Average price for the opening session increases 9.3% to $42,330.
The consensus of those in attendance was that good individuals could be found throughout the Ocala sale complex, but considerable digging was required to locate them. Opinions varied, however, on just how good the selection was once the unearthing process was complete.
"There's a lot of horses going for good prices," said bloodstock agent Baden P. "Buzz" Chace, who bought on behalf of several clients. "It's very reasonable. You buy the individual here. You buy the racehorse here."
"Actually, I thought the stock was a little lighter than it usually is," said Kevin McKathan, who along with brother J. B. McKathan helped trainer Bob Baffert secure a Montreal Red colt for $100,000 early in the opening session. "My short list was just that-short."
"Coming off a couple of record years, we're down (slightly) in average and the median was only down $1,000, which isn't bad," said Tom Ventura, OBSC general manager and director of sales. "The horses were similar to last year. There were a few more new sires that maybe weren't received as well. The good physical individuals are still commanding a good dollar."
Talk turns into record
Nothing better illustrated Ventura's last comment than the record-
breaking colt, who was the final yearling led through the ring on the first day and the last individual offered by a consignor that has dominated the Ocala market for years.
The "talking" horse during presale inspections and on the afternoon of the opening selected session was Music's Storm, and he lived up to his hype when he was purchased by Aaron and Marie Jones for a sale record $335,000. A tall, athletic, smooth-walking son of North America's second-ranked freshman sire, Storm Creek, the colt was the last yearling sold in Mangurian's Mockingbird Farm consignment.
Frank Taylor, who specifically came to Ocala to negotiate a private purchase of Storm Creek on behalf of his family's Taylor Made Farm and the Joneses, handled the bidding on the colt out of the stakes-winning In Reality mare Where Music Is. Linked by phone to Jones in Oregon and bidding from a secluded area at the rear of the sales pavilion, Taylor won a prolonged battle with Jimmy Gladwell and Chace for the record colt.
"Mr. Jones wanted to buy Storm Creek, and he also said he wanted to buy the best colt in the sale," Taylor said. "We knew he's been popular and had been scoped a lot. But with Mr. Jones, when you get him on the phone he's ready to go."
The record colt topped a productive week for Storm Creek, who has already been represented by Sorority Stakes (G3) winner Stormy Pick, purchased at the 1999 OBSC August sale for $145,000. The seven-year-old son of Storm Cat was represented by 15 yearlings during the opening session; 13 of them sold for an average price of $76,385. During OBSC sale week, it was announced that Storm Creek had been purchased by Jones and Taylor Made to stand at Taylor Made near Nicholasville, Kentucky, in 2001.
Storm Creek's offerings also included a $200,000 colt out of the *Habitony mare Average Day purchased by trainer Linda Rice and a $95,000 colt out of Smoldering Embers, by Raise a Man, purchased by Chace on behalf of Terry Finley's West Point Thoroughbreds.
Chace was extremely active during the sale's opening selected session. Acting on behalf of Daniel Borislow, Chace secured the sale's
second-highest-priced horse when he went to $225,000 for a colt by Mecke out of You'll B Impressed, by Valid Appeal. The colt was sold by co-breeders Kevin and Jessica Hartigan's Cashel Stud as agent. Cashel sold four yearlings for an average of $120,000.
"We had four good horses," Kevin Hartigan said. "It's not often you have a whole consignment without a bad one in the bunch."
One last Mockingbird
The record colt was just one of seven six-figure yearlings in the Mockingbird consignment, which improved significantly compared to last year's sale results as buyers took advantage of one of their last chances to purchase one of Mangurian's homebreds.
Overall, 74 of the 98 horses offered in the Mockingbird consignment sold for a total of $3,202,500, a 58.4% increase over last year's total of $2,022,000 for 77 sold. The consignment's average also soared, from $26,260 in 1999 to $43,277, while median increased to $27,000.
The strength of the Mockingbird consignment helped to offset a relatively light selected session, in which 120 of 176 yearlings sold for $5,009,500, a 27.6% drop from last year's total of $6,921,500 for 154 sold. The average for the selected portion of the sale also dipped, from $44,945 in 1999 to $41,746 this year, a 7.1% decline.
"We were really fortunate that Storm Creek is somewhat on the warm side right now," said Mark Casse, director of operations for Mockingbird, which is in its final year of a three-year dispersal. "He (the sale topper) was a really pretty horse. I just think that the trend has changed a little bit. (Buyers) are not looking for something really robust but going for ones that have good necks and are great walkers."
The consignment marked the end of a brilliant run for Mockingbird and Mangurian, annually one of the country's leading breeders in earnings, stakes winners, and stakes victories. Mangurian, who has 60 mares to sell at the upcoming OBSC fall mixed sale and nearly 120 more yearlings to sell at next year's two-year-olds in training sales, did not get overly sentimental when the last of the Mockingbird yearlings headed back to the barns.
"Probably a little bit (sad)," Mangurian said. "It took a long time to build this up, but this is just another phase of my life. We'll sell the two-year-olds next year. We have a nice little training operation that I've been involved with since Mark came on with me."
One of the two top-priced fillies also came out of the Mockingbird consignment. Hazy Lane Stable went to $110,000 to purchase Light Forum, a filly from the first crop of stakes winner Open Forum out of Odessa Light, by Country Light.
The second $110,000 filly was a daughter of Montbrook out of the Raise a Cup mare Tales of Long Ago. She was purchased by agent John Moynihan, sitting alongside owner Martin Cherry. Consigned by Beth Bayer, agent, the filly is a half sister to Cherry's graded stakes winner Fantasy Angel and two others stakes winners.
Complete results of the sale begin on page 61.
Tom Law is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer.