OCALA, FL – While it took some time to find its stride, the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training gained momentum throughout the day and concluded with figures in line with the first session of its record-setting 2023 renewal.

“I thought it was a good day,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “A good horse sells well and I thought we had a lot of nice horses today. Holding true to last year, that's a great start to the week. Obviously, there are a lot of nice horses left to come.”

From a catalogue of 302 juveniles, 205 horses went through the ring Tuesday for a gross of $19,725,000. The average of $136,034 was right on par with the 2023 figure of $136,665, while the median of $87,000 rose 16% from a year ago.

With 60 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 29.3%.

The auction's first hour included a number of RNA's as the Spring Sale settled into rhythm and many of them were getting sold Tuesday evening after bidding had stopped for the evening.

“I think some of that was the sale just getting started,” Wojciechowski said of the measured start to the sale. “I think a little bit of that maybe getting their feet wet, getting their sea legs. I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of those horses getting sold in the post-sale setting here pretty quick.”

Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni and trainer Bob Baffert purchased the session's top-priced lot, going to $775,000 for a filly by Caracaro on behalf of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. The filly was consigned by Global Thoroughbreds.

Pedro Lantz, bidding on behalf of KAS Stables, purchased the session's top-priced colt, a son of Global Campaign, for $650,000. The juvenile was consigned by Eddie Woods, who was the session's leading consignor with nine sold for $2,213,500.

The OBS Spring sale continues through Friday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m.

Three Amigos Strike for Caracaro Filly

A filly from the first crop of Grade I-placed Caracaro (hip 199) turned heads with a quarter-mile work in :20 2/5 during last week's under-tack show and she duly delivered in the sales ring Tuesday when selling for session-topping $775,000. Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, alongside trainer Bob Baffert, handled bidding out back of the pavilion to acquire the speedy filly on behalf of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. She was consigned by Global Thoroughbreds and was bred by the consignment's Rafael Celis.

The Caracaro filly's work last week | Judit Seipert

“We are happy to get her,” Lanni said. “She did everything she was asked to do. She went fast, came back great.”

The filly is out of Key d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), a half-sister to stakes-placed Twirled (Twirling Candy).

Caracaro, who was second in the 2020 GI Travers S. and GIII Peter Pan S., stands at Crestwood Farm for $6,500.

“He is throwing a beautiful athletic horse,” Lanni said of the stallion's first crop of foals. “You see a lot of Uncle Mo's influence.” @JessMartiniTDN

Caracaro Keeps Rewarding Celis

Caracaro is the stallion who keeps giving for Rafael Celis, who campaigned the bay in partnership with Lucas Noriego's Top Racing. After watching his homebred filly from the first crop of Caracaro sell for $775,000 at OBS Tuesday, the native of Venezuela was beaming with pride.

Rafael Celis and family | Jessica Martini

“That was our best filly in the whole program,” Celis said. “We had high expectations for her. She's by Caracaro, who is our stallion that we own with Crestwood Farm. We were really excited about her. She had been doing well all the way in training. We weren't sure if we should work her a furlong or a quarter, but she prepped really nice and we decided to go a quarter. She was really fast and the gallop out was really strong. She went out in :44 and :59, which was very good.”

Celis purchased Caracaro for $95,000 as a weanling at the 2017 Keeneland November sale. He admitted he almost had the horse sold as a 2-year-old in 2019.

“In our program, we buy weanlings and take them to the 2-year-old sales,” Celis said. “That's what we do. I almost had him sold, but he had an issue and we got him back after we sold him. So we decided to race him.”

In the COVID-delayed season of 2020, Caracaro broke his maiden by six lengths at Gulfstream Park in January and returned to just miss when second behind Country Grammer in the GIII Peter Pan S. in July. He was second behind Tiz the Law in the GI Travers S. in what proved to be his final career start.

“We qualified for the Kentucky Derby, but we couldn't make it because he had a problem with his suspensory,” Celis said. “We couldn't race in the Derby, so we went shopping around to see who wanted him as a stallion. The Crestwood people were open and we made a deal with them.”

While Celis has just 10 broodmares in the U.S., his family has plenty of experience in the breeding industry.

“We have a breeding farm in Venezuela,” he said. “So we have been in the horse business for 50 years. The name of Caracaro is actually the name of our farm in Venezuela, which my father, who passed away, named and that's why we named the horse Caracaro.”

Celis will offer two more juveniles by Caracaro this spring and has an additional 10 yearlings for next year. But he won't completely divest his foals by the stallion.

“We are going to keep two for racing,” he said. @JessMartiniTDN

Global Campaign Colt Sells To KAS Stables

Hip 291, a colt consigned by Eddie Woods, Agent III from the first crop of WinStar's Global Campaign, may be bound for Saudi Arabia after bringing a final bid of $650,000 from Pedro Lantz, acting as agent for KAS Stables. Selling late in Tuesday's session, the colt impressed Lantz not only during his :10 breeze last week but also as a yearling at OBS last October.

Global Campaign | Sarah Andrew

“I tried to buy this horse as a yearling at OBS October [last year]. And I saw his breeze–he has spectacular action and a very fluid stride.”

Buying for Saudi Arabia-based KSA Stables, Lantz noted that the colt may ship overseas but could also stay in America as KSA is looking to expand their operation. By Global Campaign, who is represented by his first 2-year-olds this year, the colt's price exceeded Lantz's expectations.

“I was expecting four [hundred thousand], maybe five [hundred thousand] but people are paying and everyone is on the same horses. So I told them [KSA Stables] to be prepared for at least five [hundred thousand] because the horse [vetted] clean and was about perfect.”

Lantz was busy throughout the day, also picking up hip 195, a filly by Nyquist also from the Eddie Woods consignment for KAS Stables bound for Saudi Arabia, and looks to stay busy throughout the remainder of the week.

“This is a sale that you can get a good horse,” Lantz continued. “I expect to go for [a few] more horses this week. There are a lot of nice horses–in the final two days especially.” @SGrimmTDN

Uncle Mo Filly to Coolmore

A filly by Uncle Mo (hip 166) jumped to the top midway through the session at OBS Tuesday when selling for $600,000 to Justin Casse, who was bidding on behalf of Coolmore's M.V. Magnier. The bay, who was consigned by Tom McCrocklin, worked a quarter-mile last week in :20 3/5. She is out of graded winner Jacaranda (Congrats), who is a half-sister to Constitution and is the dam of Grade I-placed Be You (Curlin) and stakes-placed American West (Curlin).

Justin Casse at OBS in March | Photos by Z

“She is extremely attractive,” Casse said of the filly. “It's a lovely family. The dam is a half-sister to Constitution. She's an Uncle Mo filly, everything you would want from a nice female family sire line and possible future broodmare prospect.”

McCrocklin purchased the filly for $380,000 on behalf of Michael Sucher's Champion Equine at the Fasig-Tipton October sale last fall.

Of the filly's final price tag Tuesday, Casse said, “I thought she was one of the best fillies here, so it was good to get in at that price. I haven't seen what the rest of the sale has been like, I know it's early, but we are happy to get her.” @JessMartiniTDN

Spendthrift Partners Up on Nyquist Colt

A third of the way through Tuesday's opening session, Spendthrift Farms's Ned Toffey started the action off, going to $550,000 for a colt (hip 125) by GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. Bred in Maryland by Bowman and Higgins Stable, the colt was purchased as a yearling for a sale-topping $205,000 by Thorostock & Seth Morris Thoroughbreds at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale and is out of a winning half-sister to the dam of MGISW and young Spendthrift sire Cyberknife (Gun Runner).

