Florida kicks off juvenile sales season

There is plenty of change on the 2-year-old sales calendar this season, as Keeneland revives its boutique April sale of 2-year-olds in training into a resurgent market, while Fasig-Tipton takes over for Barretts in a major shift in the California market.

But the Florida calendar remains steady in a market that has been steady. The Sunshine State, the epicenter for major-market juvenile sales in North America, kicks off the season this month with high hopes coming off a solid 2018 for its auction houses. The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. begins the season with its sale of 2-year-olds in training on March 12-13, followed by its spring sale from April 23-26. In between, Fasig-Tipton will host its boutique Gulfstream sale of 2-year-olds in training on March 27.

The OBS March sale posted a record renewal in 2017. The figures dropped somewhat in 2018 but still compared favorably with other editions of the sale, indicating that the marketplace has found stability. The two-day auction finished with 248 juveniles sold for $42,299,000, down 25 percent from the previous year’s record receipts. The average sale price came down 9 percent from the record, to $170,560 from $187,741. The average outperformed the 2016 sale and tied the 2015 figure. The median did rise 16 percent to $110,000.

“Since we expanded the sale format in 2015, March has really become a much broader marketplace,” OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski said. “We were able to add a group of precocious horses in addition to the select-type horses they already expect in March. All you have to do is look at the list of runners that have come out of this sale over the past few years to see that quality horses come in all different types and price ranges.”

The 577 juveniles cataloged for this year’s OBS March sale include broad representation from a strong class of freshman sires, led by nine from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. His offerings include a filly who was a $450,000 purchase by pinhookers Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale last summer. Strong support from pinhookers at the yearling sales indicated that the expectation is for American Pharoah’s first crop, which has already produced eight seven-figure offerings, to continue to sell well this season.

“There is so much upside,” Hartley said. “You always hope to get a bargain, but for me, I think at the end of the day, I think [the yearling prices] will end up being like a bargain for one of [American Pharoah’s offspring].”

There are four juveniles in the catalog by perennial leading sire Tapit, including colts out of multiple Grade 1 winners Artemis Agrotera and Winter Memories, and two by Tapit’s commercial rival War Front, including a colt out of Grade 1 winner Callback.

The Fasig-Tipton Florida sale has improved its figures each year since moving to Gulfstream Park in 2015. Last year’s auction was led by a pair of $1.2 million juveniles; one of those is the unbeaten Instagrand. Fueled by those youngsters at the top of the market, the sale’s average price increased 15 percent to $389,746, and the median increased 9 percent to $295,000, the second-highest figures in those categories in the auction’s history. The average trailed only the all-time high of $403,812 set in 2006, the year The Green Monkey brought a record $16 million. The boutique auction finished with 59 horses sold for $22,995,000, down 9 percent from the prior year, thanks to a high buyback rate in a selective market.

This year’s initial catalog of 185 juveniles for the Gulfstream sale – Fasig-Tipton will continue to review and accept supplemental entries – includes half-siblings to classic-placed Grade 1 winners Brilliant Speed and Ice Box. The catalog also includes a half-sibling to two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Stephanie’s Kitten a half to Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tapizar who is bred on the same cross as that runner; a half to Canadian champion Essence Hit Man; and a foal out of Canadian champion Youcan’tcatchme.

“I’m like a kid in a candy store with regards to the quality of the catalog that we’ve got for the Gulfstream sale,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said. “It will be a really, really strong catalog, both in terms of pedigree and physical quality.

“We’ve had a track record at Gulfstream of selling [top-performing] horses, and I promise you, there’s a bunch in the catalog this year.”

The Gulfstream catalog also includes half or full siblings to Grade 1 winners American Gal, Bullsbay, I’m a Chatterbox, It Tiz Well, Molly Morgan, Morning Line, Salutos Amigos, Time and Motion, and Verrazano, and foals out of Grade 1 winners Diplomat Lady, Malibu Mint, Meadow Breeze, Sassy Image, Seattle Smooth, and Winter Memories.

Keeneland has reinstated its April sale as a one-day auction of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age. The auction will be held on Tuesday, April 9, following the opening weekend of the spring race meet.

Keeneland conducted its April sale of 2-year-olds in training from 1993 to 2014, after which the auction went on hiatus.

“Keeneland’s April sale produced a number of champions and classic winners, including 2017 champions Lady Eli and Roy H in its final edition in 2014,” said Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s vice president of racing and sales. “Horsemen are very supportive of the sale returning this spring, and we are excited to expand the auction from previous years by offering a limited number of horses of racing age.”

OBS and Fasig-Tipton will then be back in action later in the season, with the OBS spring sale followed by the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training at Timonium on May 20-21, the week following the Preakness Stakes; the inaugural Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita sale of 2-year-olds in training on June 5; and the OBS June sale of 2-year-olds and horses of racing age from June 12-14.

OBS’s later-season sales have been rising in profile in recent years and count a pair of 2018 Breeders’ Cup victors and Eclipse Award champions among their graduates. Filly and Mare Sprint winner and divisional champion Shamrock Rose was a $120,000 purchase in April 2017, while turf champion and two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Stormy Liberal was a $100,000 purchase in June 2014.