“It was another good day,” OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said at the close of business Thursday. “We carried a lot of the momentum that we had yesterday into today and I think it will carry on through tomorrow.”

With two sessions in the books, OBS has sold 380 head for $15,776,500. The two-day average is $41,517 and the median is $18,000. With 106 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 21.8%.

Through two sessions of the pandemic-delayed 2020 sale, 336 head had sold for $9,395,600 for an average of $27,963 and a median of $13,000. At the close of the day, the buy-back rate was 28.3%.

In 2019, 429 juveniles had sold through two session for a gross of $13,839,200. The average was $32,259 and the median was $17,000. The buy-back rate at the end of the second session in 2019 was 25.4%.

Sellers had concerns that the middle and lower end of the market would be weaker without the presence of Korean buyers, but Wojciechowski said the domestic bench had stepped up, not just at the June sale, but throughout the spring.

“I think there has been strength throughout the market,” he said. “Particularly on an overall scale for the 2-year-old season, we were missing a big part of our buying bench in the Koreans. I went on the record in March that I thought we could pick up the slack and I got a few sideways looks, but I think domestically, we've done a great job of picking up the slack and filling the hole that the Koreans left in the market. Hopefully, they will be back next year. But I still think one thing that has impressed at this sale and throughout the season is the depth that we've had in the market.”

Consignors still felt the absence of the Korean buyers, who are not only traditionally prolific buyers in the middle and lower market, but also tend to force other buyers to bid higher.

“There is money for the right horses, but if you don't have the horse, it's over,” Woods said. “There is no one for the rest. We are missing our Koreans for the mopping up. And I suppose there are only so many horses that can get bought anyway.”

Still, competition for the perceived quality lots was still strong as the juvenile sales season marched towards its conclusion.

“This is our fifth [purchase],” Lloyd said after signing the ticket on the session topper. “But yesterday we got outrun four out of five times. It's very competitive. The ones that look good and perform well, they are going to get sold. The market is strong and it's going to continue to get stronger. We are through COVID and the purses in New York and Kentucky and Arkansas are so huge.”

The OBS June sale concludes with a final session Friday with bidding beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Nyquist Filly to Rockingham Ranch

Gary Hartunian's Rockingham Ranch added a filly by Nyquist to its roster when Kim Lloyd made a final bid of $420,000 to acquire hip 543 from Eddie Woods's consignment at OBS Thursday.

“We loved this filly,” Lloyd said. “She is a beautiful filly. Eddie is a good friend of mine. He was telling me about her and how he gave her the time off. And when you give a young horse time off like that and they come around like that, this is what you get. She goes from here to the races. We're very excited.”

The chesntut filly is out of stakes winner Midnight Ballet (Midnight Lute) and worked a furlong last week in :10 1/5.

“I loved the length of her stride,” Lloyd said of the juvenile. “She's a scopey filly. You can see that she hit a growing spell.”

Lloyd, who did his bidding from the back of the pavilion while on the phone with Hartunian, had to outlast Donato Lanni, who was doing his bidding out back. Lloyd admitted he had often come out on the losing side of bidding battles with the well-backed Lanni.

“In September, we were the direct underbidder five times,” Lloyd said of bidding against Lanni. “And then, seven other times when I quit at $250,000, they lapped me…$500,000, $510,000. Twelve horses that I landed on, Donato bought.”

Woods's pinhooking partnership Quarter Pole Enterprises purchased the chestnut filly for $200,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She was in the Fasig [Gulfstream] catalogue, but she just wasn't hitting right,” Woods explained. “I turned her out for five weeks and brought her back. I didn't want to bring her to Timonium because she's too big, so we had no option but to come here. But it worked out. She was always going to be a nice filly regardless of where we went. We are really happy with how it turned out.”

Another Imprecation for Roden

Bloodstock agent Alistair Roden, who purchased subsequent multiple graded stakes winner Anothertwistafate (Scat Daddy) and multiple graded placed Ajourneytofreedom (Hard Spun) from the OBS sales ring, purchased a third juvenile out of the mare Imprecation (First Defence) when he went to $350,000 to acquire a filly by Dialed In (hip 418) on behalf of Peter Redekop Thursday in Ocala.

