by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm
OCALA, FL – A colt by Tapit brought the high price of $1 million during a day which featured lively trade at the top of the market at the opening session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Tuesday in Central Florida.
A total of 153 juveniles had sold by the end of Tuesday's session for a gross of $19,615,000. The average was $128,203 and the median was $60,000.
During last year's opening session, 145 horses had sold by the close of business for $19,725,000. The session average was $136,034 and the median was $87,000. Last year's four-day Spring sale concluded with a record average of $130,149 and a record median of $70,000.
Bloodstock agent Gayle Van Leer, bidding on behalf of an unnamed racing partnership, made the 2025 auction's first seven-figure bid when acquiring a colt by Tapit for $1 million from the Top Line Sales consignment.
The session topper was one of nine to sell for $500,000 or more Tuesday, compared to four at the opening session in 2024.
With eight horses sold for $2,257,000, de Meric Sales was the session's leading consignor. The operation sold the day's highest-priced filly, a daughter of Curlin, for $900,000.
Tristan de Meric | OBS VidHorse Photo
“It was a very good opening day for us,” said Tristan de Meric. “The market is there for the right horses that jump through the hoops. We've got more nice horses to come, but I feel good about the opening day. It feels pretty good up here, I have to say.”
From a catalogue of 302 head, 199 juveniles went through the ring Tuesday with 46 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 23.1%.
“[The market] has been a little more of the same,” said Nick Sallusto of Thorostock. “It feels like it's just going to continue in that way. It's really an unbelievable market at the top and I think that we continue to have to work really hard to get the middle market where it's sold.”
Case Clay Thoroughbred Management was the session's leading buyer, with three head purchased for $1,185,000.
The OBS Spring sale continues through Friday with sessions beginning each day at 10:30 a.m.
'Caught My Eye Immediately:' Tapit Colt Brings $1 Million at OBS
A colt by Tapit (hip 249) was first to reach seven figures at the OBS Spring sale when selling for $1 million to the bid of bloodstock agent Gayle Van Leer Tuesday.
Gayle Van Leer | OBS VidHorse Photo
“I bought the horse for a partnership that is just forming, so they will remain anonymous at this point. Trainer to be decided,” Van Leer said.
Van Leer said the colt reminded her of another seven-figure son of Tapit, GI Arkansas Derby winner Sandman, who sold for $1.2 million at OBS last March.
“He reminded me an awful lot of Sandman, who I fell in love with and he's my Derby horse,” Van Leer said. “He is just a smooth-moving horse and he just caught my eye immediately during the under-tack show.”
The colt, who worked a furlong in :10 flat during last week's under-tack preview, is out of Grade I-placed Palacio de Amor (Dixieland Band). He was consigned by Top Line Sales on behalf of Luis Gavignano's Lugamo Racing.
Andres Gavignano, Luis Gavignano, Claudia Diaz, and Servando Espinoza | Jessica Martini
“It feels very good,” Gavignano said of his first seven-figure result. “He's a very special horse. We knew from the first time that we started training him that he was going to be a very special horse. I have to give credit to Servando [Espinoza]. He was the one in charge of the training and everything. And he did a good job. And also Torie and Jimbo [Gladwell] at Top Line. They are very good. ”
Lugamo purchased the gray colt for $300,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
“I love Tapits,” Gavignano said of the colt's appeal last fall. “That's one of my favorites. It is [a lot to pay for a pinhook prospect], but I don't mind keeping horses. I knew this horse was special, so if he didn't bring what I thought he would, I would be happy to race him.”
