Wed, 03/14/2012 - 16:34

Ocala's 2012 March sale ends with gains

Led by an $800,000 War Front colt, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March select 2-year-old auction extended the boutique sale season’s early gains when it closed Wednesday with more increases in all financial categories.

Wed, 03/14/2012 - 11:09

Adios Charlie, Jerome winner, to stand at Ocala Stud

Adios Charlie, the 2011 Jerome Stakes winner, has been retired from the racetrack and will take up stud duties this breeding season at Ocala Stud in Ocala, Fla.

The 4-year-old Indian Charlie colt will stand in 2012 for $3,500 stands and nurses.

Bred in Florida by Brylynn Farm, Adios Charlie won the Grade 2 Jerome and was runner-up in two other Grade 2 events last year, the Peter Pan and Dwyer. He steps off the track with 3 wins and 3 second-place finishes from 7 starts, which earned $251,090.

Tue, 03/13/2012 - 16:21

Empire Maker filly brings $485,000 bid at first session of OBS Sale

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company saved the highlight for last Tuesday when the opening session’s final offering, an Empire Maker half-sister to stakes winner Passport, brought a session-topping $485,000.

The first of two sessions sold 91 juveniles for $11,877,000, up 15 percent from last year’s gross for 119. The $130,516 average was up 50 percent, and the $100,000 median climbed 75 percent. Buybacks also fell from last year’s 30 percent to 27 percent.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 14:18

Zenyatta: Routine foaling for a special mare

Photo via @TeamZenyatta
Zenyatta foaled a 130-pound Bernardini colt on Thursday night at Lane's End farm.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The birth of Zenyatta’s 130-pound Bernardini colt, the mare’s first, took place in an unusually heated atmosphere as the 2010 Horse of the Year’s fans took to the Internet in droves, speculating and fretting publicly over this important first in the mare’s new career as a broodmare at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky. The horsemen in attendance for the colt’s birth say the event went as routinely as any other foaling, but they acknowledge that the first delivery by one of the world’s most popular racemares was anything but a routine event for all concerned.

Fri, 03/09/2012 - 15:48

Tribal Rule proves popular at stud, in sales ring

At the breeding shed and the year’s first major juvenile sale, Tribal Rule is proving to be a popular stallion in California.

Last Monday at the Barretts March sale of selected 2-year-olds in training in Pomona, Calif., colts by Tribal Rule sold for $130,000, $105,000, and $30,000. He was by far the leading stallion of California-breds at the one-day sale, by gross and average.

Fri, 03/09/2012 - 14:48

OBS preview: Indian Charlie filly fastest

An Indian Charlie filly posted Friday’s fastest eighth-mile work in 9.8 seconds at the final under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March select juvenile auction.

The two-day sale is set for March 13-14 at the OBS facility in Ocala, Fla. Sessions are at 11 a.m.

The Indian Charlie filly is out of the Forestry runner Winter Forest, a full sister to Grade 2-placed stakes-winner Ever Elusive. Old South Farm, agent, consigns her as Hip No. 213.

Fri, 03/09/2012 - 14:32

OBS sale looking for growth

Barbara D. Livingston
Curlin, twice horse of the year, has two fillies in the Ocala sale.

A week after California’s Barretts March select 2-year-old sale began the juvenile auction season with gains, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company general manager believes the trend will continue when its Florida select sale opens Tuesday, a day after the OBS Championship stakes day.

Fri, 03/09/2012 - 07:22

Zenyatta foals 130-pound colt

Photo via @TeamZenyatta
Zenyatta foaled a 130-pound Bernardini colt on Thursday night at Lane's End farm.

LEXINGTON, Ky. –  Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year, has given birth to her first foal, a Bernardini colt, in one of the most anticipated equine births in recent memory.

The 8-year-old Zenyatta foaled a 130-pound colt at about 10:10 p.m. Thursday at Lane's End farm in Versailles, Ky. He is a dark bay with a white star and “polka dots on his feet,” just like Zenyatta, according to Zenyatta.com.

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 15:16

Johannesburg colt fastest at Ocala Breeders' Sales preview

A juvenile colt by Johannesburg zipped an eighth-mile in 9.80 seconds Thursday as the fastest worker over the distance at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s under-tack preview in Florida.

The breeze show was the first of two for OBS’s March select 2-year-old sale, which will take place March 13-14 at the OBS complex in Ocala. The sale will start at 11 a.m. each day.

The fleet Johannesburg colt, Hip No. 93, is out of the unraced Carson City mare Quiet City. He’s a half-brother to two stakes-placed runners, Veneti and Quiet Delight. Old South Farm, agent, is the consignor.