Stay Thirsty Filly Tops June Opener

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age got underway Tuesday with sluggish session which produced figures down from last year and a filly by Stay Thirsty bringing top price of $180,000.

A total of 135 horses grossed $3,427,000 Tuesday in Ocala for an average of $25,385–down 31% from last year's opening session figure of $36,805. The median was $15,000, down 16.6% from last year's figure of $18,000.

“We certainly would have liked to get off to a better start today, but we still have three more days of sales and I would like to hold off final judgement until we get through the whole sale,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “We've still got three days of selling and a lot of good horses left.”

From a catalogue of 300 head, there were 87 outs and 78 horses who went through the ring were reported not sold for a buy-back rate of 36.6%. The buy-back rate was 33% at the close of business after last year's opening session and that figure improved to 25.6% with the inclusion of post-sale transactions.

A year ago, five horses brought $200,000 or more and the top price was $575,000. Eleven horses sold for six figures. During Tuesday's session, six horses reached that level.

Seven of Tuesday's top 10 juveniles were by freshman sires, led by a $180,000 daughter of GI Travers S. winner Stay Thirsty (Bernardini). Trainer Stanley Hough purchased the session topper (hip 69) from her breeder/consignor Ocala Stud. Stay Thirsty had two of the session's six six-figure lots. First-crop sire The Factor had the day's co-second highest offering in hip 107 at $150,000. Bodemeister had two of the top 10 offerings and Gemologist and Dialed In each had one.

“I think it's a strong crop of freshman sires and we had a lot of nice horses by those horses and they did well,” Wojciechowski said.

Mike Hall of Breeze Easy, who purchased the $1.2-million topper during the OBS April sale, purchased three juveniles Tuesday, including a colt by Harlan's Holiday (hip 204) and a filly by Distorted Humor (hip 277) for $150,000 each.

Several consignors lamented a shortage of buyers during Tuesday's opening session.

“We all thought it was going to be difficult, but nobody thought it was going to be this difficult,” said Wavertree Stables' Ciaran Dunne.

“It's really, really patchy. It's been this way all year. Everybody wants the big horses and there is no market for anything else. There will be four or five horses here who will jump through all the hoops and bring big money and they are all the ones they'll want to talk about, but it's the other 1195 that we need to find homes for.”

Bloodstock agent Pete Bradley said there were multiple factors leading to the down market at this year's June opener.

“It's kind of the end of the trail here for what I thought was a down crop,” Bradley said. “I think we've had an overall marginal crop and this is the bottom of the barrel here. That is the first problem. The second problem is that people aren't showing up for the sale. Your lower to mid-range buyers have been in short supply this year and that has exacerbated the situation.”

The buyer shortage is a reflection of the larger economy, Bradley said.

“If you look at the oil business, and there are a lot of similarities in horses and oil in that there are risk-taking people in both industries, and they have no extra cash right now,” Bradley said. “The oil industry in Texas is in a downswing right now. So that is a big problem.”

Bradley continued, “In my racing partnerships, I key in on a lot of people who are middle-to high-wealth. Entrepreneurs that have good businesses and I'm finding a lot of those guys, who probably have a net worth of $1 million to $6 million, that can put up $50,000 or $100,000, they're just not feeling like they have that extra cash.”

SGV Thoroughbred's Steve Venosa sees reason to be optimistic for the remainder of the June sale.

“It's a buyer's market and hopefully people will see there are plenty of opportunities here,” Venosa said.

Dunne agreed the June sale will offer astute buyers plenty of upside.

“I think there will be a lot of useful horses to come out of here that will be well-bought, but nobody is interested in those,” he observed.

On the other side of the equation, the perceived shortage of bidders offered mid-range buyers plenty of opportunities to fill their orders.

“It's definitely a buyer's market,” said David Merida, racing manager for Florida-based trainer Ramon Morales, who purchased a pair of juveniles Tuesday in Ocala. “I know it probably doesn't make consignors happy, but it was about time the buyers had a chance to be able to buy in the mid-market. In April, there was no mid-market, it was either very high or very low. It's nice for a change. I understand consignors need more buyers, but it's nice for a change for the buyers.”

Wojciechowski is looking for increased participation in the three remaining sessions of the June sale.

“You always hope for more buyers at any sale, but it did seem light in certain spots,” he said. “I do think there are buyers that we see here on the grounds that maybe haven't gotten into action, so that is something to look forward to.”

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

Stay Thirsty Filly to Hough

A filly from the first crop of GI Travers S. winner Stay Thirsty topped Tuesday's opening session of the OBS June sale when bringing a final bid of $180,000 from trainer Stanley Hough.

Consigned by her breeder, Ocala Stud, the juvenile (hip 69) is out of stakes winner Broadway Gold (Seeking the Gold) and is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winners Broadway's Alibi (Vindication) and Golden Lad (Medaglia d'Oro).

It is a family Hough is very familiar with.

“I trained her mother Broadway Gold and I've watched everything out of her and I basically just wanted to be part of that family,” Hough explained after signing the ticket on behalf of a partnership.

Racing for E. Paul Robsham Stables, Broadway Gold captured the 2004 Astoria S. while trained by Hough. Ocala Stud sold the mare, in foal to Medaglia d'Oro, for $950,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale. Broadway's Alibi, in foal to Smart Strike, sold for $2.15 million at the 2013 Keeneland November sale.

RNA For Bullet Worker

Hip 215, a son of Gemologist, garnered plenty of attention after working a furlong in :9 4/5–fastest of last week's under-tack preview–but the colt failed to sell Tuesday when bidding stalled at $245,000.

Out of Distant Storm (Storm Cat), the colt was purchased by Julio Rada for $47,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

He was consigned by Top Line Sales on behalf of Rada and a partner.

“I am surprised we didn't have a lot more activity on him,” said Top Line's Torie Gladwell. “But the owners are happy keeping the horse and plan on racing him in California.”