$150,000 Complexity filly tops OBS October sale

A filly by standout freshman sire Complexity sold for $150,000 to lead proceedings as the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. concluded a steady October yearling sale Tuesday evening.

The two-session OBS October sale had originally been scheduled to begin Tuesday and conclude Wednesday, but both sessions were moved up by a day as Hurricane Milton bears down on the Florida this week.

“Considering the horses, the staff, and the buyers’ safety, that was the best thing to do," Colin Brennan, who consigned two of the top 10 lots through the ring, said of the change early in the sale. “The market is going to be a little more difficult, it’s going to be tricky because the out-of-towners shied away from the sale for that reason. The rain hasn’t helped matters, but the back ring is as live as it ever is, so that helps for those horses.”

That “tricky” market finished with 291 yearlings sold for gross receipts of $5,804,100, compared to 384 for $7,670,600 last year.

The cumulative average price came close to being unchanged, at $19,945 against $19,976 – a difference of just $31. The median was $12,000, dropping 8 percent from $13,000.

The buyback rate was 38 percent, compared to 35 percent last year.

The sale-topping Complexity filly was purchased by Jimbo and Torie Gladwell’s Top Line Sales, a prominent pinhooking operation, as agent. Complexity is the sire of graded/group stakes winners Black Forza and Mo Plex from his first crop.

“She was our pick for the whole sale,” Torie Gladwell said. “She was our favorite individual – early, fast, sound for a pinhook. We bought her for a partnership, so some of our partners are really excited about buying into her.”

This Florida-bred filly is out of the Badge of Silver mare Silver Lantana, dam of stakes-placed Six the Hard Way. Silver Lantana is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Lantana Mob.

The filly was consigned by Thorostock, as agent, on behalf of Katie Liebe and husband Norman Dellheim. This is the first horse Liebe has bred.

“This is my first time selling a horse like this,” Liebe said. “I’m from the hunter/jumper world and this is my first homebred, the first one where I had the mare and everything. I just think she has flawless conformation, and her dam line is really hot right now, as well as Complexity, so it was just the perfect match. She does look the part, she’s a very classy filly. She’s like a puppy dog. Even my 4- and 6-year-old could lead her around. We’re very happy.”

The sale’s second-highest price, and highest-priced colt, also was a Florida-bred by a freshman sire. A $135,000 son of Ocala resident Win Win Win was purchased by the stable moniker No Money Honey, as agent. Consigned by Kaizen Sales, the colt is out of the stakes-winning Marciano mare Prize Informant, herself an OBS sales graduate.

“He was just a very athletic individual,” said Richard Kent of Kaizen Sales. “His 3-year-old half-brother Jasper Robusto is running extremely well in Japan right now and running in a stakes race on the weekend. But it was the individual that sold. He is very well-balanced for a big colt, and people liked his athletic look.”

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