Ocala sale continues to be strong

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company continued its strong run at its August yearling sale Thursday, with an early session leader bringing $52,000. That lot, a Slew Gin Fizz filly consigned by Kelli Mitchell, agent, went to Welcome Gate Farm.

The filly is out of the Proper Reality mare Inthemiddleofitall and was the afternoon's top price as of 5 p.m.

The Thursday session, the last of four sessions at the OBS August yearling sale, appeared to be continuing the auction's trend of solid prices at the top of the market. The sale opened Monday with gains at its only select session, and most of those gains were repeated even as the sale moved into its open sessions.

On Wednesday, the auction sold 226 yearlings for $2,026,200, up 14 percent from the equivalent session last year, when 207 sold. The average price rose by 5 percent to $8,965, and the median gained even more, climbing by 9 percent to $6,000. Buy-backs fell on Wednesday, dropping from last year's 29 percent for the session to 26 percent this year.

Wednesday's session-topper was a $60,000 Grand Slam filly consigned by Sez Who Thoroughbreds. Carloyn Wilson bought the filly, who is a daughter of Blushing Native, by Blushing John.