OBS April Sale Opens Tuesday

Hip 382 | Tibor Szlavik

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The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's April Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds kicks off its four-day run Tuesday with the first of 1,222 catalogued juveniles slated to stride through the sales ring at 10:30 a.m. The stature of the April sale has exploded in recent years, with records set at each of the last five renewals of the auction. For the second year in a row, the 2017 sale set records for average and median and had its highest gross in history. The auction, which had two million-dollar sales prior to 2017, had three juveniles top the seven-figure mark, including the $2.45-million topper by Tiznow.

“You don't expect to be able to set a record every year, we just hope to stay in the same level where we are,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “I don't know that it's reasonable to say you should set a new record every year you're selling. But we are confident in the quality of the horses that are here this year.”

The OBS March sale kicked off the juvenile sales season last month and the results showed a continued polarization in the marketplace, with plenty of competition for the top lots, but interest seeming to fall precipitously beyond those perceived quality offerings. Wojciechowski hopes the evolution of the April sale and its 1222-strong 'something-for-everyone' catalogue, will lead to a broader buying bench this week in Central Florida.

“There will still be a lot of competition on the top,” he said. “But I think, if someone is going to attend a 2-year-old sale, April is usually the one they'll attend. So we get a better spectrum of buyers who buy at all levels.”

Joe Appelbaum, whose Off the Hook LLC sent out 35 juveniles to work during last week's under-track preview of the April sale, agreed the auction has become the must-attend sale of the season.

“I think April is the 2-year-old market in the same way that [Keeneland] September is the yearling market,” Appelbaum said. “The other sales are good and they are significant sales. Obviously, the Fasig Miami sale is important and the other OBS sales are important, but this is the guts of the market. This is everything from $5,000 to $1 million all right here.”

Graduates of last year's April sale include GI Kentucky Oaks contenders Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d'Oro) and Rayya (Tiz Wonderful).

Rayya's success on the international stage–she won the G3 UAE Oaks and was second behind GI Kentucky Derby hopeful Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) in the G2 UAE Derby–is just the sale's most recent salvo as it continues to attract global interest.

“The international status that the April sale has attained is truly remarkable,” Wojciechowski said. “We see a very strong contingent of Korean owners, trainers and associations here. We see a number of groups from Japan. There are a number of people coming from U.A.E. who will be here because of the recent success with Rayya and Polar River. The April sale has evolved into a truly international sale.”

During the six-session under-tack preview of the April sale, held last Monday through Saturday, 19 horses set the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5, while four shared the fastest quarter-mile time of :20 3/5. Times during the first and fourth sessions of the preview were noticeably impacted by strong headwinds.

“It was unfortunate that we had to deal with the headwind on Monday and Thursday, but we deal with a pretty sophisticated buyer group,” Wojciechowski said. “People have gotten better and better at buying racehorses, and in particular buying at 2-year-old sales. I know that there seems to be a lot of emphasis placed on times, but I think what you see from a number of the buyers who consistently buy good horses, that's not the only metric they are using. It is only one part of the equation and I think more and more we see that. I understand that it is an important metric, but it's not the only thing they are going on.”

During last year's April sale, 678 juveniles sold for $60,935,900. The average was $89,876 and the median was $47,500.

The April sale continues through Friday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m.

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