First two days at Ocala show gains

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's August yearling auction in Ocala, Fla., entered its third of four days Wednesday after gains in average at its first two sessions.

By 5 p.m., Wednesday's session leader was a $50,000 Montbrook filly that Green Lane Farm South bought from Sugar Hill Farm, agent. The filly is a half-sister to two stakes-placed runners, U Got Appeal and Public Appeal.

At Tuesday's second session - the first of three non-select sessions - a pair of $50,000 yearlings rang up the highest price. The Cloverleaf Farm agency's Montbrook colt out of Round Z. Bend, by Ziad, was the first to bring $50,000, from the partnership of Solitary Oak and Parrish Farm. The colt was followed by a $50,000 filly from Straight Man's first crop. A daughter of the Spectacular Bid mare Sea Bid consigned by Abbie Road Farm as agent, she went to Dominic Brennan, bidding on behalf of Barrister Hall Stable.

The Tuesday session followed Monday's strong select session and also posted gains in average and median prices. The average price for the Tuesday session rose 4 percent, from $10,078 last year to $10,429 this season. The median climbed 23 percent, from $5,500 to $6,750. Gross receipts fell slightly, with 218 lots bringing $2,273,600, a marginal drop from last year's $2,287,700 for 227 yearlings. Despite the increases in average and median, the 2003 session's buy-back rate rose, from 23 percent last year to 28 percent.