OBS August: Colonel John colt tops select yearling session

A $220,000 colt from first-crop sire Colonel John topped Tuesday’s select session at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s August yearling sale, capping an afternoon of gains.

Trainer Wesley Ward picked up the sale-topper, a bay colt out of the unraced Bon Point mare Bon Caro. She already is the dam of two stakes performers, both half-siblings to the sale-topper: stakes winner Glitter City and Grade 3-placed Wild Forest Cat.

The three-day auction’s opening select session saw 127 yearlings bring a combined $5,684,000, a 33 percent increase over last years gross for 114 yearlings. Average price climbed 19 percent, from $37,526 in 2011 to $44,756, and median gained 8 percent, rising from $32,500 to $35,000. But buybacks presented a slightly darker note as they also went up from last season’s 24 percent to 29 percent.

The select session is followed by open sessions Wednesday and Thursday, starting at 10:30 a.m. each day at the OBS auction complex in Ocala, Fla.