OCALA, FL – With a significantly larger catalogue this year, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds always figured to eclipse the record gross it set last year, but the three-day auction ended Thursday with, not just that new highwater mark, but also with a sale record median figure.
“A lot of horses got sold at a lot of different levels,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said. “That's always a good thing, particularly for the last sale of the year.”
A total of 653 juveniles sold at the June sale for a gross of $26,986,500–eclipsing the record of $24,626,450 set when 567 horses sold for $24,626,450 at the 2021 auction. The average was $41,327–down just 4.8% from last year's record mark of $43,433.
The median held steady at $25,000 for each of the sale's three sessions to top the previous record of $20,000.
“I think the median is a better tell-tale sign of the strength of the sale than the gross,” Wojciechowski. “As that median creeps up, we are still getting plenty of horses traded at the lower price levels, but covering all of our bases. Averages can get skewed, but the median seems to be a truer figure in a lot of these cases.”
The buy-back rate for the sale was 19%. It was 18.2% at the conclusion of the 2021 sale before falling to 17.2% with the inclusion of post-sale transactions.
“I think June continues to show that it is a stand alone sale. It has its own legs,” Wojciechowski said. “Plenty of quality horses come out of this sale.”
Peter Miller was busying makes the rounds on the OBS sales grounds all week and the trainer finally got on the board with three purchases Thursday, led by a $200,000 daughter of Good Magic (hip 984).
“It's tough. The market is tough for the good ones,” Miller said. “We are all on the same horses and you have to pay a lot more for them. It's been that way at pretty much every sale this year.”
The June sale brought the curtain down on a record-setting juvenile sales season.
“It was a great season for us,” Wojciechowski said. “And a lot of that was predicated on the quality of the horses that the consignors brought us. Without them, we wouldn't have a sale.”
De Meric Sales was the leading consignor at the June sale, with 28 juveniles sold for $1,889,000.
“It has been a great season for all of us,” said Tristan de Meric. “The market has been strong all the way up to this sale. This sale took a little bit of time to warm up, but it felt better yesterday and today.”
Asked to assess the quality of the season for his Wavertree Stables consignment, Ciaran Dunne said, “Overall, it was a good year. It doesn't get any easier, but it's not supposed to. We had enough bright spots to paint over the spots. When the dust settles and we look back on it, it will be a good year.”
Asked if he had seen a stronger middle market in 2021, Dunne said, “If there was one, I didn't see it. It's the same thing. We need two or three horses to carry the weight for the rest of them. And then it's a question of trading horses to stop paying bills. I think overall, we did a good job of that. Our clearance rate has been very strong. We took our lumps where we needed to take them.”
Looking ahead to restocking with the start of the yearling sales season next month, de Meric said, “I think it will be more of the same. You've got to be careful when you're buying. Hopefully we can find more of the right ones.”
Curlin Colt a Late Star
Trainer Ron Moquett struck late to secure a colt by Curlin
(hip 1087) for $370,000 as the final session of the OBS June sale wound down Thursday afternoon. Moquett, who did his bidding out back, saw off bloodstock agent Chad Schumer, bidding at the pack of the pavilion, to secure the chestnut colt on behalf of Alabama businessman Gus King.
“His pedigree is very good,” Moquett said of the colt's appeal. “He's a very strong, athletic-looking horse. We know he comes from good people, from the breeder all the way up. Hopefully we can just carry on the care that they gave him.”
Of King, Moquett added, “He sells a lot and now he's finally letting us keep a couple and buy a couple. He likes the sport, so I want him to do well.”
The session topper was consigned by Eddie Woods on behalf of his breeder, Hill 'n' Dale Holdings and Stretch Run Ventures. He is out of stakes-placed Distracting (Distorted Humor), a daughter of Teeming (Storm Cat) and half-sister to Grade I winner Streaming (Smart Strike). The colt RNA'd for $135,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale and was supplemented to the June sale after being scratched from the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale following an :11 flat work. He worked a quarter-mile last week in :21 3/5.
“He was a horse that was a really good individual,” Hill 'n' Dale's John Sikura said of the colt as a yearling. “He kind of slapped his feet when he walked. We thought people would overlook that and it wouldn't bother them, but as a yearling, they didn't overcome it.”
Of the colt's experience in Timonium last month, Sikura said, “We brought him to Maryland and Eddie said he didn't like the track, didn't work great. The horse had really trained well and he worked well here. And it's a world-class pedigree. He's the kind of horse that, being by Curlin with that family, if he has success on the racetrack, he has unlimited value.”
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