Ned Toffey | Spendthrift

“He was hard to miss,” said Toffey after signing the ticket. “He's a big, beautiful colt and [we] had him identified based off his breeze. I love the sire and he's just a big, athletic-looking horse.”

Toffey confirmed that the colt, who worked in :10,  will head west to race in partnership with MKW Racing and Breeding LLC.

“He'll go back to Spendthrift to get a little bit of a break and then we'll send him out to Richard Mandella.” @SGrimmTDN

Maryland Sale Topper Shines at OBS

A Maryland-bred son of Nyquist (hip 125) brought the top price of last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale when bringing a final bid of $205,000 from Thorostock and Seth Morris Thoroughbreds and he helped kick start the OBS Spring sale Tuesday when selling for $550,000 to Spendthrift Farm/MKW Racing and Breeding.

“He was an extraordinarily well-balanced, good-minded horse,” Thorostock's Nick Sallusto said after sending the colt through the ring Tuesday. “He had almost perfect conformation. He was really typical of Nyquist. We felt really lucky the day we found him.”

Nyquist | Sarah Andrew

Sallusto continued, “At the time, Nyquist wasn't as fashionable as he is right now. But I have long been a fan of his. I just felt he was a lot of horse at that particular sale and I wasn't sure I would be able to get him.”

The juvenile worked a furlong during last week's under-tack show in :10 flat.

“He's really advanced since [October],” Sallusto said. “He is a later foal, so we knew he had plenty of advancement left in him. And he still does. He has so much more to go. He has put every foot forward the right way. He never had a day of missed training. He was a lovely horse.” @JessMartiniTDN

Omaha Beach Filly Brings $390,000 For JVC Training And Sales

JVC Training and Sales's Jorge Villagomez saw a good return on investment when the Omaha Beach filly (hip 127) he purchased for clients for $40,000 at Keeneland September last year brought a final bid of $390,000 from Woodford Thoroughbreds during Tuesday's session.

“Her particularly, she's been special for a long time,” said Villagomez. “They say the cream always rises to the top and she was always very fast so it's no surprise that she came over here and did what she did.”

Omaha Beach | Spendthrift/Autry Graham

After working in :10, hip 127 stayed busy throughout the lead up to the sale.

Villagomez continued: “She had a ton of activity–almost an overwhelming amount. She was shown over 100 times and got plenty of attention [from vettings]. We're not at all surprised that she brought the kind of money she did. [Her breeze] was exceptional and everyone was on her.”

Early in the sale, Villagomez, who will sell three more hips later in the week, was cautiously optimistic on his expectations.

“For the good horses? The buyers are here. They're here for horses that breeze well and [vet] well. The rest of [the horses] will be hit or miss. But I don't think anyone will have a problem selling a good horse.” @SGrimmTDN

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“It was pretty special,” consignor Tom McCrocklin said of the bullet quarter-mile work. “I have one disability that keeps me knowing that one will go that fast and that is that I don't clock my horses at any point. But I did know that she could really run. She's been doing extremely well for the last month, getting better and better. So she obviously peaked at the right time and put in a stellar performance.”

The bay filly is out of stakes-placed Moonlight Sky (Sky Mesa), a half-sister to champion Abel Tasman (Quality Road) and a full to graded winner Sky Girl. Moonlight Sky is also the dam of graded-placed Urban (Quality Road).

McCrocklin purchased the juvenile for $170,000 on behalf of Jim Tilton at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She looked like an athlete, looked like a runner,” McCrocklin said of the filly's appeal last fall. “She's got pedigree as well. She is a half to a black-type filly and has Abel Tasman in the second dam. So there is a lot of quality there. For a first year stallion, it's a little bit of a gamble, but he was a very high-quality racehorse and she was a beautiful physical horse. She brought a lot of money as a yearling and, right now, I feel good about the purchase.”

Tiz the Law, winner of the GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. in the COVID-delayed 2020 season, has 12 juveniles expected to breeze at OBS this week.

“This filly has a lot of Tiz the Law in her,” McCrocklin said. “She is a strong, stout filly. There is nothing feminine about her. She's easily mistaken for a colt. She's real quiet. I checked in on her first thing this morning and she's in there sleeping like it's just another day at the office.”

The :20 1/5 mark was most recently set by a filly by Win Win Win, who went on to top the OBS March sale when selling for $1.8 million to Zedan Racing.

A Trio of Bullet Workers for Vekoma

Of the 17 juveniles to work the furlong in :9 4/5 Tuesday, three were by Spendthrift Farm's first-crop sire Vekoma. Leading off that trio was a filly out of stakes-placed Our Jenny B (Tale of the Cat) (hip 435) who was the second horse to work Tuesday morning. She is consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales, which purchased her for $60,000 in Louisiana last fall.

Just a few hips later, a colt by Vekoma out of Newbie (Bernardini) (hip 411) also turned in a :9 4/5 work. Consigned by Sequel Bloodstock, as agent for Chester and Mary Broman, he is a half-brother to graded winner Classy Edition (Classic Empire) and to multiple stakes winner Newly Minted (Central Banker).

A filly by Vekoma (hip 479) completed the stallion's three bullet workers midway through the session's second hour. She is consigned by Mayberry Farm on behalf of Nice Guys Stables, which purchased her for $130,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She's always been a lovely, honest filly,” Summer Mayberry said of the juvenile. “We were expecting that she would work very well. She tries every single time. She's got a great disposition. She just makes our job look easy.”

Out of Pray for Leslie (Bernardini), the filly is a half-sister to last year's GI Darley Alcibiades third-place finisher Alys Beach (Omaha Beach).

“She is an average-sized filly with a very racy body,” Mayberry said. “She has beautiful confirmation. She's got all the parts that you look for.”

Of the first-crop Vekoma juveniles that she has seen, Mayberry said, “We have three still at the farm. They all seem like they are pretty nice horses. They have great dispositions, good conformation. Just very nice racehorses.”

Steve Spielman's Nice Guys partnership has already enjoyed seven-figure success at OBS, having sold a daughter of Arrogate for $1 million to Katsumi Yoshida at the 2021 Spring sale. The operation has four fillies still to work this week at OBS with Mayberry Farm.

Twice as Nice

Both Grassroots Training & Sales and Sequel Bloodstock doubled up on bullet workers Tuesday. Grassroots sent out a colt by Improbable (hip 517) to hit that mark, while Sequel sent out a New York-bred son of Game Winner (hip 487), also for the Bromans.

First-crop sire Game Winner had a second bullet worker Tuesday with hip 389, a son of the 2018 champion 2-year-old champion consigned by Julie Davies.

Eddie Woods had a pair of bullet workers Tuesday: hip 454 is a daughter of Practical Joke; and hip 460 is a filly from the first crop of Thousand Words.

Thousand Words had his second bullet of the session when hip 506, a filly by the Spendthrift stallion, worked in :9 4/5 for Britton Peak. Thousand Words has already had his first winner on the racetrack after The Queens M G's victory at Keeneland Sunday.

Also sharing the :9 4/5 bullet Tuesday: hip 372, a filly by St Patrick's Day consigned by Sweet River Thoroughbreds; hip 392, a filly by Khozan consigned by Shanbally Acres; hip 407, a colt by Bernardini consigned by Envision Equine; hip 448, a filly by Mendelssohn consigned by Paul Sharp; hip 477, a colt by Oscar Performance consigned by Wavertree Stables; hip 489, a filly by Mendelssohn consigned by Randy Miles; hip 502, a colt by Global Campaign consigned by Top Line Sales; and hip 511, a filly by Ride On Curlin consigned by Blue River Bloodstock.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. The OBS Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday. Bidding commences each day at 10:30 a.m.

