The buzz was building all week about a colt from the first crop of unbeaten Horse of the Year Flightline, who would be offered during the final session of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training on Friday. Already a pricey weanling, he developed into a physically-impressive pinhook prospect and threw the gauntlet down by working a bullet furlong during the under-tack preview show. When his time to stand in the ring came, he delivered on the hype, selling for a record-shattering $10.5 million to bring the house down at an OBS spring sale that set new high-water marks across the board. Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni signed the ticket for the Flightline colt on behalf of Zedan Racing, and the colt will be trained by Bob Baffert. The colt, who was consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds, as agent, shattered the previous record not only for the OBS spring sale, sailing past the $2.45 million for Conquistador in 2017; but also the overall OBS auction house record, the $3 million for Brant at the 2025 OBS March 2-year-old sale. It is the second-highest price ever paid for a 2-year-old in North America, behind the $16 million brought by The Green Monkey at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Florida select sale. “I had no idea it was going to hit that,” Lanni said. “I talked to everybody, and everyone had different numbers, could bring $6 million, could bring $7 million. I never thought that. But that’s why there is a horse auction. You never know what they’re going to bring.” When the dust settled, OBS reported 637 horses had sold over four sessions this week for gross receipts of $113,823,000. Last year’s sale brought $88,496,500 from 638 sold. This week’s sale established a record for the gross, surpassing the mark of $92,129,000 established in 2022. With six juveniles selling for seven-figure prices along with the eight-figure Flightline colt, the cumulative average of $178,686 also established a record, finishing 29 percent better than the prior mark of $138,709 established last year. The median, considered a crucial figure for market health because it is not influenced by outlying prices at the top of the market as much as the average can be, was $80,000, a jump of 23 percent from last year’s number of $65,000 and toppling the prior record of $70,000 set in 2024. The buyback rate was stable, finishing at 18 percent against 17 percent last year. “I do think you saw some depth here,” OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski said. “The top typically takes care of itself, but there was plenty of money in that second and third tier for horses all through the week. That was the impressive thing all week, was not just the domestic buyers, but the increased amount of interest we saw from all regions of the world. A deeper bench of buyers from Japan, more and more of the Middle East buyers coming in, European buyers. It just continues to grow.” The colt by Flightline, who retired to Lane’s End Farm after winning all six of his starts, including the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic, by a combined 71 lengths, led a powerhouse week for this freshman sire class at OBS, and a powerhouse week for the Hartley/DeRenzo consignment. Among the seven horses to realize prices of $1 million or more, four were by freshmen. A filly by champion sprinter Jackie’s Warrior was purchased for $2.3 million by Dermot Farrington on behalf of Mrs. Fitriani Hay, finishing the week as the highest-priced filly in OBS spring history, and the third-highest priced horse overall. A colt from the first crop of champion Epicenter was purchased for $1.95 million by agents Justin Casse and Ben McElroy for AMO Racing, and a colt by multiple Grade 1 winner Cyberknife was purchased for $1.2 million by the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds and Mike Talla, with LEB and trainer John Sadler as agents. The Flightline colt and the Jackie’s Warrior filly were both consigned by the team of Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo, OBS mainstays and noted pinhookers. Both juveniles worked a furlong, the traditional yardstick for these breeze-up sales, in 9 3/5 seconds on the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack last week to be among the group tied for the bullet at the distance. The Flightline colt was bred in Kentucky by Edward and Beverly Seltzer and W.S. Farish. Despite being an April 29 foal, he was impressive enough early on to be a $575,000 weanling purchase by Tom Durant’s Classic Equine at the 2024 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. “You always want to be the best, that’s what you strive for,” Hartley said. “When you bring these kinds of horses to the sale and the horses we’ve sold in the past, people have high expectations and sometimes things don’t work out, and people get so disappointed. It’s hard to stay at that level because there are so many good people doing it now. They’re all trying to buy the same horses. “This was just an amazing horse,” Hartley continued. “We very rarely see these kinds of horses come through the 2-year-old sales. But he never missed a beat with nothing. From the breeze to showing, when you’re around him for five seconds, you can see that he breathes different air than other horses.” The colt is out of the Grade 2-placed stakes winner Lucrezia. The daughter of Into Mischief is the dam of one winner from two starters to date. Lucrezia is out of Grade 3 winner Verdana Bold, also the dam of stakes winner and stakes producer Ghalia and stakes-placed Copperplate. “There was a lot of hype on this horse. He followed through with the hype,” Lanni said. “When he worked, everyone got on that rail and watched and he delivered. He did everything that was asked of him. Bob loved him, the first time he saw him he loved him, and Amr [Zedan] is tough, he’s tough to outbid. He’s an emotional guy and he’s great for the sport. His enthusiasm is unbelievable.” For hip-by-hip results, click here. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.