$260K Pleasantly Perfect colt paces OBS sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Jo Ann and Alex Lieblong, who campaign Grade 1 winner Telling, struck Monday to give the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company spring juvenile sale its first six-figure horse.

The Arkansas couple bid $260,000 for a Pleasantly Perfect colt that led the session at 3:30 p.m. Offered as Hip No. 132, the chestnut colt is out of Minister Thatcher, by Deputy Minister. Parrish Farms, agent, consigned the colt. He is a full brother to the winning 4-year-old Minister Perfect and a half-brother to 5-year-old winner Sanlorenzo.

The session-leading colt worked a quarter-mile in 20.80 seconds at the under-tack preview and was the only six-figure horse at that hour.

The OBS spring juvenile auction was to continue through Thursday at the OBS pavilion in Ocala, Fla. Sessions begin 10:30 a.m. daily.

On Sunday, Adena Springs South held its own 2-year-old auction near Ocala. The sale, conducted by OBS, sold 23 horses - half the number cataloged - for a total of $723,500. The average price was $31,457, and the median was $18,000. In 2009, the auction sold 48 horses for $2,149,000, resulting in an average of $44,771 and a $36,000 median. This year's average and median were down 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

The Adena Springs sale's most expensive 2-year-old was Bahia Beach, a gray or roan filly by Awesome Again. Silverton Hill paid $115,000 to purchase the daughter of Pop Princess. That Alphabet Soup mare is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Spring Waltz.

The Adena sale-topper sold as Hip No. 26 on Sunday.