OBS sale concludes; average price up a hair, median jumps 8 percent

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training, considered a bellwether for the national marketplace, wrapped up a four-day run on Friday evening with cumulative average and median figures that narrowly bested the records established last year.

OBS reported 633 juveniles sold for gross receipts of $82,086,500. At last year's four-day sale, 699 horses brought $90,405,000.

With a $1.9 million filly from the first crop of Tiz the Law leading the way, this week’s average price finished at $129,679. That was just above the previous high-water mark of $129,335 set in 2023.

This week’s median was a record $70,000. That jumped 8 percent from last year’s $65,000, which had tied the mark established in 2022.

The cumulative buyback rate for this week’s sale was a solid 19 percent. Figures under 20 percent are considered laudable in what has become a polarized marketplace.

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The sale-topping Tiz the Law filly was purchased midweek by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, on behalf of Michael Lund Petersen. Tiz the Law was a Grade 1 winner during his juvenile campaign, boding well for the precocity of his offspring. At 3, he added Grade 1 wins in the Florida Derby, the pandemic-adjusted Belmont Stakes, and the Travers Stakes, and was second in the Kentucky Derby.

Tiz the Law’s sale topper, consigned by Tom McCrocklin, distinguished herself by blitzing a quarter-mile in 20 1/5 seconds during last week’s under-tack preview show on the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack. According to OBS, that tied a track record.

The filly, bred by China Horse Club in Kentucky, is out of the stakes-placed Sky Mesa mare Moonlight Sky, whose first starter is Grade 3-placed Urban. Moonlight Sky is a full sister to Grade 3 winner Sky Girl and a half-sister to champion Abel Tasman.

McCrocklin picked the filly up for $170,000 out of last year’s Keeneland September yearling sale.

“She’s a special filly,” McCrocklin posted on social media after the sale.

The next highest prices at the sale were a $925,000 American Pharoah filly, purchased by Lanni for Frank Fletcher Racing Operations; a $925,000 Into Mischief colt, purchased by Naohiro Sakaguchi; an $850,000 Nyquist filly, purchased by Lanni for Baoma Corp; an $800,000 Bolt d’Oro colt, purchased by Three Amigos; an $800,000 colt from the first crop of Vekoma, purchased by Lanni for Zedan Racing; and a $775,000 filly from the first crop of Caracaro, purchased by Three Amigos.

Lanni typically purchases horses for clients of trainer Bob Baffert. Three Amigos is the buying name for Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, also prominent clients of Baffert.

Lanni, for a number of different clients, and the Three Amigos were among the sale’s cumulative top five buyers overall.

For hip-by-hip results from the OBS spring sale, click here.

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