Carpe Diem Filly Swiftest at OBS

The under-tack preview of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, which has been modified to avoid expected heavy rain and winds in Central Florida in the coming days, continued with a third session Wednesday. With Friday and Saturday's session of the breeze show cancelled, previews will be extended Thursday and a Sunday session has been added. A filly from the first crop of Carpe Diem had the day's fastest quarter-mile breeze of :20 3/5, while five 2-year-olds shared the fastest furlong-breeze time of :9 4/5.

Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables sent out hip 532 to work the bullet :20 3/5 quarter-mile Wednesday. The $75,000 Keeneland September purchase, from the first crop of GI Toyota Blue Grass S. winner Carpe Diem (Giant's Causeway), is out of Rebuke (Carson City), a half-sister to Group 1 placed Rebuttal (Mr. Greeley).

“She worked as good as one can work,” Dunne, who sells the juvenile on behalf of Bob Verratti, said. “She is a really straightforward filly and has gotten better every step of the way.”

The filly is typical of the offspring of the young sire that Dunne has handled this winter.

“I was not a fan of them as yearlings and didn't buy any of them,” Dunne admitted of the Carpe Diems. “But we had several sent to us. They were straightforward to break, but didn't do anything to really impress you. But the more we've done with them, the better they've gotten and the more impressive they've been. And this filly fits that profile. She was a very unimposing, straightforward and no-nonsense filly when we broke her and then she's just gotten better and better every step of the way and just seems to want more.”

Wavertree has sent out 18 juveniles to work so far this week at OBS and all but one has worked a quarter-mile.

“We were probably a little lighter at the March sale than we have been in the past because we kept a lot of the bigger, two-turn colts for April,” Dunne explained. “We had the mindset to give them a little extra time and to go a quarter. They are going to breeze over the next couple of days and if they breeze to our expectations, we'll be very excited about this sale.”

Tommy and Lori Fackler's Best a Luck Farm sent out a filly from the first crop of GI Arkansas Derby winner Danza (Street Boss) (hip 478) to work the co-bullet furlong in :9 4/5. Out of Polish Silk (Polish Pro), the bay juvenile is a half-sister to stakes winner I Got It All (Tiz Wonderful).

“We were hoping she would work well,” Lori Fackler said. “She's just done everything right. She is very athletic and she's just an elegant filly. When we took her over to OBS, she just floated. So we had our fingers crossed that everything would go well and it did today.”

The Facklers purchased the filly for $74,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.

“She is a classy-looking filly and she's just gotten better and better every day,” Fackler said. “She's wonderful to be around and very level-headed.”

In addition to pinhooking two to four juveniles a year, Best a Luck Farm also pinhooks weanlings to yearlings and the operation has a broodmare band of a dozen head. Among the band is Slew's Quality, who is the dam of 2018 Eclipse champion and GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint winner Shamrock Rose (First Dude). Best a Luck sold Shamrock Rose for $120,000 at the 2017 OBS April sale and will offer her half-brother by Stay Thirsty (hip 638) next week in Ocala. The colt will breeze at OBS Thursday.

“We'll see tomorrow, but we're hoping everything goes really well for him,” Fackler said of the juvenile.

In addition to Shamrock Rose, Best a Luck also bred 2014 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. winner Dance with Fate (Two Step Salsa).

“As little as we are, that's been really exciting for us,” Fackler said of the dual Grade I winners. “It's kind of neat for the little people because it's usually the big people that run through a couple hundred a horses a year to break and we just have a handful. It makes it really special.”

De Meric Sales sent a daughter of Quality Road (hip 444) out to work the furlong in :9 4/5. Out of Paris Rose (Accelerator), the bay is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Decelerator (Dehere).

Hip 453, a colt by Speightstown, also worked in :9 4/5. Out of Pay Lady (Seeking the Gold), the bay is a full-brother to Grade I winner Lighthouse Bay and is consigned by Scanlon Training and Sales as agent for Bruno DeBerdt's Excel Bloodstock.

A filly from the first crop of GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern (Offlee Wild) (hip 517) also shared the bullet :9 4/5 work time. Consigned by Harris Training Center, the bay is out of Queenie Cat (Storm Cat), a half-sister to champion Vindication (Seattle Slew).

Completing the :9 4/5 works Wednesday was hip 538. A daughter of Malibu Moon, the bay filly is out of Red Hot Bertie (Tabasco Cat) and is a full-sister to multiple graded stakes placed Cue the Moon (Malibu Moon). She is consigned by Steve Venosa's SGV Thoroughbreds.

With severe weather forecast for the coming days, OBS has cancelled the Friday and Saturday sessions of the breeze show, extended Thursday's session to include hips numbers 609-912, and added a Sunday session for hip numbers 913-1221 to breeze.

“They're trying to make the best decision on the weather that they can,” Fackler said of the change to the schedule. “A 20-30 mph headwind is a lot to try to overcome.”

Tuesday's first session of the four-day April sale will begin at noon to give buyers additional time to look at horses. The Wednesday through Friday sessions will begin as scheduled at 10:30 a.m.