OBS Spring

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - Without a breakout horse and numerous outs, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training dutifully marched through its paces Thursday, with a colt by Nyquist attracting the session's highest price of $550,000 late in the day. Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, bidding on behalf of Zedan Racing Stable, signed the ticket on the session topper for the third straight day. From a catalogue of 302 horses, just 187 went through the ring Thursday and the session, which started...

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - The action picked up noticeably during the second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and, with the auction's first seven-figure offering leading the way, figures concluded above 2023 levels Wednesday evening. "It was an excellent day," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said at the close of business Wednesday. "As I said yesterday, there are plenty of good horses left to be sold and obviously that was borne out today. Quality horses sell well...

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - While it took some time to find its stride, the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training gained momentum throughout the day and concluded with figures in line with the first session of its record-setting 2023 renewal. "I thought it was a good day," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "A good horse sells well and I thought we had a lot of nice horses today. Holding true to last year, that's a...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training completed its four-day run Friday with a  new record gross and average and a record-tying median in an auction which closely mirrored the 2022 renewal which set high-water marks for all of those metrics. Through four sessions, 698 horses grossed $90,805,000. A year ago, 705 horses grossed a record $90,723,000. The 2023 average of $129,907 was up fractionally from $128,685. The median remained unchanged at $65,000. "It was a great...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - For the third straight day, the team of Bob Baffert and Donato Lanni, acting on behalf of Saudi businessman Amr Zedan, made the highest bid of the session, this time going to $2.2 million--top price of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training sale so far--to acquire a colt by Gun Runner from the de Meric Sales consignment as the Spring sale continued to produce figures largely in line with its record-setting 2022 renewal. Through three of four...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL-The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training reached its halfway mark Wednesday with a familiar name at the top of the sheets as Amr Zedan paid a session-topping $900,000 for a son of Frosted as figures kept largely on par with the auction's record-setting 2022 renewal. Through two sessions of the four-day auction, 351 juveniles have sold for $45,886,000. The average is down 6.3% from the end-of-day figure from a year ago and the median is down 6.7% to...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training opened Tuesday with a session that produced figures nearly identical to the auction's 2022 opening session. "It was a good start to the sale," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "A lot of horses sold very well. And I'd like to think the strength will continue through the next three days. I feel pretty good about that. There are a lot of good horses left to sell." During Tuesday's...

A colt by champion Arrogate lit up the board with a $1.45 million final bid late in the opening session of the OBS Spring Sale in Ocala. Signing the ticket on Hip 253 was agent Donato Lanni, accompanied by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, also the trainer of the deceased champion. Purchased on behalf of Amr Zedan, the colt breezed an eighth in :10 flat last Monday. Consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds LLC, the juvenile is out of unraced Destine (War Front), the dam of SP Sunset Promise (Broken Vow)....

A half-dozen juvenile colts and fillies shared the bullet furlong time of :9 4/5 at the first of seven under-tack preview shows for the upcoming OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sunday. The first to shade 10 seconds in their one-eighth breeze was Hip 87, a filly by Tapiture out of the unraced mare Youngnflashy (Flashy Bull) consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales. The filly was bought for $25,000 at Fasig-Tipton October. Three more fillies posted :9 4/5 time shortly thereafter--Hip 121, by Speightster, consigned by Randy Miles and...

Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training concluded its record-setting renewal with a frenetic day of bidding in Central Florida Friday. The four-day auction produced its highest-ever gross when 723 horses sold for $73,907,900. The average was $102,224 and the median was $50,000--both figures just off the records set in 2019 of $108,903 and $60,000. "We went into the sale with high hopes and certainly the sale didn't let us down," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said. "The buyers showed...

OCALA, FL--There's been a palpable good feeling all week at OBS for the auction house's marquee Spring 2-Year-Old Sale, and you need look no further than the full parking lot to explain why. Business is booming, but perhaps equally responsible for the positive vibes is the easing of coronavirus restrictions as the country rapidly becomes vaccinated, which means old friends seeing and hugging each other for the first time in a long time. Wednesday morning, Joe Bianca and Jon Green talked about that and much more with four consignors and...

As the sale season finally restarts, Taylor Made vice president Mark Taylor joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland this week to discuss where he sees the market going from here, the early success of Taylor Made stallion Not This Time (Giant's Causeway) and a host of other hot-button industry issues. [audio mp3="https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/TDN-20200617-v1-Writers-Room-41-Audio-2-1.mp3"][/audio] Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week on the heels of OBS Spring, Taylor said, "I don't see any scenario where the market's not going to be off from 2019. I...