Gun Runner yearling filly sells for $275,000 to top Day 1 at OBS sale

A yearling filly by leading young sire Gun Runner sold for $275,000 to lead the way as the two-day Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s winter mixed sale opened Tuesday.

Tuesday's activity at OBS included selected mixed stock designated as a preferred session, followed by a selection of horses of racing age. OBS reported figures for those two segments separately.

For the preferred session, which included the session-topping Gun Runner filly, 143 horses sold for gross receipts of $3,074,300. Both figures were up significantly from 99 horses sold for $1,896,300 in the comparable segment of the 2021 sale. The higher gross was helped along by a vastly improved buyback rate, as this section finished at 16 percent, compared to 30 percent last year.

After a strong start to the sale with the preferred session, the following horses of racing age section posted some declines. OBS reported 73 horses sold for $1,211,700, compared to $1,692,500 for the same number a year ago. The average was $16,599, down 28 percent compared to $23,185 in 2021; the median fell 15 percent, to $11,000 from $13,000. The buyback rate was 18 percent, compared to 12 percent.

The session-leading Gun Runner filly, purchased by Mike Hall's Breeze Easy LLC, was the only yearling in the catalog from the third crop of her sire, the 2017 Horse of the Year. Gun Runner finished as 2021's leading 2-year-old sire while breaking the earnings record for a North American freshman sire.

This Florida-bred filly, consigned by Get Away Farm, as agent, is the first foal out of the unraced Uncle Mo mare Homemade Mo Nae. That young mare is out of the stakes-placed Pioneering mare Homesteader, making her a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Conquest Two Step, as well as stakes winners Homemade Salsa and Sheikh of Sheikhs. Stakes winners King and Crusader, McKilts, and P V Lightening also appear on the catalog page.

The unraced 3-year-old filly Freedom Speaks topped the horses of racing age section, selling for $145,000, the fourth-highest price of the day overall, to Reitman Stables. The American Freedom filly, who was consigned by Best A Luck Farm, as agent, had worked three furlongs in 31 2/5 seconds during Monday's optional under-tack preview show over the Ocala Training Center's all-weather Safetrack surface.

Freedom Speaks is out of the winning Macho Uno mare Wicked Speed, dam of four winners from as many starters. The mare is a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Fatal Bullet and stakes winner Millennia, as well as to the winner Duchess Dancer, dam of Queen's Plate winner Safe Conduct.

The OBS January sale concludes with its second and final session, designated as an open session, on Wednesday.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.