Colt brings $675K to lead Ocala sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum picked up a session-topping $675,000 A. P. Indy-Got Koko colt Monday at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's spring 2-year-old sale in Ocala, Fla. That contributed to the sale's gains in gross and average, though median slipped.

In a recession year when select 2-year-old sales were down roughly 30 percent, the open OBS auction sold 210 juveniles for $5,477,500, up 13 percent from last year's total for 188 horses. The 2009 opening-day average of $26,083 increased less than 1 percent but was still on the plus side of the ledger. The $16,000 median was down 11 percent from last season's $18,000.

Buybacks declined from 30 percent a year ago to 24 percent.

Maktoum's representative John Ferguson bid the session-topping $675,000 for Grade 1 winner Got Koko's second foal.

M. Neal Sims, agent, consigned the session-topper.

Four horses, including the session-topper, sold for six figures Monday. Hip No. 105, a Sky Mesa-Impulse Shopper colt, went to John Oxley for $240,000; Oxley and his wife Debby campaigned Sky Mesa, currently the leader among North American third-crop sires. Casey Newick, agent, was the consignor. A colt by 2008's leading juvenile sire, Tapit, out of Luvthat' Jackie sold to Bear Stables for $190,000. Ricky Leppala consigned the gray or roan colt as Hip No. 237. Late in the session, Hip No. 333 brought $130,000. That was a dark bay or brown Cape Town colt that Glenn Bromagen bought from Harris Training Center's consignment. The colt is out of Moon Watch.

The A. P. Indy colt worked an eighth-mile in 10.40 seconds at the under-tack preview. He is Got Koko's second foal and is one of a rare few. The Signal Tap mare died on March 5 at age 10 after complications foaling her fourth and final foal, a colt by Maktoum's champion Bernardini. Got Koko was owned by Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stables. Jackson paid $1.5 million for her at the 2004 Keeneland November sale.

Her first foal, an A. P. Indy filly named Koko Pop, is a 3-year-old that has yet to race.

Offered Monday as Hip No. 38, the 2-year-old A. P. Indy colt initially sold for $175,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling auction, where buyers Carl Bowling and Ricky Leppala bought him from Stonestreet. He scratched out of Fasig-Tipton's Calder select juvenile sale earlier this year.

Last year's auction sold 772 juveniles for $22,578,000, resulting in an average of $29,246 and an $18,000 median. Gross fell slightly from 2007, when 786 horses brought $22,698,400, but average rose just over 1 percent and median jumped by 6 percent.

Th e OBS sale opened Monday and was to continue through April 23, with sessions starting daily at 10:30 a.m.