Smart Strike colt brings $1.7 million at OBS

A run of high-priced offerings near the close of business Wednesday at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March sale of 2-year-olds in training helped bring returns to a competitive level with last year, led by a $1.7 million Smart Strike colt.

The two-day sale saw 325 juveniles change hands for $51,650,000, down 7 percent from the 2015 renewal, which saw 325 horses sold over two days for a record $55,432,000.

The average sale price fell 7 percent from $170,560 to $158,923, while the median dropped 5 percent from $105,000 to $100,000.

Two horses brought seven-figure prices during this year’s sale, topping the lone horse to do so last year. Seventeen horses sold for $500,000 or more, trailing the 25 to hit that mark in 2015. Of the horses in that price range, seven of the 17 went through the ring over the auction’s final 100 hips.

The 66 juveniles to bring $250,000 or more was one better than at last year’s sale.

Lane’s End Bloodstock secured the sale-topper near the end of Wednesday’s session, a $1.7 million Smart Strike colt out of the Grade 2-placed Unbridled’s Song mare Glamorista. The price made him the third-most-expensive offering to ever change hands at an OBS sale.

Bred in Illinois by Brinker Hill Farm, the colt is the first foal out of the dam and is from the family of multiple Grade 1 winner Critical Eye, Grade 2 winner Takeover Target, and Grade 3 winner Time Off.

Consigned by Eddie Woods as agent, the colt breezed one furlong in 9 4/5 seconds during the presale under-tack show over the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack surface.

The Farish family’s Lane’s End operation in Versailles, Ky., stood Smart Strike for his entire career at stud until his death last March.

The colt’s price placed him third on the all-time list behind record-holder Inheritance, a Tapit filly who brought $1.9 million at last year’s OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training and a pair of $1.8 million colts: Garifine, a Belong to Me colt out of the 2008 March sale, and Pacific, a son of Smart Strike from the 2013 March sale.

Woods was the auction’s leading consignor, with 26 juveniles sold for a combined $6,440,500. Lane’s End Bloodstock was the March sale’s top buyer, with four purchases totaling $2,910,000.

Wednesday’s closing session saw 154 horses change hands for $25,106,500, up 2 percent from last year’s second-day gross of $24,728,500. The average sale price rose 3 percent from $158,513 to $163,029, while the median went unchanged at $100,000.

De Meric Sales was Wednesday’s top consignor, with 21 horses sold for $2,633,500, while Lane’s End Bloodstock was the leading buyer, with two purchases totaling $2,060,000.

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