The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company will open its 2023 schedule with the Winter Mixed Sale and Horses of Racing Age which begins its two-day run Tuesday morning in Central Florida. The auction begins at noon with a consignor preferred mixed session of 143 catalogued head, followed immediately by an offering of 148 horses of racing age. Wednesday's open mixed session, which also begins at noon, includes 253 catalogued offerings.
“We are excited to be kicking off the year with a good sale,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “I think we have a good crop of short yearlings. We had the breeze show Monday and had some horses show out on the racetrack–there were a number of unraced 3-year-olds that are ready to go.”
The January sale benefits from buyers coming in from out of town to take advantage of both the horses on offer, as well as the warm weather, according to Wojciechowski.
“We see a lot of people who come down from Kentucky–I think they are looking for a reason to come down out of the cold and have a neat opportunity to shop for short yearlings,” he said. “And then we get a number of trainers who come in from all over the country for the racing age section who are getting ready to restock their stables for the spring and the summer.”
The 270 yearlings catalogued represent a diverse group of sires, including: Audible, Bolt d'Oro, Bucchero, Caravaggio, Catalina Cruiser, City of Light, Classic Empire, Enticed, Flameaway, Frosted, Girvin, Kantharos, Khozan, Kitten's Joy, Maclean's Music, Malibu Moon, Maximus Mischief, Midshipman, Mitole, More Than Ready, Omaha Beach, Practical Joke, Sharp Azteca, Solomini, Tapit, Union Rags, Upstart, Vino Rosso, Violence and World of Trouble.
First-crop sires with yearlings in the sale include Complexity, Gift Box, Global Campaign, Gunnevera, Improbable, Instagrand, Instilled Regard, McKinzie, Shancelot, Spun to Run, Thousand Words and Vekoma.
The sale also features mares in foal to such sires as: Awesome Slew, Bolt d'Oro, Connect, Dialed In, Girvin, Gunnevera, Improbable, Independence Hall, Midshipman, Mitole, Tacitus, Uncle Chuck, Vekoma and Violence.
During Monday's under-tack show, a pair of unraced 3-year-old geldings shared the three-furlong bullet time of :33 1/5: hip 210, an unnamed gelding by Dialed In consigned by Coastal Equine (video); and Honor You Vow (Broken Vow) (hip 215) consigned by Kaizen Sales (video).
An unraced 3-year-old filly by Micromanage (hip 309) worked a half-mile in :47 flat and that bullet time was equaled by the unraced 3-year-old colt D'Composer (Mendelssohn) (hip 348, video), who is consigned by CM Thoroughbreds, Agent I.
“We had very good attendance at the under-tack show,” Wojciechowski said. “We have seen a lot of activity in the barns starting Sunday and continuing on today. We are excited to start the new year off right.”
A yearling filly by Gun Runner topped the 2022 Winter Mixed sale when selling for $275,000 to Breeze Easy. The filly was one of eight six-figure horses at last year's auction.
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