. “To tell you the truth, I was really happy when I got him. I liked that he was by Alpha, a fresh sire who performed good on the track. Secondly, he is a very athletic horse.”

This is the first crop of juveniles for Alpha (Bernardini), a Godolphin homebred whose career highlights include a dead-heat victory in the 2012 GI Travers S. and a win in the 2013 GI Woodward S.

“I don't know to start with how a horse like him started in New York. I thought he should be in Kentucky,” Munoz said of the stallion. “At first, I thought the Alphas would be too expensive for me, but I ended up buying him. There was another one I liked a lot, but I didn't like the idea of having two horses by the same sire.”

Munoz has been very pleased with the way the colt has developed from October to now.

“He's always been a smart horse,” Munoz said. “He might get a little bit tough on the track sometimes, but he's got a pretty good mind and he's always been a sound horse.”

Munoz said he was not at all surprised by the colt's snappy work Tuesday.

“I did [expect that type of work],” he said. “We never asked him for all he had in the previous workouts, but we knew he was way faster than that. He had two or three eighth works and two or three 3/16ths and maybe two quarters and he always did good.”

As for why he chose to breeze Hip 367 over a quarter-mile as opposed to an eighth, Munoz said, “You have to have faith in what you do. I know this horse pretty well and I knew he would perform well at a quarter no matter what. You have to take your chances sometimes. For a small consignor like I am, you have to show a little bit extra. There are many horses at this sale that have more pedigree than mine, so you have to take your chances sometimes.”

The bullet furlong work belonged to Hip 370, a filly by Street Boss out of For Passion (Not For Love), who is consigned by Grassroots Training and Sales.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. The OBS April sale will be held Apr. 24 through 27.

 

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