Hip 249 | OBS VidHorse Photo
Gavignano, a native of Venezuela, owns a string of restaurants in Virginia and has recently acquired a farm in Ocala. He sold subsequent GII Jessamine Stakes winner May Day Ready (Tapit) for $325,000 at last year's OBS April sale after purchasing the filly for $60,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton October sale. @JessMartiniTDN
Baoma Corp Gets $900,000 Curlin Filly
Agent Donato Lanni and trainer Bob Baffert went to $900,000 to purchase a daughter of Curlin (hip 190) for Susan and Charlie Chu's Baoma Corp two-thirds of the way through the opening session of the OBS Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale Tuesday. The filly, who recorded one of the sale's co-fastest furlong times in :9 4/5, is a daughter of the winning track record-setting mare Motivated Seller who blitzed 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga in 1:02 2/5 and placed in the Qatar Fort Springs Stakes at Keeneland in her own racing career. The family also includes Australian G1SP French Lady (NZ).
Hip 190 | OBS VidHorse Photo
“She's an obvious type of horse,” said Baffert, who will assume training responsibilities for the filly. “She's athletic, well-bred, Curlin's hot and [she] breezed really well. We're blessed to have clients to be able to buy horses like this.”
Baffert admitted that her price tag was right within his team's expected range.
“We thought she'd probably be something like this,” he said of the $900,000 winning bid.
De Meric Stables, who purchased damn Motivated Seller for $160,000 as a yearling at FTKOCT in 2018, consigned the filly as a homebred.
“She is a beautiful filly,” added Tristan de Meric. “She did everything she was supposed to do and we were expecting a big number. Very happy with the result. She's just a very balanced filly, very early looking, one that you can go right on with. She's sound, she hasn't had any issues. She's a filly we have high hopes for and best of luck to Bob and to her new owners.” –@SGrimmTDN
Vekoma Colt Leads Strong Results for Thorostock Team
A colt from the second crop of successful young sire Vekoma (hip 246) continued a day of strong results for Thorostock LLC when bringing a final bid of $600,000 from Case Clay Thoroughbred Management. The duo of Nick Sallusto and John Kimmel purchased the colt as a Keeneland September Yearling grad for $275,000 after he first brought $75,000 as a weanling the November before. Sallusto was quick to acknowledge the team's success on a day which saw him sell three of four hips offered including two for six figures.
“I'm just really grateful for all the great team that I have that works tirelessly day in and day out to get these kinds of results,” said Sallusto.
Hip 246 | OBS VidHorse Photo
Of the Vekoma colt who worked a quarter in :20 3/5, Sallusto said, “He was incredibly apparent for buyers and by a really hot sire. He's a beautiful individual on the end of a shank. A great moving horse. Checked all the proverbial boxes.”
Sallusto noted that, as with his $500,000 Tacitus colt (hip 102), that the eyes of the industry backed him up.
“The best judges in the game liked him,” he said. “This is great affirmation for what we're doing. And we're really, really appreciative that the market's responding to us the way that they are.” –@SGrimmTDN
Tacitus Colt is Nothing But Net
Nick Sallusto's Thorostock LLC earned a strong pinhooking result early in the day Tuesday when a colt from the first crop of Tacitus (hip 102) sold for $500,000 to Justin Casse. Purchased for just $60,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, the colt is out of a Gun Runner first dam who herself is a half to MGSP Moraz (Empire Maker). He worked his eighth in :10 1/5.
Hip 102 | OBS VidHorse Photo
“He was really athletic,” Sallusto said of what initially drew him to the colt in Kentucky last year. “It's a first-year sire and a Gun Runner mare. [Gun Runner] is a great sire and it's a great family, the family of Malibu Moon.”
Sallusto noted that the colt had gotten significantly more popular in the lead up to the sale.
“He got pretty popular in the last 48 hours,” Sallusto said. “I thought [the price] was definitely in the realm of probability. Makes me feel really good that I think some of the best judges in the racing game saw [him] the way I did. That's super rewarding.”
Of the colt's prep for the sale, Sallusto added, “He's a horse that's changed inside and out in just the last 30 days. He sort of went from a boy to a man here in the last month. And when he came around, he really came around. I think the sky is the limit for him.” –@SGrimmTDN
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