The post Tiz the Law Filly Zips Fastest Quarter at OBS Tuesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale opened Tuesday with a solid session, and while the 2-year-old sales are usually all about speed, the day was topped by a colt by Tapit who galloped during last week's under-tack show. From the Lothenbach dispersal, the youngster sold for $1.2 million to the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds and D. J. Stables. He was consigned by Tom McCrocklin.

“I think it points to the fact that the under-tack show is one metric,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “There are a lot of different metrics that people use to buy horses. The under-tack shows get talked about a lot, but it's not the only thing. There were obviously people here who felt like they could get a good read on the horse and liked what they saw at the barn and what they saw on the racetrack in the way he moved. Everybody focuses on the time because it's an easy touch point, but there are a lot of other variables and intangibles that go into that decision-making process.”

During the session, 152 horses sold for $20,844,000 for an average of $137,132 and a median of $73,500. The average was down 11% from a year ago and the median dipped 18.3%. The buy-back rate for Tuesday's session was 26.9%. It was 32.1% a year ago.

“It's hard to compare day to days after the first day, but I thought it was pretty on line with last year overall,” Wojciechowski said.

Showing the breadth of the buying bench, the top 10-priced lots were purchased by 10 different buyers.

“The buying bench was pretty varied,” Wojciechowski said. “There were a lot of different people buying horses. I felt like we have good horses spread out through the entire catalogue. We obviously had some highlights today and I think we will continue to have highlights over the next two days.”

Of the top 10 sellers Tuesday, two were from the first crop of Gainesway stallion McKinzie, with Bill Childs going to $750,000 for a colt from the Wavertree Stables consignment and Belmar Racing, R.A. Hill and Gargan going to $450,000 for a colt from the King's Equine consignment. Both colts shared bullet furlong work times of :9 4/5.

The OBS March sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 11 a.m.

West Point, DJ Stable Unite for Tapit Colt

Proving that value rarely goes unnoticed among the savvy juvenile market buyers, Hip 173, a colt by leading sire Tapit, realized $1.2 million on the OBS March Sale's opening day. With the tempo picking up noticeably as the session progressed, West Point Thoroughbreds and D J Stable teamed up to land the opening session's sole seven-figure offering. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, the Feb. 27 foal was a member of the Lothenbach Stables Dispersal.

Jonathan Green & Terry Finley | Photos by Z

“He's the kind that we look for. We figured he'd bring a lot of money, but I think he's got plenty of upside,” said West Point's Terry Finley. “The Tapits can be across the board in terms of their mental disposition, but he has a very cool mind and acted the right way. With these expensive horses, we tend to say the same things and just keep our fingers crossed. You just hope they live up to that expectation.”

Out of Distorted Music, herself a $190,000 Keeneland September purchase in 2011, the gray is a half-brother to Grade III winner She Can't Sing (Bernardini). The colt represents the family of GI CCA Oaks heroine Music Note, dam of G1 Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide, in addition to French Classic scorer Musical Chimes.

“Obviously, we have a soft spot for Tapit,” explained Finley. “We love the fact that this [colt] is big and raw.”

The dispersal came up after Bob Lothenbach died suddenly at the age of 64 last fall. All of the Lothenbach horses galloped during last week's breeze sessions.

“I didn't know [Lothenbach] but I know he had a beautiful breeding program and ran a great operation,” said Finley. “We knew we were buying something from a very effective program.”

D J Stable's Jon Green was equally enthused with Tuesday's purchase.

“You look at these dispersals, and it seems like every year one jumps out of that program. We hope it works out that way. But we really thought he was the best of that group. The fact that he was galloping and not breezing, for a big horse like that, it only added to his appeal because we felt it would be more beneficial to his development. The world is his oyster.”

Partnering on a handful of horses in the past, including Grade III winner Turned Aside (American Pharoah), longtime friends Len and Jon Green and Finley thought it seemed like the right time to take the relationship to the next level.

“We have had a couple of horses with the Greens in the past, but this is by far the best we've ever got our hands on together, so we're excited to go forward,” said Finley.

Green echoed the sentiment.

“The important thing about this horse are the people behind it. Terry and I have been talking and we were just waiting for the right horse and we felt this was absolutely the right athlete to go after. He looks like he has two-turn ability and we're going to take our time with him. This was just the right opportunity.” —@CBossTDN

Not This Time Colt Heads to Japan

A colt by Not This Time (hip 183) will be heading to Japan after selling for $850,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent Shingo Hashimoto, acting on behalf of Katsumi Yoshida. The dark bay colt was consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds on behalf of trainer Tom Durant. He worked a furlong last week in :10 flat.

“His workout was really good and his appearance was really nice,” Hashimoto said. “We really liked the colt and we are very excited about him. We will bring him back to Japan and see how he goes.”

The colt is out of Dos Vinos (Twirling Candy), a half-sister to stakes winner China Grove (City Zip) purchased by Durant for $230,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale.

Hashimoto, who purchased a $1.05-million son of Arrogate on behalf of Yoshida at last year's March sale, was making his second purchase of the 2024 auction with hip 183. He went to $310,000 for a filly by Take Charge Indy (hip 110) earlier in the session.

Of the March sale's appeal, Hashimoto said, “It's good to know how the horses change from what we saw at the yearling sale and how they train. I think the level of training that they do in the U.S. is very high.” @JessMartiniTDN

Colts Group Adds an Uncle Mo Juvenile

The BSW/Crow Colts Group and Spendthrift Farm partnership, which has been active at the yearling sales the last few years, supplemented its 2024 roster heading to the barn of trainer Brad Cox with the purchase of an Uncle Mo colt (hip 106) for $750,000 during Tuesday's first session of the OBS March sale. The bay colt, consigned by Pick View, is out of Canteen (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Hip 106 | Photos by Z

“Everybody on the team liked him,” Liz Crow said after signing the ticket on the juvenile. “Katelyn Jackson, Ned Toffey and his son Daniel and Seth [Semkin] and then Brad Cox, everybody on the whole team felt like he fit what we were looking for.”

The partners had success buying at OBS last year, purchasing Jimmy Winkfield S. winner Bergen (Liam's Map) for $375,000 at the OBS April sale.

“It was hard to buy yearlings last year,” Crow said. “We have a small number, we only have 10, and so this will be our 11th horse for the group.”

Stock Thoroughbreds purchased the colt for $270,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. He worked a furlong during last week's under-tack show in :10 2/5. @JessMartiniTDN

Childs Jumps into the Fray Early at OBS

Bill Childs sat chilly until the closing moments of last year's OBS March Sale to land a Justify colt for $700,000. This year, the Texas businessman reversed course and extended to $750,000 for Hip 89, a son of freshman sire McKinzie, early in the sale.

The bay recorded a :9.4 move for Wavertree Stables during last Wednesday's breeze session.

“I really liked everything about him,” said Childs. “I liked the way he worked–that was an obvious reason. But I also liked him because I thought he'd want to go two turns.”

Bill Childs | Photos by Z

Out of Breech Inlet (Holy Bull), the Ontario-bred is a half-brother to Canadian multiple stakes winner and graded placed Merveilleux (Paynter). The colt's 14-year-old dam, a granddaughter of GISW By Land By Sea, is a half-sister to GSW Bauble Queen (Arch). In foal to Olympiad, she brought $50,000 at Keeneland November last season.

“He doesn't look like a horse that should work that fast going that short,” added Childs. “But when they do, they'll often turn out to be good.”

According to Ciaran Dunne, the colt has flourished since his arrival in September.