“I know the family very well,” Roden said with a smile after signing the ticket on the filly, who was consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables on behalf of breeder Bryant Prentice. “When I first saw her, I thought she was like Ajourneytofreedom, but the more I looked at her, she was more like Anothertwistafate. She's large and well-balanced, a fancy-looking filly. The family seems to really improve. They all seem to be that type of a family, they are not wow horses in the springtime, but they seem to get better.”

Roden purchased Anothertwistafate for Redekop for $360,000 at the 2018 OBS June sale, just a week after Scat Daddy's Justify completed his Triple Crown sweep in the GI Belmont S. The handsome colt won the 2020 GIII Longacres Mile H. and this year's GII San Gabriel S. Ajourneytofreedom was purchased for $180,000 at the 2019 OBS April sale just as his half-brother was making a push towards that year's Classics.

Hip 418 RNA'd for $345,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale following a furlong work in :10 3/5. She worked a quarter-mile in :21 1/5 ahead of the June sale.

“I didn't see her at Gulfstream,” Roden said. “I saw the breeze and it wasn't the best of breezes, but Ciaran told me what his theory was. He's a good guy and we like buying off of him and his whole team over there. The breeze here was pheneomonal. We are happy to get her.”

Of the filly's experience at Gulfstream, Dunne said, “It was probably trainer/consignor error. We were very high on the filly earlier in the year, but she was immature mentally and physically. And in hindsight, I should have just waited and gone to April with her. She was a filly who always needed to go a quarter, she was very keen and anxious to please. In Miami, she was a little bit frenzied. Whereas here, going a quarter, she had the time to level out and smooth out. The farther she went here, the better she got.”

The dark bay filly's dam Imprecation is a daughter of group winner Media Nox (GB) (Lycius) and is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat), group winner Burning Sun (Danzig) and group-placed Mirabilis (Lear Fan).

Prentice purchased the mare for $223,246 at the 2013 Tattersalls December sale.

“It's a beautiful family,” Dunne said. “It's a family that has been good to us as sellers and to Mr. Prentice as a breeder. We sold Anothertwistafate in June, so maybe that's where that family has to go, June instead of Gulfstream.”

Of similarities between the siblings, Dunne said, “I think she is a mare who really throws to a stallion. Anothertwistafate was as pretty a horse as we ever had. Tall and elegant, he had that long Scat Daddy look to him. This filly here, you can really see the Dialed In and a little bit of Mineshaft. So I think she's a mare who really throws to the stallion. And the Hard Spun was different to the two of them again. But all of them are really good training horses. Hopefully she is as successful as her two brothers. If she is, it's a wonderful pedigree.”

Glassmans Strike for Hard Spun Colt

Karl and Cathi Glassman struck midway through Thursday's second session of the OBS June sale to acquire a colt by Hard Spun (hip 506) for $335,000 from the Eisaman Equine consignment. The bay colt will be trained by Maryland-based conditioner Brittany Russell.

“I trust everything that Barry Eisaman does,” Karl Glassman said when asked about the juvenile's appeal. “So Barry's background had a lot to do with it.”

The bay colt, who worked a furlong in :10 3/5 during last week's under-tack show, is out of the unraced Lovisa (Speightstown), a half-sister to stakes winner High Noon Rider (Distorted Humor) and stakes winner and group-placed Poupee Flash (Elusive Quality). His third dam is Chimes of Freedom (Private Account), who produced champion Aldebaran and Grade I winner Good Journey.

“The Hard Spuns are just good, durable horses, so I know that he's not going to be real precocious,” Glassman said. “Genetically, he looks like he should be a two-turn runner. We are patient. The horse's welfare is what is most important to us. and I know Barry and Shari have done a great job taking care of him.”

The Eisamans purchased the colt for $100,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Glassman is chairman and chief executive officer of the Missouri-based Leggett & Platt, a diversified manufacturer of various components and products.

