Yes It's True Colt Tops OBS Finale

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company wrapped up its three-day August Yearling Sale with statistics that further amplified the stability of the yearling market. For the two open sessions, the auction house realized gross receipts of $5,494,400, down some $900,000 from last year when nearly 90 more horses were reported as sold. The open session average of $13,467 was 4.4% better than last year, while the median price of $9,750 advanced by 21.9%.

“I thought the market held steady and as typical, the well-made yearlings with some sire power certainly attracted the attention,” commented OBS President Tom Ventura. “I thought the upper end of the market was really solid, but there was really good trade at all levels of the market.”

Thursday's second of two open sessions was topped by hip 681, a Florida-bred colt by Yes It's True, who was hammered down to leading yearling-to-juvenile reseller Becky Thomas for a bid of $100,000. The Mar. 28 foal was consigned by and was the third six-figure horse for the Summerfield agency of Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck. The colt was the lone horse to bring $100,000 or better on the afternoon and 12th overall for the sale compared to the 20 youngsters that crossed the threshold in 2014, but Ventura was not overly concerned with that fact.

“You try to bring the best horses that you can,” Ventura said. “We had 250 horses in the select session last year versus 218 this year, so that's maybe reflected there. But we had a $320,000 Arch, so there was definitely money here and there was a good mix of pinhookers and end users here.”

In fact, the sale's top three lots from Tuesday's select session were purchased by owners Marc Keller, California-based Gary Broad and Zayat Stables, who purchased the co-topping El Kabeir (Scat Daddy) for $250,000 at the 2013 renewal of the August sale.

“We kind of get painted with the pinhooker's brush here, mainly because of our location, but over the last several years, there have been more end users attracted to the horses here,” Ventura opined. “A horse like El Kabeir has the Zayats paying attention, and they've had success with those kind of horses. It gets to the point where if you're buying horses, this is a sale you need to pay attention to because some runners have been coming out of it.

Three Chimneys' Yes It's True will be represented on Saratoga's monster day of racing Saturday by 'TDN Rising Star' The Big Beast in the GI Forego S. and by the fleet-footed mare La Verdad in the GI Ballerina S., and Becky Thomas will look to strike gold next spring with her session-leading purchase from Thursday afternoon.

“He's a beautiful, big, stretchy two-turn sort of horse and his second dam was a pinhook horse for me, so I am familiar with the family,” Thomas explained. “I loved her, she was a big pretty mare.”

Thomas signed the ticket on the colt's granddam

Desert Digger (Mining) for $85,000 at the 1995 Keeneland September sale and resold her for $83,000 at the Fasig-Tipton February sale the following winter. Thomas's faith in her purchase was validated when Desert Digger broke her maiden in the 1996 GII Sorrento S. at Del Mar and was just caught in the waning stages of the GII Del Mar Debutante by the talented Sharp Cat (Storm Cat).

Thomas, who also signed for an $80,000 colt by Kantharos–Carsomatic (Carson City) in partnership with Global Thoroughbreds during Tuesday's select portion of the sale, believes her newest acquisition would be a strong fit for next year's breeze-up sales.

“He's big, tall, leggy and stretchy like Medaglia d'Oro, but he's got that Yes It's True body shape–pretty head, strong shoulder and a nice clean neck,” she explained. “So he's got attributes of both sire lines and he's got that look I love to see from the Yes It's True colts.”

The dam of hip 681, Wild Eyes, is from the third crop of Medaglia d'Oro, whose daughter Renda is the dam of GI A. G. Vanderbilt H. hero Rock Fall (Speightstown). The sire's best produce, Rachel Alexandra, has been represented in recent weeks by 'TDN Rising Stars' Rachel's Valentina (Bernardini) and Jess's Dream (Curlin).