OBS June sale: Half-brother to Verrazano tops Day 1 at $400,000

A colt by perennial leading sire Tapit sold for $400,000 as the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s June sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age opened its three-day run with mixed figures.

OBS reported 187 horses sold during Wednesday's first of three sessions for gross receipts of $6,119,500. That figure dropped 8 percent from the 2018 opener when 179 horses sold for $6,641,100. Wednesday's average price finished at $32,725, a 12 percent drop from $37,101 a year ago, while the median price grew 11 percent, to $20,000 from $18,000 in 2018.

The buyback rate in what has been a highly-selective market finished at 29 percent, compared to 18 percent last year.

The session-topping Tapit colt was purchased by M Racing from the consignment of Pick View LLC, as agent. The colt had breezed a furlong in 10 1/5 seconds on the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack surface during last week’s under-tack preview show.

The colt is out of the Giant's Causeway mare Enchanted Rock, making him a half or full brother to three stakes horses, most notably millionaire Verrazano (by More Than Ready), who earned a pair of Grade 1 victories on dirt as a 3-year-old, taking the Wood Memorial and Haskell Invitational, along with the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 3 Pegasus Stakes.

Verrazano later was sent abroad and picked up a pair of Group 1 placings on turf in England, most notably a runner-up effort in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Enchanted Rock is also the dam of El Padrino, winner of the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes, as well as La Madrina, who was multiple stakes placed. La Madrina is by Tapit, while El Padrino was by the late Pulpit, the sire of Tapit.

Enchanted Rock is out of Grade 1 winner Chic Shirine, a full sister to champion Queena. Chic Shirine is the dam of Grade 2 winners Tara Roma and Waldoboro.

Tara Roma joins Enchanted Rock as one of several stakes producers out Chic Shirine, with her progeny including Grade 1 winner Serra Lake and Grade 3 winner Cappuchino. Another of Chic Shirine's daughters, Chic Corine, is the dam of Grade 1 winner Somali Lemonade, while Flying Passage produced graded stakes winners Hungry Island and Soaring Empire.

This is also the immediate family of Grade 1 winners Brahms, Harmonize, and Keen Ice.

For hip-by-hip results from the opening session, click here.