The couple, who split their time between Florida and Missouri, have campaigned stakes winner April Gaze (High Cotton) and stakes placed Restofthestory (Jess's Dream).

Of their current racing stable, Glassman said, “Brad Cox has three, Eddie Plesa has nine and now Brittany will have four.”

The post OBS June Continues With Solid Results appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Joining the set, posted up at the tiki bar near the walking ring, were Green Group Guests of the Week Barry “Doc” Eisaman, Randy Miles, Nick de Meric and Terry Finley, all of whom exuded the optimism felt from economic and personal standpoints on the grounds compared to last year's delayed, angst-filled sale.

“The weight is just lifted off our back,” said Miles, whose six-horse consignment includes Hip 1099, an Into Mischief filly expected to bring a large return on the sale's final day after breezing a furlong in :9 4/5. “We had no idea what was going to happen last year. We were trying to sell horses privately because we didn't know what the market was going to be like. And a big part of this business is not about the money, it's about all of our friends. It's just so nice to be out here for this two-week period and all of our friends are here. It's like a big party. Everybody is in a great mood, and it's just refreshing. If we can get the racetracks back to this, it'll be so much fun. The financial stuff always takes care of itself. But the people are what makes it fun.”

Nick de Meric's de Meric Sales has come to OBS typically loaded with promising juveniles, which bore out later Wednesday in the ring when a Quality Road colt (hip 381, :10 flat breeze) from his shedrow hammered to Speedway Stable for a thus-far sale-topping $1.5 million.

“As we all know, if this business teaches you nothing else it teaches you to be humble, but we do have a couple of potential stars,” de Meric said. “We have a fabulous Quality Road, we have a couple of Into Mischiefs that we think an awful lot of. Curlin, Candy Ride, we've got some names represented in the consignment and the horses performed well and vetted well after their performance, and people seem to be lining up well in a few spots.”

de Meric also commented on the good feeling around the grounds, saying, “I think the atmosphere is diametrically opposed to last year. People have been on lockdown so long and had restricted travel so long, they're just ready to come out and play. And what better place to play than a 2-year-old sale? There is definitely a feeling of optimism in the air.”

The proximity to next Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby, also back on its normal calendar spot this year, also helped that optimism. West Point Thoroughbreds' CEO Finley bought a pair of babies Tuesday and spoke about the motivation of the impending Derby to find the next star.

“You look at the top 25 horses that are in contention for the Derby and they don't all come from day one in September, they don't all cost $600,000,” he said. “They come from all over the spectrum. So I think that's what keeps everybody [motivated]. The fact that you can come here and get a great athlete to take a shot with to try to get to the big races.”

Eisaman was this week's Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project Story of the Week after he and wife Shari's Eisaman Equine sold a homebred colt by Gun Runner (Hip 118, :10 flat breeze) for an easily session-topping $850,000 to Michael Lund Petersen in Tuesday's sale opener.

“My wife is the brains behind the management of our mares and it's extremely rewarding for her,” he said. “She picked Gun Runner, she helped select that mare, so to have one we raised from a little puppy to yesterday was very good. Every year when we leave the farm and go into the sale, there are young horses who are doing everything quite well and he was one of them. But you can never really predict at that point that he'd catch on with the right buyers and be that successful. After he got here, trained here, the breeze show happened and he galloped out so well, showed so much poise, you begin to evolve into understanding this, but our expectations were never in the range that he brought [Tuesday]. So it was a good day for us, our family, my wife and our broodmares.”

Elsewhere on the show, Bianca and Green reacted to the outstanding battle in the GI Apple Blossom H., talked about the reversal of disqualifications for Bob Baffert trainees Charlatan (Speightstown) and Gamine (Into Mischief) and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, broke down the implications of New Jersey's strict new whip rules. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Following the Withers, trainer Chad Brown praised Barry Eisaman, who broke the bay colt, noting that the professional performance by the son of Medaglia d'Oro came as no surprise.