“He's a beautiful horse and worked really well,” he said. “He is one of those rare things, he was well sold and well bought. I think it hurt him a little bit being so early in the sale. People might have been expecting him to bring a little bit more or they weren't quite ready. But I think it was a fair price for him.”

According to Childs, the colt will go to trainer Bob Baffert, who also trained the youngster's sire, McKinzie.

“It's his first crop, so we don't know how that'll go,” he added. “But based on the way they worked here, it looks like they will be good.”

Offered at last year's Keeneland September sale, the Feb. 26 foal was secured by Ron Fein's Superfine Farm for $205,000.

Asked about the feel of the market halfway through Tuesday's session, Childs said, “It was actually a little softer than I thought. I saw a few that I thought would have brought a little more money. However, I do think it will probably get stronger as the sale goes along.”–@CBossTDN

Mischief Returns to OBS

Rarely absent from the leaderboard at any sale in the country, Into Mischief was represented by Hip 202, a colt that realized a $700,000 final bid from Muir Hut Stables. Out of GSW Electric Forest (Curlin), the bay colt is a grandson of MGSW and MGISP Forest Music (Unbridled's Song), herself responsible for graded winner Uncle chuck (Uncle Mo). Spendthrift Farm was among the underbidders on the colt.

“Muir Hut Stables has put a lot into the game,” said Southern California-based trainer Mark Glatt, stationed alongside the Muir Hutt team during the bidding. “I have been trying to get them to buy an Into Mischief for some time now. We were able to get this one, so we're excited.”

The Mar. 19 foal breezed an eighth in :10.1 during the initial breeze session last week.

“We are high on the sire, of course, but also on [broodmare sire] Curlin. This colt is a very athletic horse and seems to have talent. We hope he stays sound so we can get him to the races.”

Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, the bay was consigned by Old South Farm on behalf of Bow River Ranch.

“I bought him for a new group of guys. That's their first pinhooking venture,” confirmed consignor Hoby Kight, who signed for the colt after the Oregon-based group paid $250,000 at last September's Keeneland sale.

When asked what drew him to the colt, Kight explained, “Everyone knows what I like–I like a horse with angles. I like a stretchy, big and fast horse with just enough pedigree. That's what it takes. If they can run, you're good. That's what I like to buy and this colt fit the bill.”

According to Kight, the fledgling partnership also sold Hip 19, a colt by Munnings, for $250,000, in addition to a Gun Runner colt (Hip 155) for $100,000.

“For me, the sale has been very fair so far,” Kight added. “The Munnings could have been anywhere from $250,000 to $400,000, depending on the breeze. He worked with a headwind [10.1], so that might have affected things a bit, but I thought it was fair overall.”–@CBossTDN

Munnings Filly Jump Starts March Sale

With the March sale less than half-an-hour old, a filly by Munnings (hip 26) kick started the action in Ocala Tuesday when selling for $700,000 to the bid of trainer Will Walden, acting on behalf of John Sykes's Woodford Thoroughbreds. The bay filly, consigned by Niall Brennan Stables, shared the :9 4/5 bullet on the first day of last week's under-tack show.

“I thought she had all of the parts,” Walden said. “She is a little bit on the smaller side, but with plenty of muscle. She had a great walk and temperament at the barn. I thought the breeze was outstanding. It was the best gallop out of the day and it was on the toughest day. She did it into a 10 mph headwind.”

Will Walden & Niall Brennan | Photos by Z

The filly is the first foal out of the unraced Ansaam (Bernardini), a half-sister to Grade I winner Denman's Call (Northern Afleet) and from the family of multiple Grade I winner Evening Jewel. She was a $95,000 Keeneland September purchase by Ryston Stables.

“She's probably a filly who is going to be early,” Walden said. “We will get her back to Turfway and then Keeneland and start looking for starts around Churchill. We are really excited to have her.”

Walden has been buying horses for Sykes across the globe over the last several months.

“He has been a great supporter of ours,” Walden said of Sykes. “He supported us when we went overseas when we bought some out of Tattersalls. We are just trying to buy runners and get in the winner's circle. He has a breeding operation, so with this filly's pedigree and hopefully with what she does on the track, she will hold some residual value as a broodmare.”

Walden agreed, with the juvenile sales season just minutes old, it could be difficult to anticipate prices.

“I had her between $600,000 and $800,000,” he said. “I would have liked to pay six instead of seven, but she is a quality filly and we are happy we got her. But you have to trust your gut. If you like the horse, the horse speaks to you and, on numbers and on paper it works out, you have to take a swing.”  @JessMartiniTDN

All Dreams Equine Absent from OBS

Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine consignment, which was pulled into controversy when a filly it sold at last year's OBS June sale broke down at Finger Lakes in November and subsequently tested positive for Clenbuterol, had six horses catalogued to the OBS March sale, but the entire group was scratched from the auction.

“There was some publicity about me and my consignment and I just felt like it wasn't going to be a fair judgement on the horses,” Centeno said of the decision to withdraw his horses from the auction. “I could feel the energy wasn't all there. So the best thing for the horses and for everybody else was to scratch them for now.”

Two of the horses from Centeno's March consignment were involved in incidents during last week's under-tack show, with a filly collapsing on the track following her breeze and a colt getting loose before breezing and galloping around the infield.

OBS sales officials confirmed that Centeno had voluntarily scratched his horses from that sale and that the All Dreams horses were all tested before the under-tack show, but that results of those tests were not yet available.

“Yes and he welcomed it,” OBS President Tom Ventura said when asked about testing the horses in the consignment. “We did hair samples and additional blood samples. We don't have the results to share back at this point, but whatever he had here, he welcomed any additional scrutiny that might show that they had nothing in their systems.”

Of the additional testing, Centeno said, “All of my horses were tested, I don't know the results because they have them. But I have nothing to hide. I have always been honest and I have a good record. My tests have always been clean. And anybody who has questions or wants to test the horses, they are available to be tested or inspected. Not a problem.”

He continued, “I was happy to be tested. I have nothing to hide. I treat my horses with the highest standards. I am very dedicated to my horses. I am attached to my horses. And I am very proud of what we do together.”

Trainer Jeffrey Englehart was facing a two-year suspension after the Classic Empire colt he purchased from the All Dreams consignment last summer tested positive for Clenbuterol after breaking down in November. The case against him was dropped when segmented test of the colt's hair sample revealed that the drug had been administered before Englehart had become the horse's trainer.

“I was surprised when I was accused about that,” Centeno said of speculation that he had given the colt the drug. “I never gave anything to my horses. I wanted to prove that. And for that reason, the horses are available to be tested, to show the buyers I am honest and I play by the rules.”

Of the filly that collapsed after breezing during last week's under-tack show, “The horse was fine and we asked him to keep it here so that everybody, including us, could go and inspect the horse,” Ventura said. “And we talked to the vet and we aren't sure exactly what caused it, but she came out of it fine.”

The horse that got loose on the track was also uninjured in the mishap.

“If he had gotten loose on Wednesday, he would have had the opportunity to come back and breeze on Saturday, but given that he got loose on the last day at the under-tack show, there was no opportunity for him to come back,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. @JessMartiniTDN

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Wednesday's opening breeze-ups were topped by a trio of horses that stopped clock in :9 4/5 for an eighth of a mile, a time that was matched by no fewer than 15 juveniles on Thursday. Those numbers were lowered Friday by a pair of horses, a Wavertree Stables Inc.-consigned filly (hip 448) from the first crop of Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) and a colt (hip 529) by fellow freshman sire Tiz the Law (Constitution) consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds. Each covered an eighth of a mile in :9 3/5.

Laying Down the 'Law'

Randy Hartley went to $375,000 for the Tiz the Law colt from the Woods Edge Farm draft at Keeneland September, but only after a not-so-subtle push from his client Rich Mendez.

