Yes It's True crop already market-tested

Sixteen Florida stallions who won graded stakes will be represented by their first crops of Florida-bred yearlings at the Ocala Breeders Sales. The OBS has cataloged 202 for its Aug. 18 selected session. The open sessions, which begin the next day and conclude on Aug. 21, will offer 1,074 yearlings.

Padua Stable's Grade 1 millionaire Yes It's True (by Is It True), with 19 in the sale, already has been tested in the yearling market. Three of his offspring were sold at the Fasig-Tipton July sale and averaged $118,333.

"We're very pleased with the market response to Yes It's True," said Bruce Hill, farm manager of Padua. "Buyers like what they see in his yearlings. Yes It's True's yearlings are scopy, correct, and have a good attitude. If you like a horse who stamps his foals, Yes It's True is your kind of stallion."

Dance Master (by Gone West), a Grade 2 stakes winner, is the second Padua-based stallion with first yearlings at the sales. "I think he is throwing even more of a speedy-type yearling than Yes It's True," said Hill.

There is one yearling by Dance Master in the selected session and eight more in the open session.

Is It True (by Raja Baba), winner of the 1988 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, was relocated to Florida for the 2001 season to stand at Hartley DeRenzo/ Walmac South. In addition to being the sire of Yes It's True, he has sired 13 other stakes winners and the winners of over $10 million.

Greenwood Lake was among the early-bird favorites for the 2000 Kentucky Derby. A son of Meadowlake, he had won the Champagne Stakes and the Remsen Stakes as a 2-year-old. Injury, however, forced an early retirement to Stoneriggs Farm in Ocala, where he stands as the property of a syndicate.

Greenwood Lake has an unusual pedigree in that there is no Mr. Prospector blood and only one cross of Northern Dancer. What does abound in Greenwood Lake's pedigree chart are the names of many sires from the Seabiscuit era: Eight Thirty, Challenger II, Pilate, and Blue Larkspur. There are six of Greenwood Lake's offspring in the selected session and 16 more in the open sessions.

Running Stag (Cozzene) is a rarity for a multiple graded-stakes-winning stallion nowadays. He raced 40 times over five years in England, France, Hong Kong, and the United States, earning more than $1 million. He was at home on dirt and turf. One grandsire is Irish and another German. A yearling colt by the Adena Springs Farm resident brought $50,000 at Fasig-Tipton July. There are eight yearlings by Running Stag in the open sessions.

Straight Man, standing at Signature Stallions, is one of three first-crop stallions by the late Saint Ballado with yearlings in the August auction. The other two are the Grade 2 stakes-winning Sweetsouthernsaint, with three in the selected and 19 in the open sessions, and the stakes-winning Halo's and Horns, with one in the selected and five in the open.

There were three offspring of Straight Man sold at Fasig-Tipton in July, where they averaged $88,333. There are 32 selling at OBS in August and another 10 going to Keeneland in September. Adam Staples of Signature estimates that there are around 75 yearlings in his first crop.