“He's always been one we thought highly of and even when Barry Eisaman had him in Ocala, he's always liked him,” Brown said. “Everyone that's touched the horse has commented about how classy he was, the ability that he has and how he will get better with time and distance.”

After being purchased for $240,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Risk Taking was shipped to Eisaman Equine in Williston, Fla., just outside of Ocala, where he remained until the following summer.

Eisaman said it didn't take long for Risk Taking to find his footing.

“He was just a very classy horse,” said Eisaman, who also broke previous Withers winners El Areeb (2017) and Max Player (2020). “He always acted like a high school student with a college student mentality. Everything we asked him to do, he acted like he had done it a million times already.”

Eisaman, who specializes in breaking, training and rehabilitating horses for a number of leading owners, said he is confident in being able to recognize a promising young horse by observing their day-to-day routine in his program.

“I watch a lot of horses go through this stage of their life, from the first day a saddle is set on them to when they're ready to go to their trainer,” Eisaman said. “To compare a horse like Risk Taking to the masses, every time a new task was put before him he would just go on and do it like he had done it before.

“We never know how good a horse is until the last final test is taken,” added Eisaman. “You can have horses do everything right, but you don't know how it pans out until they're in a field of horses and have some adversity thrown their way. He's stepped up and has made all of his early talents count.”

Eisaman added that Risk Taking, who picked up 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his Withers win, appears to be a horse that can get a distance of ground.

“He really makes it look like getting the classic distances won't be much of a problem,” said Eisaman. “He's one of the ones that has now thrown his hat in the ring for Derby consideration. He's very Medaglia d'Oro looking. He's tall, leggy and looks like he would love two turns.”

Eisaman has enjoyed previous Triple Crown-trail success having helped to develop 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, who went through the Eisaman Equine consignment at the 2011 OBS April Sale as a 2-year-old before being sold to Dennis O'Neill for $35,000.

Eisaman said the thrill and feeling of accomplishment of developing a rising star never gets old.

“We've been doing this a long time and we're very fortunate to have a client base that play at the top end of our sport. We get a lot of good quality prospects in and we try to get them safely to the races,” Eisaman said. “It's fun. Me and my whole family are all fans of this sport so it's fun to watch them along the Derby trail. There's a lot of tests to pass between now and Derby day, but to have one that looks like a promising contender is just awesome.”

Risk Taking is expected to make his next start in the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 3 at Aqueduct. That 1 1/8-mile contest is a 100-40-20-10 Derby qualifier.

The post ‘Getting The Classic Distances Won’t Be Much Of A Problem’ For Withers Winner Risk Taking appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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After not racing as a 2-year-old, the dark bay Uncle Mo colt is undefeated in two starts including a last-out score on July 4 in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby. He enters Saturday's 151st running of the $1 million Runhappy Travers as the 5-2 second choice on the morning line behind even-money favorite Tiz the Law.

Uncle Chuck was sent to Eisaman Equine in Williston, Florida after being purchased for $250,000 by owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman from the Summerfield consignment at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Baffert has sent many of his yearlings with promise to Eisaman including 2016 Champion Sprinter Drefong, as well as 2011 Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty and fellow Grade 1 winners McKinzie, The Factor, Midnight Lucky, and Lord Nelson among others.

Uncle Chuck spent just over a year with Eisaman following the September sale and did not ship out to southern California until that following November, he began breezing at Los Alamitos.

“Uncle Chuck needed the time and Bob was willing to give him the time,” continued Eisaman. “In a perfect world, one would hope that he had more experience under his belt before facing what he must face on Saturday, but Bob wouldn't be sending him out there if he didn't have a legitimate shot.”

Uncle Chuck is the most lightly raced horse in the field. However, Baffert sent Arrogate to Saratoga for a track record-setting performance in the 2016 Travers with only four starts under his belt.

Eisaman said any qualms he had regarding Uncle Chuck during the training-under-saddle process were physical rather than mental and noted that he was both well-behaved and quick to learn.

