$175,000 Laoban yearling filly tops OBS sale

A filly by successful young sire Laoban closed out the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s winter mixed sale with a bang, bringing a sale-topping $175,000 as the final horse through the ring Wednesday. Ending off that high note, the two-day auction finished with solid figures, including a slight uptick in the average price.

OBS reported that 406 horses sold over its two-day sale for gross receipts of $5,686,600, compared to 354 horses bringing $4,928,100 in the 2020 edition. The cumulative average price was $14,006, ticking up 1 percent from $13,921 in 2020. The median price was $6,000, a change of 20 percent compared with $7,500 a year ago. The buyback rate was 22 percent, compared to 19 percent in 2020, a relatively small change in what has been a highly selective marketplace.

Laoban, who began his career in New York before moving to Kentucky for 2021, finished second on the freshman sire earnings list in 2020, led by Grade 1 winner Simply Ravishing and Grade 2 winner Keepmeinmind. His sale-leading filly was purchased by Sand Hill Stables from the consignment of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds.

The New York-bred filly, foaled in April 2020, is out of the stakes-placed Grand Reward mare Best Reward. She is the dam of two winners from as many starters. Grade 1-placed stakes winner Ruler of Dubai appears on the catalog page, as do stakes winners Knight Raider and Relatively Smart.

With youth dominating the leaderboard, as the sale's highest-priced horses were newly-turned yearlings or horses of racing age, the top broodmare of the sale also changed hands Wednesday. Ballad sold for $40,000 to H & E Ranch from the consignment of Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck's Summerfield Sales, as agent.

The 10-year-old Tapit mare was offered in foal to juvenile champion Classic Empire, whose first foals race this year.

Ballad, a winner on the track, has not yet produced a starter. She is out of the stakes-placed War Chant mare No Fair, dam of four winners from as many starters.

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