Stay Thirsty has strong session at OBS

The opening session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age was a showcase for freshman sire Stay Thirsty, who had two horses among the day’s top three prices on Tuesday, including the session topper.

Leading the way was a filly out of the stakes-winning Seeking the Gold mare Broadway Gold who sold to Stanley Hough, as agent, for $180,000. The bay filly is a half-sister to five winners from six foals to race, including Grade 2 winner Broadway’s Alibi, Grade 3 winner Golden Lad, and Grade 1-placed stakes winner R Gypsy Gold. She is from the family of Grade 1 winner and freshman sire Dialed In.

Bred in Florida and consigned by Ocala Stud, the session-topping filly breezed a quarter-mile in 22 2/5 seconds over the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack surface during the presale under-tack show.

Stay Thirsty also had a colt go to Louis Linder Jr. for $100,000 to tie for Tuesday’s third-highest price. The dark bay or brown colt is out of the unraced Fusaichi Pegasus mare Baltic Flier, who is the dam of two winners from as many foals to race. Bred in Kentucky by the partnership of Gaines-Gentry Thoroughbreds and Fox-Straus, the colt’s extended family features United Arab Emirates Group 1 winner Caller One and Grade 2 winner Prospect Bay.

Top Line Sales, agent, consigned the colt, who breezed a quarter in 21 2/5 seconds during the under-tack show.

Stay Thirsty, an 8-year-old son of Bernardini, stands at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., for an advertised fee of $10,000. The multiple Grade 1 winner has 91 juveniles in his first crop, with 22 having sold during the 2016 2-year-old auction season for an average price of $118,049.

First-crop sires in demand

Buyers were making a clear statement early in the OBS sale, and it was “in with the new.”

Of the eight horses to sell for $90,000 or more Tuesday, six came from the first crops of their sires, led by the session-topping filly by Stay Thirsty. The day’s co-second-highest price came for a filly by Lane’s End resident The Factor. The filly went to SAC racing for $150,000.

WinStar Farm was represented by a pair of newcomers in Bodemeister and Gemologist. Bodemiester had two of the top nine Tuesday, led by a $100,000 filly who sold to Little Red Feather Racing, while Gemologist had a colt go to Christina Jelm, agent, for $90,000.