$1.2 million Tapit colt tops opening session at OBS March 2-year-old sale

A $1.2 million Tapit colt from the ongoing dispersal of the late Robert Lothenbach’s Thoroughbred holdings led the first of three sessions at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale of 2-year-olds in training on Tuesday as the company opened the breeze-up season in North America.

OBS reported 153 horses sold on Tuesday for gross receipts of $20,844,000, compared with 149 horses grossing $21,110,500 in last year’s first of three sessions. The session-to-session average price was $136,235, down 4 percent from $141,681 a year ago. The median price, however, was up 3 percent, to $72,000 from $70,000. The buyback rate was 26 percent, compared to 23 percent.

Nationally prominent owner and breeder Lothenbach died last November at age 64, and his stock has been of major interest at a series of sales this spring. After his racehorses grossed more than $4 million in a digital sale conducted by Fasig-Tipton last month, and his breeding stock helped the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale to record returns, his 41 2-year-olds in training were sent to OBS March, divided between four consignors acting as agents – de Meric Sales, Tom McCrocklin, Niall Brennan Stables, and Ocala Stud.

The session-leading Tapit colt, handled by McCrocklin’s consignment, was purchased in partnership by West Point Thoroughbreds and D. J. Stable.

:: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.

“This is a horse that, had it not been for the sad and tragic and untimely death of Bob Lothenbach, this horse would not be in the sale,” Jason Blewitt, an ownership adviser for West Point, said in a video of the colt distributed by the ownership partnership. “This is a horse they bred to race. They didn’t breed commercially to bring these horses to the market.”

Highlighting that the Lothenbach horses were not prepared early or prepped for the commercial marketplace, all of the draft’s offerings simply galloped during last week’s under-tack preview show on the Ocala Training Center’s Safetrack surface. Analysis of times and prices shows that juveniles working – particularly those turning in a furlong work, the traditional yardstick for these sales, in 10 seconds or less – fetch the highest prices. That this colt galloped created value for West Point, despite his seven-figure price tag.

“He might have brought $2 [million] or $3 million as a Saratoga yearling,” West Point ownership adviser Joe Bianca said. “He just galloped during this sale, so we maybe got him at a slightly lower point than we would normally get. You just don’t get a chance every day to buy into these kinds of families – Tapit colt out of a star female family, and a super impressive individual. . . . Just has been galloping, he’s just revving up now, so you know he’s gonna get bigger and better.”

The colt, who West Point said will go to trainer Mark Casse, is out of the winning Distorted Humor mare Distorted Music, dam of graded stakes winner She Can’t Sing. Distorted Music sold for $650,000 at the Fasig-Tipton breeding stock dispersal, while She Can’t Sing brought $1.1 million. This is the immediate family of Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide and multiple Grade 1 winners Music Note and Musical Chimes.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.