“At $350,000, honestly, I was done, but Rich goes, 'one more time,' because Tiz the Law was like his favorite horse,” Hartley explained. “So I did and we got him. $350,000 was kind of our number, but we loved him so much we stretched a little more because we were trying to find the best one there.”

The approach to the September sale was fairly straight-forward.

“We went to that sale to try to find the best Tiz the Law at the sale and we found him in Book 1,” Hartley said. “Peter O'Callaghan had him and he might have had other horses sell for more in Book 1, but I thought this colt was the best physical he had in that book. We stretched on him because we thought that Tiz the Law was such a great racehorse, we love Constitution too, but they're harder to buy. But we felt like we if had one of the best Tiz the Laws in  the 2-year-old market that the people that respected Tiz the Law would be trying to buy something that they like.”

Just a May 9 foal, the colt is a son of the Grade III-placed Our Majesty (Majesticpefection), herself a half-sister to a pair of black-type winners. Sun Bloodstock purchased Our Majesty for $375,000 in foal to Tapit at Keeneland November in 2019 and sold the Tiz the Law colt to Vanny Investments for $140,000 at Keeneland January in 2023.

Hartley was duly please with what he saw on the track Friday.

“He's quick and he kept going, some people had him in :19 and change galloping out,” he said. “He's a May baby. I don't push mine hard, he's even still a little chunky. I try to get my horses here sound and I feel like if I train them good, they'll give me everything they've got. Once they show me that they can take off and go, from there it's about fitness. We're super proud of him. He's only 22 months old, but he looks like a 3-year-old.”

The noted reseller believes there is a good buzz about the first crop of the 2020 GI Belmont S. hero.

“We only had this one and he's been our man the whole time. I would definitely buy some more,” he said. “When I see Tiz the Laws bringing $200,000 in January, that tells me that people are liking the way they're training. People are not going to buy them if they're not hearing that buzz. We thought a lot of this colt all season.”

Kight High On Justify Colt

If the Tiz the Law colt didn't exactly represent a 'bargain' price, Hoby Kight felt like the $100,000 that he gave at Keeneland September for a Justify colt from the consignment of Joe Pickerell's Pick View LLC certainly was. The Jan. 23 foal (hip 539) was bred in New York by Chester and Mary Broman.

“He was big and beautiful and he's got some pedigree,” Kight explained. “And Dr. Broman raises a really good horse, [Sequel Bloodstock's] Becky [Thomas] does a phenomenal job. He had a cut on his back leg on his pastern and his leg was still swollen from the cut. A lot of short-listers, they cut that horse and never get to see him and that's the sort of stuff I prey on. It's stuff that won't bother them and gets better, it was an old scar and was still kind of fresh. But everything else was there–beautiful horse, all the right angles. And Justify really heated up too, so everything went my way.”

Bred in New York by Chester and Mary Broman, the bay is a son of two-time stakes winner and Grade III-placed Pauseforthecause (Giant's Causeway)

Hip 539 was one of two to breeze a quarter in :20.2 Friday.

“I thought he worked lights out,” Kight said of the colt, who already stands 16.2 in his estimation. “Joe has done a remarkable job with him. Joe thought he was going to be sub-:21 the way he'd been training, so he was pretty optimistic.”

Hip 539 | Photos By Z

McCrocklin At Both Ends of the Speed Spectrum

Tom McCrocklin consigns the afternoon's other :20.2 breezer, a filly by Munnings–Miss Majestic (Majestic Warrior) (hip 453), which he is offering on behalf of Florida breeder Peter Mirabelli.

“She's a beautiful filly, a great mover and she just does everything so smoothly,” he said. “I generally work my horses a quarter-mile just because I think makes for a more composed breed. I am not trying to disparage anyone else, but I find sometimes that the furlong breezes can end up being pretty frenetic. When people see me breeze one that isn't a quarter mile, they tend to raise an eyebrow.”

McCrocklin is also consigning a handful of the 40 2-year-olds in training that are being sold as part of the dispersal from the late Bob Lothenbach, who are just galloping through the stretch.

“I don't think it will be looked upon with skepticism or negatively,” McCrocklin said of the strategy to not ask the horses for any serious effort. “Mr, Lothenbach built and ran a high-class stable. The estate requested that none of the horses breeze, so we are just honoring their wishes, but I don't think it will negatively impact the horses or the way they sell.”

The final under-tack preview is set for Saturday morning beginning at 8 a.m. The March Sale begins Tuesday, Mar. 12 and runs for three days, with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m. ET. For more, visit www.obssales.com.

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With a svelte catalogue of 99 head, the auction's under-tack show was held Tuesday morning. After a night of heavy rain and thunder storms, the first of five sets began at 8 a.m. under a light drizzle, but skies cleared throughout the show, which concluded under muggy and sunny conditions shortly before noon.

Clovis Crane, who will consign 16 horses to the one-session auction, got the under-tack show off to a fast start when the first horse over the track, a filly by Frosted (hip 79), worked her furlong in :10 flat.

Crane Thoroughbred Services ultimately sent out three of the day's five :10 flat bullet workers, with a filly by Social Inclusion (hip 69, video) working in the first set and a filly by Flatter (hip 86, video) working in the day's third set.

Crane also sent out the day's fastest quarter-mile worker, a filly by Kantharos (hip 47) who covered the distance in :20 4/5.

“I have been telling a lot of people all along that I had an unbelievable group and obviously, today, with the way they went, it showed,” Crane said. “We have had 21 graded stakes horses come off of our farm and I would suspect that there are a couple in this group that will add to that number.”

Asked to pick some highlights from his day, Crane said, “I put the Social Inclusion filly [out of Royal Aspen {Congrats}] in the first set because I thought she would be a star and she showed up today. The Flatter filly [out of stakes-winner Valued Strike {Smart Strike}] is crazy fast. And I have a Palace Malice filly [hip 73, :10 1/5] who appears to me like she can really run.”

The bullet worker by Kantharos, who was one of seven juveniles to work a quarter-mile Tuesday in Timonium, is out of La Titina (Distorted Humor), a daughter of multiple Grade I winner Ask the Moon (Malibu Moon).

A $125,000 Keeneland September purchase, she will be making her second trip through the sales ring this spring after RNA'ing for $110,000 following a :10 1/5 work at the OBS April sale. In addition to her work at OBS, the filly has a pair of published works at Penn National, most recently going four furlongs in :47.20 (1/21) June 9.

“I was telling everyone how awesome my Kantharos filly was,” Crane said. “She breezed in :47 1/5 in hand at the racetrack June 9. And she came out of it good then. We trained her lightly for the last two weeks and then we prepped her easy over here. We prepped her easy and she went in :21 4/5 and :35 1/5, so we knew she was sitting on go.”

Of the filly's trip south to Ocala, Crane said, “She just didn't like that track. I gallop everything myself the first couple of days when we go anywhere and I could feel it the first day. I said, 'Oh, boy, she doesn't like this.' She still breezed :10 1/5 and :21 1/5 and she went good, but didn't make anyone's short list. I literally only showed her eight times down there. She had done nothing wrong. She X-rayed clean, she came back out of it good. So I just went back to training her at home and, over the dirt, she moves great. She just didn't move good over the synthetic. She came to what I was thinking she was today.”

Also sharing the bullet furlong Tuesday was a filly by Enticed (hip 35, video) consigned by James Layden and a filly by Practical Joke (hip 56, video) consigned by Wes Carter on behalf of Crossed Sabres Farm.

Crane comes into the inaugural Midlantic June sale with the catalogue's largest consignment.

