By Jessica Martini
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale, the final major juvenile sale of the season, gets underway Tuesday, with the first of 769 catalogued horses scheduled to go through the sales ring at 10:30 a.m.
The June auction has produced sale-record toppers the past two years, with a colt by Candy Ride (Arg) bringing top price of $680,000 in 2015 and a colt by City Zip selling for $800,000 in 2016. Those results, plus the exploits of recent graduates like Grade I winners Celestine (Scat Daddy) and Haveyougoneaway (Congrats), have helped bulk up the sale's reputation.
“The June sale has certainly evolved over the last number of years,” confirmed OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “It has grown into its own market. Before it was maybe an afterthought, but now it's not just an afterthought to buyers and sellers, it's a good place to sell your horse.”
While the 2016 June sale featured a catalogue of 1,224 head and was held over four days, there were 696 originally entered into the 2017 June sale and that number increased to 769 with supplemental entries. There are 755 2-year-olds and 12 older horses cataloged and the auction will be just two days this year, with sessions Tuesday and Wednesday.
“It's a combination of factors,” Wojciechowski said of the shortened sale. “Our March sale was a little larger this year, so some of those horses got absorbed into March. But I think it's the natural ebb and flow of the market.”
Despite the record sale topper a year ago, the June sale registered declines in both average and median. During the four-day sale, 619 juveniles grossed $17,930,900 for an average of $28,968 and a median of $13,500.
The June sale will be the third juvenile sale of the year at OBS and follows on a record-setting April sale that produced strong results from top to bottom.
“We certainly hope [the June sale carries on from April's results], Wojciechowski said. “There are still a lot of nice horses on the grounds. Hopefully there are people out there still looking for quality horses.”
OBS conducted a four-session under-tack preview of the June sale last week and, while Wednesday's first day was delayed multiple times by rain, Wojciechowski called the week a success.
“We were extremely pleased with the breeze show,” he commented. “The weather certainly created some obstacles, but we are well-prepared to handle it and our track took the water exceptionally well. Everybody had a fair shake to show their horses off. Probably in hindsight, the overcast cloudy days have been kind on everyone weather-wise.”
Four horses shared the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5 during the preview: hip 15, a son of Malibu Moon consigned by Wavertree Stables; hip 159, a colt by Tale of the Cat consigned by Top Line Sales; hip 335, a colt by Midnight Lute consigned by Timber Creek; and hip 741, a son of Poseidon's Warrior consigned by McKathan Bros. The preview's fastest quarter-mile work was turned in by hip 491, a colt by Into Mischief, who covered the distance in :20 2/5 for Thoroughbred Champions Training Center.
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