“He always was a big, beautiful Uncle Mo colt,” Eisaman said. “The breaking process went along nice and smooth. I've gotten horses ready for Bob for many years. He knows when they're here, we don't need to talk about every horse, every week. Those that need a slow track get a slow track and those that are ready get sent out sooner.

“He was very well behaved,” Eisaman added. “You could take him home for dinner and not have trouble with him at the table. He was easy to work with under tack, and he would learn things we would introduce to him at an above average rate.”

Eisaman said the strapping Uncle Chuck has a remarkable stride.

“When you watch him work or in his races, you don't get the impression he goes all that fast, but he covers ground like a creature of some sort,” said Eisaman.

Having worked with numerous progeny of Uncle Mo, Eisaman said the champion-producing stallion has the tendency to stamp his offspring and added that the same could be said for Uncle Mo's sire, Indian Charlie.

“They are usually dark bay or brown horses with a good body, good bone, good mind,” Eisaman said. “Sometimes, Uncle Mo can get people to think that his offspring can be on the fragile side. In the Thoroughbred horse world, there are young horses that really just need to develop more slowly. If you give them the time and let them get their act together and get sound, you can be well rewarded for it. The Uncle Mo offspring look like Indian Charlies and that stallion stamped his offspring, too. It's a strong line through the male lineage.”

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Uncle Chuck is out of the graded stakes-winning Unbridled's Song broodmare Forest Music, who produced graded stakes winner Electric Forest as well as American classic producing stallion Maclean's Music.

Uncle Chuck is not the only Eisaman Equine alumni in the Runhappy Travers as Max Player, third in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, was also shown the ropes by Eisaman.

Eisaman has a long history with co-owner and breeder George Hall, who owns the son of second crop stallion Honor Code in partnership with SportBLX Thoroughbreds.

“We broke numerous Derby starters for George, like Pants On Fire [ninth in 2011 Kentucky Derby] who won the Louisiana Derby that year, so we've had a long relationship with him,” Eisaman said. “This one was a bit of a sleeper. He seemed more like a good, large, hunter prospect than a racehorse prospect when he trained. He was so quiet. He stayed on the pretty laid-back side.”

Max Player was a second-out maiden winner at Parx in December before winning the Grade 3 Withers on February 1 at Aqueduct for trainer Linda Rice.

“She's an excellent horsewoman,” Eisaman said of the 2009 leading trainer at the Spa. “Up to the first time she ran him, he was hard to gauge. He wasn't one to advertise himself in the morning. He's got a lot of closing capability and it seems like Uncle Chuck would be closer to the front than Max Player. But if there's a pace up front, he's capable of picking up the pieces.”

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“One of the reasons I bought him, when I saw him, he's an Uncle Mo with all speed in there, but if you look at him he just doesn't look it,” Baffert said on Tuesday's NTRA teleconference. “He was big, tall, lanky, not like a typical Uncle Mo… He's got the body of a two-turn horse.”

A $250,000 yearling at the Keeneland September sale, Uncle Chuck went to Barry Eisaman for his early training. Baffert specifically told Eisaman not to rush the big colt, that he didn't plan to run him at two. In fact, Uncle Chuck didn't debut until June of his 3-year-old year, winning his first start over a mile at Santa Anita by seven lengths. In his second start, the colt posted a four-length win over stablemate Thousand Words in the G3 Los Alamitos Derby.

It isn't the first time Baffert has compared Uncle Chuck to Arrogate, the record-setting Travers winner of 2016.

“I really think with his stride, he covers a lot a ground,” said Baffert. “The ground that he covers reminds me of Arrogate. He handles it well, doesn't get tired.”

There are questions left to be answered, however. Uncle Chuck will be shipping across the country to for the first time in his short career, and he'll be facing a tough group of more experienced rivals, including likely favorite, the Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law.

“I've been very impressed with (Tiz the Law),” Baffert said. “They have managed him well and picked the right spots with him. I think he has progressed perfectly. He definitely is the best 3-year-old in the country right now. I'll get an idea if I can run with him or not. It is going to be exciting, but we're hoping we are as good as he is, that is why we are going over there.”

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