“[Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sales Director] Paget [Bennett] has always been wonderful to me and she asked me if I would save a couple of nice horses for here,” Crane said of his decision to target the auction. “So the Social Inclusion, we saved her for here on purpose and there are a couple of other horses we saved for here. The Kantharos filly, I didn't want to go back to OBS June because she didn't like the surface and I knew it. I am sure there are several horses here that would rather have the dirt surface. And I think buyers will like the dirt surface better. It's a truer representation of what you're going to get.”

While the June sale is slim on numbers, Crane sees potential for the auction's growth, but agreed this year's first sale might not have enough horses to attract a large buying bench.

“I don't see why it shouldn't gain momentum [in the future],” he said. “But if I were a buyer, I would be at this sale [this year] because I think there are bargains to be had. I have reached out to several top buyers and they aren't coming. So I think it will be a buyer's market and that's unfortunate because I've got a great group and I won't get rewarded in some spots. But at the end of the day, I am going to be in this business for a long time, so it will be all right. Hopefully they will buy runners from us now and then they'll buy from us again in the future.”

While many of the major Ocala operations have skipped this year's Midlantic June sale, the Central Florida horsemen were represented by a handful of consignments, including those of Tom McCrocklin and Raul Reyes's King's Equine.

“Fasig-Tipton, in a nutshell,” McCrocklin said when asked why he decided on a return trip to Timonium this year. “I know they wanted to try it. It's kind of walking the highwire the first time and maybe it's an opportunity to sell some horses. We will see how it goes.”

McCrocklin, who sold a $700,000 colt by Awesome Slew at last month's Midlantic May sale, brought 11 horses to the June sale. The auction comes some two weeks after the traditional end to the juvenile sales season in the OBS June sale, but McCrocklin thinks this later date shouldn't intimidate buyers.

“If you are trying to buy a nice racehorse, what's the big deal if you buy them a month ago or two weeks ago or right now,” McCrocklin said. “It's not like we have gone into the Twilight Zone because it's two or four weeks later. And there are some nice horses here. I have personally seen nice horses train here all week. I would invite people to take a look at them.”

Asked if he was concerned about a lack of buyers at the sale, McCrocklin said, “Yes. Absolutely. But look, so many of these horses are bought remotely now, you can get photos, walking videos, gallop-out times, breeze videos, bid online, bid on the phone. So if you don't want to come, I get it, but it's not a reason not to go through the process and buy a horse.”

Reyes brings six horses for his second trip to Timonium this year. The consignor, who was perennially a leading presence at the slimmed down–and now defunct–Barretts May sale, wasn't worried about the smaller catalogue.

“I always like the small sales,” Reyes said. “I used to go to California when they had those smaller sales and I did very well there.”

As always, Timonium's location at the crossroads of several racing venues will prove advantageous in attracting buyers, according to Reyes.

“There are so many racetracks that are so close and people need horses,” Reyes said. “They will be here tomorrow afternoon.”

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“Coming off of a record gross of last year, I think we kind of held our own,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “It seemed like the market held up through the entire season. There were no big surprises–the market is what the market is. There is money for the perceived higher quality horses and sometimes it can get a little tough in the middle.”

Over three days, 630 head sold for $23,777,900–down from a year ago when 666 horses sold for a sale record gross of $27,052,000. The sale average of $37,743 dropped 7.1% from a year ago, while the median dropped 10.6% to $21,000.  With 136 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 17.8%. That figure is almost par with the 2022 figure of 17.4%, which includes post-sale transactions.

Three of the auction's top six prices came from its supplemental section late in Thursday's final session. John Fahey made the day's highest bid, going to $475,000 for a colt by Into Mischief who was consigned by Tom McCrocklin.

A total of 11 juveniles sold for $200,000 or more during the sale, compared to 21 who hit that mark last year.

The June sale was described throughout the week as polarized and spotty. Many of these same consignors who were selling 2-year-olds in Ocala this week will now be looking ahead to purchasing yearlings beginning next month in Lexington.

“We are putting together a plan on what we are going to do,” Randy Hartley said of expectations for Hartley/DeRenzo's strategy for the upcoming yearling sales.

Asked if he expected any perceived softening in the 2-year-old market this year would translate to the yearling sales, he said, “You don't know because horse people have amnesia. They will go right back there and we will be fighting over them in July.”

Playing at the top of the pinhooking market, Hartley/DeRenzo enjoyed a strong year in the sales ring.

“The market we play in is the most riskiest market but it's the safest market,” he said. “Because people with a lot of money want the best horses. It's what we do and it's the kind of horses we try to buy.”

The Gladwells' Top Line Sales topped the OBS March sale with a $2-million colt by Good Magic. Jimbo Gladwell admitted the operation will be more selective in its yearling purchases, but ultimately will maintain the same approach.

“I don't think we are going to change anything, but we are probably just going to be a little more particular about what we are buying,” Gladwell said. “The market seems really polarized towards perceived quality, but we are still going to shop every sale and just try to pick up quality horses where we find them.

“These last couple of sales have been tough, but it's mainly been tough on the ones that don't make the cut or reach the bar of what people set for what they think is acceptable. If you don't reach the bar, it's very difficult to get them sold. But as long as you jump through all of the hoops and they vet good, and are fast enough, you can do very well. You just have to be very particular when you are buying them because there is not much room for error.”

While the top end of the market inevitably takes care of itself, middle-market pinhookers have been more affected by the increased polarization in the juvenile market this spring.

“I am going to have to be very selective,” Bryan Rice of Woodside Ranch said of his yearling buying plans. “The horses that I was right on, I was able to succeed with. Any horse that I missed the mark at all on, it was pretty unforgiving. So, as I move forward, it has to be really a horse that strikes me in all aspects and that I really believe in.”

Asked if he expected a less competitive yearling market this fall, Rice said, “It probably will be. At least in the middle. I don't think there will be [any softening] in the top. I think it will stay strong, but those of us who make a living moving the intermediate horses, we are going to have to be really selective and really careful with our money.”

Into Mischief Colt Leads the Way Thursday

Bloodstock agent John Fahey made a pair of high-priced purchases on behalf of undisclosed clients from the supplemental section of the OBS June sale, ultimately paying a session-topping $475,000 for a colt by Into Mischief (hip 1074) just 10 hips from the auction's end. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, the bay colt is out of Canadian champion Delightful Mary (Limehouse).

“He's a big, beautiful Into Mischief colt,” Fahey said of the juvenile who worked a quarter-mile in :21 flat. “He could be a stallion. We will go to the races and find out.”

Fahey said the colt's final price tag was not a surprise.

“Into Mischief is the best stallion in the world and he stands for $250,000,” Fahey said. “And they put all this work into him to get to this point and we get him for basically double the stud fee.”

A few hips earlier, Fahey went to $370,000 to acquire a filly by Flameaway (hip 1066).

“I bought her for a client of Justin Casse's,” Fahey said. “She did everything, jumped through all of the hoops. The good ones are expensive.”

The gray filly is out of Tomato Bisque (Macho Uno), a full-sister to graded winner Macho Macho (Macho Uno). Consigned by Julie Davies, the juvenile worked a furlong in :9 4/5.  She was purchased for $50,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Fahey purchased six horses at the three-day auction; bidding on behalf of Stone Bridge Farm, he paid $52,000 for a filly by Violence (hip 703); on behalf of Lazy Creek, he paid $17,000 for a colt by Karakontie (Jpn) (hip 323); and as agent, he purchased a colt by Palace Malice (hip 601) for $20,000.

