by John P. Sparkman
The 2008 juvenile sales season has been notably short of fireworks at the very top of the market, and that trend looks likely to continue at the 2008 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co’s March sale of selected two-year-olds in training, which begins its two-day run Tuesday.
According to the consensus of market authorities gathered in sunny Ocala for the sale, no one horse among the 460 cataloged has clearly separated itself from the others, leading to considerable uncertainty as to the identity of the probable sale topper.
“That can be a good thing,” said Tom Ventura, OBSC's director of sales. “With a lot of good colts but no one standout, maybe the buyers will spread out a little more on the good ones.
“You've got to have a good feeling walking around the barns and seeing all the activity. I have heard a constant theme that there's a lot of good horses here. Maybe some of the pinhookers have found it a little easier to buy fillies than colts. Some of the fillies are very impressive.
“Racetrack performance of the sale last year was exceptional. This sale really exploded several years ago into prime time and it's been steadily improving. That has certainly given the consignors confidence to bring more and more quality here, and the results at the racetrack bring buyers back.”
Three Grade 1-winning two-year-olds sold at the 2007 OBSC March sale—Into Mischief, Irish Smoke, and Set Play—plus champion Japanese two-year-old male Goshawk Ken.
As usual at juvenile sales, candidates for the top-priced horse are identified first and foremost by times recorded at presale breeze shows. Even buyers who profess to pay more attention to the fluidity and ease of the work are naturally attracted primarily to those who go very fast while appearing to do it easily.
Even with the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. consolidating the second two days of breeze shows into one, the three days of works on the synthetic Safetrack training track produced plenty of fast horses from which to choose.
Two fillies tied for the fastest one-furlong time at the first set of breeze shows. Hendry Training Stable, agent's Forest Wildcat filly out of Seeking Success, by Seeking the Gold, drilled an eighth in :9.80 on March 9, and Niall Brennan Stables, agent's Exchange Rate filly out of Disperse a Star, by Dispersal, duplicated that time on March 10.
Colts by Put It Back, Lion Heart, and Pure Prize recorded the fastest quarter-mile time of :21.20 on March 9, and a filly by Yonaguska zipped that distance in :20.80 on March 10. Colts by Kafwain, D'Wildcat, and Dream Run worked an eighth in :10 at the consolidated breeze show on March 15, and a filly by Full Mandate zipped a quarter in :20.80.
With the general trend of the juvenile market headed slightly downward, the pall of a potential impending recession also hangs over the sale.
“You hate in the current economic climate to have major economic [bad] news in last few days,” Ventura said. “You don't know how it's going to affect this market. As optimistic as you want to be, you have to keep that in the back of your mind when you're getting ready to sell 400 horses.”
The sale begins on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. EDT at the OBSC sale pavilion.
For hip-by-hip results, click here.
John P. Sparkman is Thoroughbred Times bloodstock editor