OBS sales bookend 2020 juvenile auction calendar

After a season of change in 2019, the calendar for this year’s North American juvenile sales season, running from March until June, remains stable, with the continent’s major auction companies looking to build on their recent results. Here is a look at the major-market sales on tap for this spring, in chronological order.

Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March sale of 2-year-olds in training

March 17-18

(Under-tack preview show March 12-14)

The OBS March sale, which has the unenviable pole position and must establish market momentum, posted mixed results in its 2019 renewal. Topped by a pair of seven-figure colts, the sale posted a gain in gross compared to the 2018 edition and also had an improved buyback rate in the selective market. However, the auction also posted double-digit year-to-year declines in its average and median sale figures.

The sale-topper was a $2 million son of Tapit and Grade 1 winner Artemis Agrotera, purchased by a partnership led by West Point Thoroughbreds. Named Chestertown, the colt has won once from four starts to date and has not missed the board.

The sale also produced a $1.8 million Pioneerof the Nile colt who has not yet started.

This year’s OBS March catalog features 681 juveniles.

Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale of selected 2-year-olds in training

April 1

(Under-tack preview show March 30)

The Fasig-Tipton Florida sale has improved its figures each year since moving to Gulfstream Park in 2015, but it will be hard-pressed to keep improving the figures off last year’s powerhouse renewal. The sale posted a 24 percent gain in gross receipts compared to the 2018 edition and also recorded record average and median figures. That average price finished at a $493,475, soaring 28 percent compared to the year prior – and remarkably, besting Fasig-Tipton Florida’s prior record mark of $403,812 set in 2006, when The Green Monkey brought a staggering $16 million in an edition of the sale held at Calder.

Last year’s sale was led by the most expensive 2-year-old sold in North America last season, a $3.65 million Curlin colt from the family of stellar broodmare Better Than Honour, sold to Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier and partners. Now named Cezanne, the colt has worked several times this season at Los Alamitos for trainer Bob Baffert, but has not yet started.

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued 185 initial entries for the Gulfstream sale; the company will continue to review and accept supplemental entries.

Keeneland April sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age

April 7

(Under-tack preview show April 6)

Keeneland conducted its April sale of 2-year-olds in training from 1993 to 2014, after which the auction went on hiatus. The auction company revived and reinvented the sale last season as a combination of the traditional juvenile market and horses of racing age – and immediately got a high-profile graduate from the latter portion to add some luster to its record. Higher Power sold for $250,000 to Lane’s End Bloodstock on behalf of Hronis Racing and has emerged as a standout on the California circuit for his new connections. He won last year’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, then finished third in a pair of Grade 1 events in the fall at Santa Anita, the Awesome Again Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The April sale’s breeze show and single session are conducted on the dark days following opening weekend of Keene-land’s race meet. Like the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream and Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita sales, the Keeneland sale provides the opportunity for 2-year-old sale prospects to work on a dirt or turf course at a major American racetrack.

Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training

April 21-24

(Under-tack preview show April 13-18)

The OBS April sale is considered the auction company’s flagship sale and also is something of a bellwether for the national market. The auction typically offers the largest catalog of the season and is seen as a market with a broad spectrum of horses for buyers at all levels.

Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale

May 18-19

(Under-tack preview show May 12-14)

The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale, taking place at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, draws luster and a buying bench of prominent horsemen from the Preakness Stakes at nearby Pimlico the weekend prior. The sale has grown in numbers and popularity in recent years, evolving beyond a solid regional sale into a marketplace that has produced seven-figure horses in five consecutive years. Last year, a sale-record $1.8 million Into Mischief filly helped the sale finish with record gross and average figures.

Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita sale of 2-year-olds in training

June 3

(Under-tack preview show June 1)

Fasig-Tipton took over the California auction market for Barretts last year and held its first 2-year-old sale during Santa Anita’s spring-summer race meeting in a tumultuous season for the track. The company will look to build on a first outing topped by a $420,000 Bernardini filly, with the 69 horses sold averaging $54,630.

Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. June sale of 2-year-olds and horses of racing age

June 10-12

(Under-tack preview show June 4-7)

OBS both starts and finishes this sale season. In addition to providing an option on the calendar for late-blooming juveniles, or those who were scratched from or failed to meet their reserve at prior auctions, this sale also offers a selection of active racehorses.