by John P. Sparkman

A filly by Full Mandate clocked the fastest quarter-mile on Saturday at the final breeze show for the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale of selected two-year-olds in training.

From the second crop of stakes winner Full Mandate, the half sister to four winners zipped around the turn and down the home stretch of the training track in :20.80 on a windy day in Ocala.

Consignor Paul Sharp purchased the ninth foal out of the unraced Gulch mare Sweet Alabastar for $42,000 at the 2007 OBSC August yearling sale. The filliy hails from the family of Grade 1 winner Jovial.

OBSC traditionally has scheduled four days of breeze shows, two sets of breezes a week apart for each day of the sale, for their March sale, but the first two days of breezes were delayed a day by bad weather last week. With less than half of the consignors electing to give their horses a second breeze, the company consolidated the second set of breezes into a single day on Saturday.

Consignor Barry Eisaman, whose Eisaman Equine has often led March consignors in recent years, was one of the few to work back many of his entries.

“We usually like to work eighths the first week and then work back quarters the second,” Eisaman said. “But they all had either five or six days and that's close enough to seven.”

As at the under-tack show for OBSC February sale of selected two-year-olds in training, the first conducted over the new synthetic Safetrack surface, the range of times recorded was somewhat compressed.

Three juveniles—a Kafwain colt, a D'wildcat colt, and a Dream Run colt—on Saturday matched the :10 eighth-mile breezes for the fastest time at that distance.

The Kafwain colt out of Storm Struck, by Storm Bird, was purchased for $19,000 by Alli Kat, agent, at the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale. Candy Store, agent, consigns the colt.

Leprechaun Racing, agent, purchased the D'wildcat colt out of Good for Us, by Conquistador Cielo, for $55,000 at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale of selected yearlings.

Consignor Sequel Bloodstock bred their colt named Guilty Dreams, by Dream Run out of Guilty Pleasure, by Pine Bluff, in partnership with Lynda Richter.

“It does compress the times somewhat,” Eisaman said, “but you can still do other homework and figure out the horses.

“Even with a narrow range of times, there are always horses that move better or do it easier without the whip or gallop out better.”

Shadybrook Farm's filly by Flatter out of Katie Katie, by At the Threshold, was the fastest of five horses who worked three furlongs, going the distance in :33.80. Shadybrook's Michael Yates purchased the filly out of a stakes-placed half sister to Grade 1 winner Firery Ensign for $20,000 at the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale.

“It was shorter than the first day anyway, and then the wind started picking up pretty good and a lot of consignors decided to call it a day,” said Tom Ventura, director of sales for OBSC. “It was a cross wind, not a headwind, but it was blowing into their face pretty good galloping out.

“Everybody had a shot between last week and this week. We got a lot of rain last night, but short of putting up a dome, we'll just have to put up with the wind.”

After two days for inspection and vetting of horses on Sunday and Monday, the two-day sale begins at 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday at the OBSC sales pavilion.

For results of the under-tack show, click here.

John P. Sparkman is bloodstock editor of Thoroughbred Times