NEWS
Average increases 30.9%,
median up 58.8% at OBS June
Posted: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 11:02 PM
by Pete Denk
The Ocala Breeders Sales Co. June sale of two-year-olds in training and horses of racing age sent the American juvenile sale season out on a high note with a 30.9% increase in average price on Tuesday in central Florida.
OBS reported 238 horses as sold from 346 offered for total sales of $4,954,500, a 4.2% increase despite a 16% decrease in offerings from 2009.
Median increased 58.8% to $13,500, the highest since 2006. Average price was $20,817. The buy-back rate increased from 27.4% last year to 31.2%
“It was a good sale. The juvenile sales seem to have bounced back or at least stabilized,” said OBS Director of Sales Tom Ventura. “The April sale was good and the June sale followed that result. We had a pretty solid group of buyers in different price ranges.”
Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, agent, bought the sale-topping Rockport Harbor filly for $220,000. Currently named May Day Rose, the two-year-old filly out of the unraced Pine Bluff mare May Day Bluff was bred and sold by Bridlewood Farm. A half sister to stakes winner May Day Vow, by Broken Vow, she worked three furlongs in :33.60 at Sunday’s under-tack show.
Two-year-old fillies accounted for the top four prices. The second highest was $170,000 for a Sharp Humor filly out of the Silver Hawk mare Antoinette. Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree Stables, agent, consigned the filly that Dunne bought for $45,000 at the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale of selected yearlings.
Patrice Miller of EQB Inc., agent, signed the ticket for the daughter of freshman sire Sharp Humor who worked one furlong in :10, tied for the fastest at the distance at the under-tack shows. Miller and EQB, agent, was leading buyer with three purchases for $255,000.
Dunne was leading consignor with ten sold from 15 offered for total sales of $540,000.
The sale included a 25-horse addition from Stonewall Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, with Leprechaun Racing, agent, consignor. Twenty Stonewall horses went through the ring, and 20 sold for a total of $303,200.
The top price of the Stonewall horses was $130,000 for a two-year-old Medaglia d’Oro filly out of multiple Grade 1 winner Jostle, by Brocco. Ronald Nicholson bought the filly.
”The Stonewall horses were a late edition and hence weren’t ready to perform timed workouts, so they only galloped, but with those kind of pedigrees it certainly attracted additional interest to the sale,” Ventura said.
The lower levels of the market were boosted by Korean buyers, who have been an increasingly strong presence at the American two-year-old sales over the last few years, particularly at OBS.
“The Koreans have been important players for several years,” Ventura said. “They’ve had a lot of success with the horses they’ve bought here and certainly gotten good value for their money.”
Tough Win, a Yonaguska gelding out of Maggie May’s Sword, by Sword Dance (Ire), sold for $12,000 at OBS June last year and is a perfect seven-for-seven and was named Korea’s champion two-year-old colt.
Dongbanui Gangja, a Broken Vow colt out of Maremaid, by Storm Bird, sold for $20,000 at the 2007 OBS April sale and was named Korea’s champion three-year-old colt in 2008 and horse of the year in 2009.
Dongbanui Gangja has won 17 of 24 starts and earned $887,132 ($1,089,753,000 South Korean Won)
“He’s won more money than any horse over there,” Ventura said. “He’s the first horse ever sold at OBS to be a billionaire in any currency.”
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Pete Denk is sales editor of Thoroughbred Times