“I felt like if people didn't want to go to the races, you could buy a nice horse that vets for $150,000 easy,” Fahey said of the market at OBS this week. “But if they want to go to the races, they are going to protect them.”

Arrogate Colt to Delgado, Restrepo 

Ramiro Restrepo and Gustavo Delgado, Jr., who teamed up to purchase future GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) as a 2-year-old last year, put together a new partnership to acquire a colt from the last crop of Arrogate (hip 868) for $375,000 during Thursday's final session of the OBS June sale. Consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds, the dark bay colt is out of Epic Scataway (Scat Daddy) and worked a furlong last week in :10 flat.

With time winding down on the juvenile sales season, Restrepo agreed there was a desire to acquire a colt by the late champion who was responsible for last week's GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo.

“Obviously, when we look back at what Arrogate has done as a sire in his limited crops, it's unbelievable,” Restrepo said. “A Classic winner, graded stakes winners, it's just an incredible loss to the game. This is going to be one of the last available ones up for purchase. The colt had an extraordinary work and he is a tremendous physical. For us, we really buy in limited boutique numbers and this horse just kind fit everything we were looking for.”

Restrepo said Delgado was absolutely committed to buying the juvenile.

“Gustavo loved this horse to the moon,” Restrepo said. “He must have gone back to the barn six times and was so, so high on the horse. Arcangelo was our neighbor. Gustavo, Jr. saw Arcangelo walking the shedrow from day one, so he had a front row seat in seeing his development and seeing how these Arrogates progress. And this horse was in line with those other ones. So it just struck a chord with Jr., big time.”

The partnership also purchased a colt by Into Mischief (hip 477) for $300,000 at last month's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale–the same auction where they acquired Mage last spring.

“Our mindset is that we want to buy really nice racehorses with talent and ability that can go and be whatever they are going to be–champion sprinters, champion grass horses, middle-distance horses, Derby horses, whatever. We are looking for good, talented horses and hopefully it all comes together later this fall. Our mindset has always been the same, just find talented runners that can take us places, whether it's the Kentucky Derby or the Travers next year or whatever. We are just hoping for a fantastic effort and our new partners have fun.”

Hip 868 was named Victory Avenue when he went through the sales ring at OBS Thursday, but his path to the auction was anything but paved straight. He was purchased by Dean De Renzo and Randy Hartley for $150,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. He returned to the sales ring in Ocala sporting an impressive scar across his neck.

“We have a night watchman who lives on the farm and he checked everything around 12-12:30 a.m. right around Christmas one night and everything was fine,” Hartley explained. “I came to the barn at 4 a.m. and he had gotten cast in his stall. He rubbed his shoulder and his back and took off pretty much all the hide. So he had to spend a month at the clinic, rehabbing and getting the hyperbaric chamber and getting him to heal good.”

Hartley said the colt didn't get broke until April and he almost didn't take the handsome dark bay to the June sale.

“I didn't think after the year we had that Dean was going to make me come, but we had another colt in the sale and he said, 'Why don't you just take the black colt?' I said, 'He's never breezed before.' We started to break him in April. But he came over here and he was training like he's a little professional.”

Hartley/DeRenzo had a good spring with offspring of Arrogate. At the OBS Spring sale, the consignment sold a colt by the late sire for $1.45 million. At the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, the consignment topped the sale with a $1-million daughter of the late champion.

“I know there are no more Arrogates, so I'm like what am I going to buy now?” Hartley said. “I guess I'll be buying some Good Magics and some Justifys–I love the Justifys.”

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Tom McCrocklin, who was represented this spring by graduates in both the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Kentucky Oaks, as well as by a pair of million-dollar juveniles in the sales ring, admitted his approach to vet work varies greatly whether he is shopping for a racehorse prospect or for a potential pinhook prospect.

“It's a very clear distinction when I buy a racehorse for myself or I buy a prospective pinhook horse,” the Ocala horseman said. “With the racehorses, I have a pretty good feel of what I can and cannot live with anymore. I feel like I've got my brain wrapped around what young horses can live with and move on with and be racehorses. And then I have the other category of pinhook horses where I know I will have to make buyers and buyers' vets on the other end happy. Then it doesn't matter what I think and what I feel like I know. It matters what they think and what they want.”

McCrocklin said veterinarian scrutiny of the horses in his 2-year-old consignments has only become more stringent in recent years.

“The diagnostics done on the sales grounds pre-purchase are off the charts,” he said. “I will give you a perfect example. The genie is out of the bottle now with ultra-sounding and ultra-sounding so many structures. These vets are all on a kick now where they want to ultrasound eight suspensory branches and four tendons and four proximal suspensories, which is a lot of soft tissue structure. The long and the short of it is this, in this age group, 2-year-olds in training, under pressure, breezing, very few are going to have pristine ultrasounds. They are almost all going to have some commentary; all ranges of everything from swelling to fiber disruption to actual tears. And they are learning as they go–just like me as a consignor–that we are going to get to where we can't sell many horses if the vets are going to expect perfection.”

McCrocklin purchased Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) for $250,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale and sold the future GII Louisiana Derby winner and Kentucky Derby runner for $800,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale. And he is co-owner of GIII Gazelle S. winner and Kentucky Oaks runner Promiseher America (American Pharoah). He said the proof of the vet report lies in the performance of horses like those on the racetrack.

“I compare the ultrasounds to their race records,” McCrocklin said. “I personally had a filly in the Oaks this year and I personally sold a horse that ran in the Derby this year and they both had soft tissue pathology at the 2-year-olds in training sale. They were both given 30-60 days after the sale and they both wound up being fine. A lot of very good, sound racehorses have significant radiographic and ultrasound pathology. They have it at the 2-year-old sale and they have it throughout their racing careers and a lot of them are very sound horses.”

He continued, “I had this conversation with Bob Baffert. 'I tell you what, you pick the 10 soundest horses in your barn–not the 10 best, but the 10 horses that you perceive to be the soundest ones. And you go through those 10 horses and you X-ray everything and you ultrasound everything and do everything these guys are doing at the 2-year-old sales and it will blow your mind what those horses have on radiographs and ultrasounds. You will not believe what you find. And the first thing you are going to say to me is the same thing I am going to say to you at my consignment. I don't know what to tell you, I've been training this horse for six months and he's never had a bad day and he's never had a gram of bute, he's never taken a bad step, he's never worn a bandage. And here you come with all of your machines and when you are done, I want to start crying.'”

Once McCrocklin buys a yearling in the fall, he will spend the rest of the year and early spring working with the youngster. That experience gives him a unique perspective on both the horse's potential and his limitations.

“So many of these horses on all ends are being bought by agents,” he said. “These guys are really bright and they are good horse buyers. I am in no way criticizing them for the decisions they make, but one distinction between us is that I am in my horse laboratory every day in my barn. I put my hands on horses and I am training horses and I am putting young horses under significant pressure to buy them in September or October and make a 2-year-old in training sale in March. They show up in September, October and August and they are on the buying end. And they come back in March, April, June and they are on the buying end again. What gets lost along the way is everything that happens on a daily basis in the six to eight months in between. And there is a significant amount of knowledge and education that comes with that process.”

Asked for specific examples of issues with yearlings that will knock them out of his pinhooking portfolio, but not necessarily his racing stable, McCrocklin said, “Subcondylar cysts in cannon bones–basically a hole in the cannon bone that you are never going to be able to sell as a 2-year-old–subcondylar cysts in a stifle, which would basically be a femur. I can live with those horses because I've trained so many of them that they are fine. But you take that horse to a 2-year-old sale and you are dead, you're absolutely dead. So I can't buy them anymore.”

McCrocklin's biggest vexation, he said, was the variance of opinions on throats.

