Cover image courtesy of Photos by Z
Written by Brian DiDonato & Steve Sherack, TDN America
With a US$750,000 (AU$955,840) filly from the first crop of Practical Joke (USA) leading the way, the first auction of the 2-year-old sales season completed a very promising two-day run as the 2021 OBS March Sale concluded with across-the-board gains compared to last year and numbers not too far off of 2019 stats recorded during more normal circumstances.
Consigned by Top Line Sales as Hip 311, Wednesday's highest-priced lot and the Sale's overall topper was purchased by Japan's Hideyuki Mori, who led all buyers for the auction, purchasing eight juveniles for US$2.245 million (AU$2.86 million).
Eddie Woods topped consignors for the second straight day with eight sold for US$2.007 million (AU$2.55 million) and led the standings overall at the two-day auction, selling 14 juveniles for US$4.134 million (AU$5.27 million).
While exact year-to-year comparisons are tricky due to OBS's policy of adding subsequent post-Sale transactions to its official statistics, there does seem to be a bright light at the end of the tunnel as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dissipate.
For Wednesday's session, 151 juveniles grossed US$19,004,500 (AU$24.22 million), good for a US$125,858 (AU$160,400) average and US$70,000 (AU$89,210) median.
As the pandemic just began to take a hold last year and with the stock market plummeting, the corresponding day two session in 2020 grossed US$14,355,000 (AU$18.3 million) for 150 sold with an average of US$95,700 (AU$121,965) and a median of US$50,000 (AU$63,720). The clearance rate was 81.2 per cent on Wednesday; it was 62.3 per cent a year ago.
No fewer than 16 juveniles brought US$500,000 (AU$637,230) or more at this year's Sale. Only five hit that same mark in 2020.
“It was another good, solid day of selling horses,” said OBS Director of Sales, Tod Wojciechowski. “We were very pleased with how the Sale wrapped up. It seemed to hold its strength all the way to the end.”
He continued, “Mr. Mori was here, and we had a number of Japanese buyers online. It was nice to see their participation, but the domestic spending was strong as well.”
Next on the OBS agenda is the Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, scheduled for April 20-23.
“Certainly, we hope the momentum of this Sale carries through to the rest of the season,” Wojciechowski said. “April continues to be the premier 2-year-old sale in the world. I know we'll have plenty of good horses in April, and if this Sale is any indication, it bodes well for April.”
Top Line goes back to the 'Well'
Torie and Jimbo Gladwell's Top Line Sales LLC made a nice profit Wednesday with a daughter of a freshman stallion.
Hip 311, by buzzed-about Practical Joke, brought US$750,000 (AU$955,840) from Japanese trainer Hideyuki Mori. The filly is out of Peruvian champion Valiant Emilia (Per) (Pegasus Wind {USA}) from the family of recent G2 Lambholm South Holy Bull S. winner Helium (USA) (Ironicus {USA}).
“She's the only one we had here who was for our partnership,” said Torie Gladwell. “It was some of the same partners who we had on Princess Noor last year, so they are definitely some lucky partners. We will not be getting rid of them.”
Hip 311 - Practical Joke (USA) x Valiant Emilia (Per) (filly) | Image courtesy of Photos by Z
Colombo snags Pharoah filly for Yoshida
After struggling for most of the Sale to fill his order due to vet issues and high prices, agent Eugenio Colombo swooped in late in the day Wednesday to grab Hip 547 for US$600,000 (AU$764,670) on behalf of Shadai's Teruya Yoshida.
The daughter of American Pharoah (USA) was consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables.
“Everything–the conformation, the way she walked, the mental attitude. She's a calm filly,” Colombo said of the filly's appeal. “I'm very, very happy to buy her. I was afraid, with the prices going on here, and after seeing (what Hip 311 brought)… She also vetted perfectly – I vetted 11 fillies, and all the others had some minor issues. And then even with those minor issues, they still brought top money.”
Hip 547 - American Pharoah (USA) x Henny Jenney (USA) (filly)
Hip 547 is out of Henny Jenney (USA) (Henny Hughes {USA}) and has an unraced full brother named Primary Colors (USA).
No fewer than three juveniles by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah will be headed to Japan from OBS after this week – Kazuko Yoshida purchased Hip 387 for US$350,000 (AU$446,060) from Kings Equine; and Hideyuki Mori bought the aforementioned Hip 507 for US$550,000 (AU$700,950)
The Coolmore resident has been well represented on the track in Japan by the likes of last month's G1 February S. winner and Cafe Pharoah (USA) and Japan Dirt Derby hero Danon Pharaoh (Jpn).
Spendthrift takes home four
B. Wayne Hughes's Spendthrift Farm was an unsurprising player at the top of the market this week, taking home four horses for a combined US$1,725,000 (AU$2.2 million), led by a Kantharos (USA) colt (Hip 357) secured Wednesday for US$575,000 (AU$732,810) in partnership with their affiliated MyRacehorse.com.
Consigned by Woodford Thoroughbreds, Agent II, he is a full brother to juvenile Adventurous Lady (USA). His dam was a debut winner as a July juvenile, his second dam was a stakes winner at two and his third dam was Graded-placed at two.
“He's just an absolutely beautiful horse,” said Spendthrift's Ned Toffey. “He had a little more leg than you might typically find on a Kantharos – just a very classy looking horse. I feel comfortable that he'll be very fast, but he looks like a horse who may be able to stretch out a little bit as well. We thought he had one of the best breezes that we saw. Kantharos may be a little bit quiet right now, but that doesn't bother me–we think he's a very good sire. We're very happy to have one. Just a very impressive physical–he was our pick of the day.”
Hip 357 - Kantharos (USA) x Ari The Adventurer (USA) (colt)
The team will take some time before deciding on a trainer for the colt.
“He'll go back to Spendthrift this evening,” Toffey explained. “Even if there are no issues, we usually like to give them 30 days at the farm to just let them chill out a little bit and put this sale environment behind them, and make sure we are still happy with what we've got, and then go on with them. So, we've got about 30 days to make a decision."
Toffey was encouraged, like many, for what a strong market at OBS could mean for the state of the industry.
“Maybe it's a little of the COVID rebound factor–people are just eager to get out and get back to normal,” he said. “I was very encouraged walking around the sales grounds, looking at horses in the days leading up to the Sale, by how much activity we saw–plenty of buyers and people looking at horses. The vets seemed to have good activity. So, from an overall health of the market industry standpoint, I thought it was very encouraging to see."
