Ocala

If you have visited the Ocala area recently, you would have to agree that Florida's horse business is growing by leaps and bounds. The World Equestrian Center, a 378-acre state-of-the-art equine competition venue in its second year of operation, is partially responsible for the influx of horses to the area. Next month, the University of Florida--the state's only vet school--is scheduled to open a world-class hospital located at WEC, offering advanced diagnostics and treatment for equine competitors and companion animals. The hospital will be open to all horses, not just...

The breeze show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's upcoming Spring Sale gets underway Sunday and runs through Saturday, Apr. 16. Hips 1-176 will breeze Sunday; followed by Hips 177-352 Monday; Hips 353-528 Tuesday; Hips 529-704 Wednesday; Hips 705-880 Thursday; Hips 881-1056 Friday; and Hips 1057-1231 Saturday. The Spring Sale runs Tuesday, Apr. 19 through Friday, Apr. 22 with each session beginning at 10 a.m. Hips 1-308 go on the block Tuesday; followed by Hips 309-616; Wednesday, Hips 617-924 Thursday; and Hips. 925-1231 Friday.

A total of 1,231 2-year-olds in training have been cataloged for the Ocala Breeders Sales Company's Spring Sale, to be held Tuesday through Friday, Apr. 19-22 at the auction house's Central Florida complex. Gracing the cover of the 2022 catalog is 'TDN Rising Star' Corniche (Quality Road), who topped last year's renewal on a bid of $1.5 million from Marette Farrell, agent for Speedway Stables, and who went on to cap an undefeated championship season with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. OBS April graduates...

By Christie DeBernardis & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL--The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's grounds continued to buzz with activity during a second straight day of very strong trade as the March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded Wednesday. Bidding was fast and furious right from the start with the top horse of the day--and the sale as a whole--coming in the second juvenile through the ring, Hip 318, a colt by More Than Ready, who summoned $1.2 million from Kaleem Shah. A daughter of American Pharoah (Hip 532) also achieved seven figures...

As the OBS March 2-Year-Old in Training Sale's breeze show concludes on Sunday and with just a few weeks until the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, we looked at a few promising 2-year-olds that were given high praise from their consignors and have high-class pedigrees. Could these youngsters be future stars in the making? EDDIE WOODS 2020 c. Gun Runner - Sacre Coeur, by Saint Ballado. Hip 93 at OBS March. Watch :21 3/5 work here. This colt is a half-brother to MGISW Lady Eli (Divine Park) with a fabulous pedigree. He's...

With the start of the 2-year-old in training sales just around the corner, a visit to Ocala proved to be informative as we checked in with consignors who are starting the fine-tuning process with their sales horses. In the weeks leading up to the OBS March Sale, which starts March 15, we will release a series of video features covering the topics everyone is talking about as the sales season approaches: Who might be this year's top freshman sire? Which freshman sires could be flying under the radar? What horses...

James Bryan "Luke" McKathan, Sr., the patriarch of one of Florida's most successful racing families and an accomplished horseman and pinhooker, died Feb. 14 at the age of 89. According to a lengthy profile on the McKathan family in a 2004 edition of the Florida Horse magazine, Luke McKathan was born and raised on a family farm in Alabama, where he picked cotton, and left home at 13 in search of a better life. He began his career in racing with Standardbreds and found a job with legendary harness racing...

Due to a forecast that calls for early-morning temperatures in the low 30s, officials at OBS have announced that the breeze show for their Winter Mixed Sale next Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 25 and 26, will begin Monday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. ET, one hour later than previously advertised. A total of 115 horses are cataloged in the sale's racing age section, with hips 251-329 in the original catalog. A printed supplemental catalog for hips 330-362 is now available on the grounds at OBS and can also be viewed...

Rushie (Liam's Map--Conquest Angel, by Colonel Jonh), winner of the GII Pat Day Mile, arrived at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Ocala, Florida, where he will stand the 2022 season. The deal was brokered by Jacob West. "We are very pleased to have Rushie join our roster of exceptional stallions in Florida. Right now, there are only three stallions by Liam's Map being offered to breeders in 2022--two are standing in Kentucky at Spendthrift and Airdrie Stud, and Rushie is here at Pleasant Acres Stallions," said Joe Barbazon. "Being able to...

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program has opened a satellite facility near Ocala, Florida as it continues to expand its aftercare efforts. The nation's oldest and largest racehorse adoption charity now has nine facilities in six states. "Part of our long-term plan has been to open a facility near Ocala," said New Vocations' Program Director Anna Ford. "Three years ago, we were looking into it but then we got the call to open a facility in Louisiana. We put Florida on pause because the need was greater in Louisiana at that...

Girvin (Tale of Ekati), whose first yearlings sold for up to $200,000 this season, will remain at $6,000 for his fourth year at Ocala Stud, the farm announced Monday. Winner of the GII Risen Star S. and GII Louisiana Derby in 2017, the Brad Grady colorbearer made that year's GI Haskell Invitational S. the biggest victory of his career. His yearling son of Grade III-winning juvenile filly Gold Edge (Eddington) was purchased by BSW/Crow for $200,000 at Fasig-Tipton this past July, the joint-highest price for a yearling by a first-crop...

Edited Press Release Well-respected Florida horseman George Isaacs has returned to the board of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association after a brief absence due to term limits. Laurine Fuller-Vargas of Morriston, George Russell of Reddick, T. Paul Bulmahn of Ocala and Nick de Meric of Ocala were re-elected to the board. They will each serve a three-year term that will run until October 2024. Leaving the board because of term limits is Richard Kent of Kaizen Sales. Isaacs is a past FTBOA board member and officer, who became...