By Jessica Martini
A colt by Curlin topped Wednesday's consignor preferred session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale, selling for $150,000 to Redbud Partnership. Curlin was also represented by the day's second-highest priced lot when his yearling daughter out of Capote Blues (Capote) sold for $145,000 to Tyra Holdings. Love You Crazy (Touch Gold) (hip 217), in foal to Uncle Mo, was the day's highest-priced mare, selling for $85,000 to Maria Haire.
During Wednesday's session, 135 horses sold for $2,380,100. The average of $17,630 fell 10.5% from a year ago, while the median dipped 15.8% to $8,500. At last year's consignor preferred session, 128 head grossed $2,520,000 for an average of $19,688 and a median of $10,100. While one offering topped $100,000 during the 2015 consignor preferred session, four yearlings eclipsed that mark Wednesday. With an additional 36 horses catalogued and an added 41 going through the ring, this year's buyback rate was 31.8%. It was 21% at the close of business last year and improved to 18.5% after the inclusion of post-sale transactions.
Select Sales consigned the sale-topping colt (hip 53) on behalf of his breeder, Don Osborn's Golden Pedigree LLC. He is out of stakes-placed Tapaline (Eavesdropper), a half-sister to stakes winner Dreamin of Victory (Victory Gallop).
Osborn has been in the breeding business for eight years and Wednesday's result marks his second-highest priced sale, following on the heels of a Violence colt (hip 117) he sold for $210,000 at last year's Keeneland November Sale.
“I know that Carrie [Brogden] and Andrew [Cary] from Select Sales thought highly of the colt, but he exceeded my expectations and I was thoroughly pleased that he brought what he brought,” Osborn admitted Wednesday. “And I'm thankful to the Redbud Partnership–obviously they had a lot of confidence to go that high on him and I'm hopeful that he'll meet those expectations for them.”
Osborn purchased Tapaline for $19,000 at the 2014 Winter Mixed sale.
“Carrie helped me find her,” Osborn said of Tapaline. “She didn't meet her reserve at that sale and I have to give a lot of credit to Carrie because she was down there and recommended the mare and knew that she hadn't attained her reserve. So I thought it was a worthwhile endeavor and I'm certainly glad that I bought her.”
Osborn has a broodmare band of around seven head, all boarded at the Brogdens' Machmer Hall.
“I try to sell everything as weanlings,” he explained. “Eventually, I hope to be able to retain them and sell them as yearlings, but right now I do not have my own farm and I board. So therefore, in order to make it a possible endeavor, I try to sell as many of them as I can as weanlings. This [Curlin] colt foaled late, so we carried him over and decided to sell him as a short yearling.”
Tapaline's Freud foal was stillborn. She was bred back to Verrazano last spring.
The Winter Mixed sale concludes Thursday with an open session beginning at 10:30 a.m. and followed immediately by the auction's horses of racing age section.
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