“When we're looking in a horse's throat with a scope, everyone has a different opinion,” McCrocklin said. “Some people like this, some people like that. On these real popular horses, you can have 10 to 20 scopes and I can have 10 guys come in and say, perfect, perfect, perfect and then the 11th vet comes in, a really reputable vet, and says this horse flunks miserably. It is not black and white, it's far from it.

“But here's what I can tell you, again, as a horse trainer, not as a buyer, not as a seller, I have a lot of horses that scope fine and they can't breathe and I have horses that scope like shit and they breeze great, never made a noise, they get their air, they don't make noise when they are breezing. Again it's very mysterious because we keep those vet books at our consignment and it says Grade I, everybody loves it, and I'm thinking I've been training this horse for eight months, this horse can't breathe. The only way to identify those horses that scope great at the barn, but can't breathe is what we call a dynamic scope where we put it on them and we actually view what's happening in their throat while they gallop and or breeze. And we see a lot of crazy things happen in these throats that are good at rest and the horse can't tolerate training. And then we have horses that can't fully abduct, they can't open their arytenoids all the way to clear their airway, but they've never made a noise and they don't have exercise intolerance. And they breeze great.”

McCrocklin's advice to shoppers is to find a vet who knows what's a deal-breaker and what might not hinder a horse's performance on the track.

“The big-picture message is that there are definitely not parallel lines between racing performance and vet work,” he said. “There is a lot of gray in there. What I tell people is get yourself a very experienced–not just a good vet–but an experienced vet that has a body of work and says, 'Look, I've seen a lot of these horses and they can live with this,' and he also has a body of work and he says, 'Look, I've had a lot of these and none of them make it.'”

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Hip 41 turned in his :20 3/5 quarter-mile breeze shortly after the day's 7:30 a.m. start time for consignor Omar Ramirez.

“He prepped really, really good for me,” Ramirez said. “I didn't know it was going to be :20 3/5, but I thought he'd definitely be :20 4/5 or :21 flat.”

The New Jersey-bred colt is out of Lady Overboard (Mishipman) and from the family of Star of Goshen, the dam of Pioneerof the Nile.

Ramirez and a partner purchased the chestnut for $18,000 as a short yearling at the OBS Winter sale last year. He RNA'd for $29,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic October sale.

“He was a really well-balanced colt, a really pretty walker,” Ramirez said of his early impressions of the youngster. “And I love Midshipman as a stallion on the mother's side.”

Of the trip to Timonium last fall, Ramirez said, “I didn't get him sold, but I love the horse and I wanted to give him another chance. So we decided to let him grow up more. He's not a huge colt–he's average-sized, but he still has that beautiful walk.”

Solomini was second in the 2017 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, as well as that year's GI FrontRunner S. and GI Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity. He was third in the 2018 GI Arkansas Derby.

The 8-year-old stallion, who stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds for $6,500, had three six-figure juveniles at the OBS April sale–led by a colt who sold for $700,000–and another three at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale last month.

Ramirez sold two fillies by the stallion in April and May and returns with a pair of colts at the June sale.

“I did really well with Solomini in April, I had a filly [hip 605] sell for $100,000. She was a really pretty filly and I really liked her. I had another one with Top Line in Timonium [hip 285] and she sold for $150,000. She was another nice filly. And I've got two colts over here. I have one more tomorrow [hip 282]. They were all pretty nice horses, easy to train.”

Tom McCrocklin sent out hip 39 to work her :20 3/5 quarter-mile shortly before 10 a.m. Monday. Bred by Vegso Racing Stable, the chestnut filly is out of Lady Marjorie (Curlin). The mare is a daughter of stakes-winner Light Bringer (Northern Afleet), a full-sister to graded winner Aegean and a half-sister to the dam of Grade I winner Eda.

Six juveniles shared the day's fastest furlong time of :9 4/5: a filly by Bucchero (hip 9, video) consigned by Halcyon Hammock Farm; a filly by Jimmy Creed (hip 25, video) consigned by J. J. Thoroughbreds; a filly by Into Mischief (hip 46, video) consigned by de Meric Sales; a colt by Courageous Cat (hip 51, video) consigned by G.A. Thoroughbred Sales; a colt by Bucchero (hip 92, video) consigned by Hector Barajas; and a colt by Hard Spun (hip 130, video).

Ramirez, who comes into the June sale with a hefty consignment of 52 juveniles, was happy with conditions at OBS Monday.

“I had five today and they all worked really, really good,” he said.

Of his June contingent, Ramirez admitted, “This is my first time that I had so many here. My brother got a bunch of horses and we have some new clients who have a couple of horses. Sometimes I just want to give the horses more time, more chances to grow, so I love this June sale. It's been a really nice sale for me.”

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 7:30 a.m. The June sale will be held next Tuesday through Thursday. Bidding commences each day at 10 a.m.

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“He's a very fast horse,” McCrocklin said Tuesday. “I was not surprised to see him work like that. He showed up here and breezed very well.”

The bay colt is out of Cash Reserve (Distorted Humor) and is a half-brother to stakes-placed Reckling (Dialed In) and Campy Cash (Race Day).

“I literally recall telling Michael Sucher that I thought he was the best horse in the [OBS] sale,” McCrocklin said.

Asked if he was surprised by the colt's final price last fall, which made him the most expensive of eight yearlings by his sire to sell in 2022, McCrocklin said, “It was just a very difficult year to buy yearlings. If you had a nice physical horse there was plenty of money out there to buy them. So I wasn't terribly surprised. And it kind of felt like we were going to buy the horse–it didn't feel like a huge stretch. It wasn't one of those 'it was my last bid' stories.”

With the absence of the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale from the calendar this year, the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale and the inaugural Midlantic June sale next month in Timonium are the only major juvenile auctions to feature works over a dirt track. The appeal of that surface led McCrocklin to take a 33-horse consignment to Maryland.

“I think buyers like it because they race on dirt predominately,” McCrocklin explained. “I think it gives them a little more confidence. You saw from the times today, it takes a very fast horse to go :10 flat here. Where at OBS on the synthetic racetrack, it's not unusual to see :10 flats all over the place.”

Of the 10 juveniles to work a quarter-mile Tuesday, a colt by Flameaway (hip 15, video) consigned by LG, agent, and a colt by Nyquist (hip 126, video) consigned by Top Line Sales shared the bullet time of :21 3/5.

Top Line Sales also sent out a juvenile by Lookin at Lucky (hip 89) to share the session's second-fastest furlong time. The New York-bred colt, a homebred for Top Line's Torie Gladwell and Jordan Wycoff, turned in a flashy :10 1/5 work during the day's second set.

A bay filly by City of Light (hip 174), who is a half-sister to graded winner The Tabulator (Dialed In), powered through her :10 1/5 work for Steve Venosa's SGV Thoroughbreds.

Becky Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock, which was responsible, not just for last year's $3.55-million May sale topper, but also for GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), sent out a filly by Munnings (hip 160) who worked the furlong in :10 1/5 in the day's third set.

A pair of juveniles from the first crop of Maximus Mischief shared the second-fastest furlong time Tuesday, with Bryan Ford Training Stable sending out a filly (hip 69, video) and Cary Frommer sending out a colt (hip 125, video) by the graded stakes winner.

The day's six :10 1/5 works also included a filly by Uncle Mo (hip 186). Consigned by Pick View, LLC, the bay is out of Gabriellestoblame (Blame), a half-sister to GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo). She was bred by Bridlewood Farm.

The under-tack show continues through Thursday with sessions beginning each day at 8 a.m. The Midlantic May sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday. Bidding commences at 11 a.m. for both sessions.

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