Justify colt sells for $1.2M at opening session of OBS March juvenile sale
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A $1.2 million Justify colt topped the first of three sessions as the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. opened its March sale of 2-year-olds in training, and the North American juvenile sales season, on Monday.
OBS reported 131 juveniles sold in the session for gross receipts of $20,192,500. In last year's opener, 205 horses changed hands for $27,170,000.
The session's average price was $154,141, jumping 16 percent compared to $132,537 in 2022. Monday's median spiked 20 percent, to $90,000 from $75,000. The buyback rate was 32 percent, compared to a very low 9 percent in the 2022 opener.
Triple Crown winner Justify, who was among last year's leading freshman sires, is represented by his second crop of juveniles this season. His session-topping colt was purchased by the partnership of the WinStar Farm-affiliated Maverick Racing and Siena Farm from the consignment of Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds, as agent. The colt had breezed a furlong in 10 seconds flat during last week's under-tack preview show on the Ocala Training Center's all-weather Safetrack surface.
The session topper, an April foal, is out of the Grade 3-placed Smart Strike mare Zinzay, dam of four winners from five starters. Those include Grade 1-placed stakes winner Moon Over Miami. Zinzay is a half-sister to Distorted Music, the dam of graded stakes winner She Can't Sing. Grade/Group 1 winners Music Note, Musical Chimes, and Mystic Guide appear on the catalog page.
The Justify colt was the only horse on the day to surpass seven figures; the session's second highest-priced horse was a $950,000 Uncle Mo colt, also consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo, and purchased by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt and Jackpot Farm. The Justify colt's $1.2 million price tag matches the 2022 sale topper; that auction ultimately produced four seven-figure horses.
The OBS March sale continues Tuesday and Wednesday. For hip-by-hip results, click here.
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