Trio Share Quarter-Mile Bullet at OBS

The under-tack preview of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training continued with its fourth session Wednesday and three horses sharing the quarter-mile bullet of :21 1/5 and seven juveniles working a furlong in a co-bullet :10 flat.

Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables sent out two of the three bullet quarter-mile bullets, with hip 615, a daughter of Colonel John, working in :21 1/5, and a son of Horse Greeley (hip 744) putting in a matching :21 1/5 drill.

“The Colonel John is a homebred for a longtime client in Hickstead Farm,” Dunne said. “She is here because, the way April panned out, horses needed to get scratched. They had two fillies to sell this year in open sales and they made the choice that she was the better of the two and would probably be less affected by having to go in June rather than April. That is why she ended up in the June Sale.”

The juvenile is out of Mystery Bullet (Red Bullet), a half-sister to stakes winner Forty Thieves (Read the Footnotes) and from the family of MGISP Hamazing Destiny.

“She is a really nice filly, she's a big solid strong filly,” Dunne said. “We have a couple of runners out of this mare that have been ok on the racetrack and this is the best physical that the mare has ever had.”

Hip 744 will be making his second trip through the OBS sales ring next week. The colt is out of stakes-placed Raintree Lake (Salt Lake), a half-sister to Grade I winner Perfect Drift (Dynaformer). He RNA'd at OBS April after working a furlong in :10 3/5.

“He is a beautiful horse and a really good physical,” Dunne said. “April just didn't work out for him for whatever reason. It just didn't happen. We brought him home, gave him a little time and it happened today. He was always a horse that we held in high esteem.”

Wavertree was also responsible for one of seven horses to work the fastest furlong of Wednesday's under-tack preview when hip 715 worked in :10 flat. From the first crop of juvenile champion Hansen (Tapit), the bay filly is out of Proud Indian (Indian Charlie), a half to the dam of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Summerly (Summer Squall).

“She is a really nice filly who belongs to John and Frank Penn out of Lexington–she is a homebred for them,” Dunne explained. “I don't think you'll find too many people who won't tell you what a nice horse they generally raise. She was originally supposed to go to the April sale and with a bit of this and a bit of that, April didn't happen for her. We were quietly confident going up there today that she would work really well and thankfully she did.”

After a week of wildly fluctuating weather in Ocala, Dunne was quick to sing the praises of OBS's synthetic Safetrack surface.

“I'm a big believer in Safetrack,” Dunne said. “I think it lives up to its name–the injuries we see are down. I think the greatest thing we can say about it is how consistent it is. Today and yesterday the track was maybe a hair slower than it was the first couple of days, but I would think it was because the wind turned and there was a headwind yesterday and the first part of today. But in terms of the surface itself, credit to OBS, I think it has been amazingly consistent. We hear criticism of it and people saying they'd rather buy off dirt, but let me tell you, if they'd be trying to buy off dirt this week, they'd be spending another week in Ocala. There is no way with a dirt track that we would have been able to have a breeze show yesterday. And there is no way that you could keep it consistent. With the fluctuation in temperature, wind and rain, the horses would be at such a disadvantage at some point. And that is just not fair. I'm a big advocate of this surface.”