Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. reschedules April and June 2-year-old sales

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. announced Tuesday night that it would postpone its scheduled April and June sales of 2-year-olds in training in response to the continuing coronavirus pandemic, a move that was not surprising as the outbreak has upended the juvenile sale calendar.

“As we all continue to deal with the current circumstances, we need to balance a sense of social responsibility with providing our consignors the best opportunity to market their horses and give buyers the best place to obtain them,” OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski said in a release.

The OBS spring sale, which had been scheduled for April 21-24, is now scheduled for June 9-12. A pre-sale under-tack show will be held May 31 to June 6 on the Ocala Training Center's all-weather Safetrack surface. Following that, the June 2-year-old and horses of racing age sale is now scheduled for July 14-17, with a breeze show July 6-11. The sale had been slated for June 10-12.

OBS opened the North American juvenile sale season last week with its March sale, which posted understandable declines in economic indicators. The sale's gross receipts dropped 37 percent, the average price fell 34 percent, and the median declined 34 percent. The buyback rate was 40 percent.

:: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales

Now, the next auction on the juvenile sales calendar will not be until late May at the earliest. In a normal year, four other auctions would have taken place by that point. The Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream and Keeneland April sales, both boutique single-session sales scheduled to take place in April at major racetracks, were canceled prior to OBS March. Fasig-Tipton then announced that its Midlantic sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds had been pushed back one week, to May 26-27.

With multiple sales on the juvenile calendar canceled, Fasig-Tipton has also added a second Midlantic sale for the market, to be held June 2-25. In the release announcing the postponement of the April and June sales, OBS indicated that it would continue to evaluate the demand in the market and potentially add a 2-year-old session to its October yearling sale later this year.