OBS June sale finishes with figures edging slightly downward

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s June sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age concluded on Friday evening with relatively steady figures.

OBS reported 583 2-year-olds sold during the three-session sale for gross receipts of $21,400,800, compared with 640 bringing $24,051,900 last year. Both sets of figures include private sales conducted on horses who did not meet their reserve price in the ring, but changed hands on the sale grounds shortly afterward.

A pair of $400,000 fillies, one a well-related daughter of classic sire Twirling Candy and one from the first crop of classic winner Tiz the Law led the sale. Although last year's sale was topped by juveniles sold for $485,000, $475,000, and $450,000, this week's auction saw nine juveniles change hands for $250,000 or more in the ring, compared to seven in that bracket - six through the ring and one private sale - last year. With that action, OBS June's average price was $36,708, a drop of just 2 percent compared to 2023’s $37,581.

The median price, considered a key figure in evaluating the health of the middle and lower markets, was unchanged at $20,000. The overall buyback rate in what has been a highly selective marketplace was a solid 20 percent, compared to 16 percent last year.

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With 2-year-olds dominating the catalog, OBS reports figures for the horses of racing age separately. The company reported that 14 older horses sold for $343,500 in Friday's third and final session, averaging $24,536 with a $12,000 median price.

The Tiz the Law filly sold during Wednesday's opening session to Bill Childs to establish the sale's top price; on Thursday, John Stewart's Resolute Racing went to a matching $400,000 for the Twirling Candy filly.

The two fillies share some similarities. Both were consigned by Tom McCrocklin, as agent, and they shared the fastest quarter-mile time at last week's under-tack preview show. Both fillies had worked in 20 2/5 seconds on the Ocala Training Center's all-weather Safetrack. The fillies both were entered in the OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training two months ago, worked a furlong prior to that sale, but then were buybacks, at $190,000 and $285,000, respectively. Now in June, the fillies had matured enough to work a quarter-mile, and found a marketplace where they could excel.

The session-topping filly is from the first crop of Tiz the Law, winner of the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at 2 and then an additional trio of top-level races at 3 in 2020 – the Florida Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes.

This Kentucky-bred filly, an April 30 foal, is out of the winning Dixie Union mare Southern Silence, dam of four winners from as many starters. Those include Grade 1-placed stakes winner Esplanande, Ohio's horse of the year; as well as fellow Ohio stakes winner Liberate.

The Twirling Candy filly is out of the unraced Cowboy Cal mare Cashmere, dam of six winners from as many starters. That makes the Kentucky-bred filly a full sister to Rombauer, winner of the 2021 Preakness Stakes and third in that year's Belmont Stakes among his multiple Grade 1 placings.

Cashmere, who also produced stakes-placed Cono, is a half-sister to Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner California Flag and to graded stakes winner Cambiocorsa. The latter is the dam of graded stakes winners Moulin de Mougin and Schiaparelli, and is the second dam of European Horse of the Year Roaring Lion.

The OBS June sale is the penultimate auction of the breeze-up season in North America, with the single-session Fasig-Tipton Midlantic June sale on June 25, an auction added to the calendar just last year, finishing things off. Despite selling the top two lots of OBS June, McCrocklin described the marketplace as “tenuous” as it approaches its finale.

“It's tough,” McCrocklin told assembled media, as quoted in the Thoroughbred Daily News. “I am of the opinion we might be getting into a little sales fatigue, a little financial fatigue. You know when you've been at the mall since March and your credit just went over the limit and it's time to go home. I think a lot of buyers feel that way right now.”

For hip-by-hip results from OBS June, click here.

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