by Sarah Mace
Led by another standout Freud filly, two more New York-bred juveniles brought over $200,000 in Thursday’s closing session of the OBS 2-year-olds in training sale, both purchased by trainer Linda Rice, agent.
Hip 928 by Freud (Sequel Stallions New York) was purchased for $230,000 by Rice from the consignment of Dean’s List on behalf of Lady Sheila Stable Two, LLC. Lady Sheila Stable campaigns La Verdad (Yes It’s True), the Rice-trainee who captured the Grade 2 Distaff last weekend at Aqueduct.
Bred in partnership by Hidden Lake Farm LLC, Andrew Sole and Fred Rosen and foaled at Hidden Lake Farm in Otisville, the filly sold as a yearling to Western Guidelines for $60,000 at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale. She breezed an eighth of a mile in :09 4/5 on the final day of the under tack show, the co-second-fastest work of day at the distance.
Out of the winning Kentucky-bred Unbridled’s Song mare All of Me, the filly has three winning siblings from three to race, including two other registered New York-breds. Her second dam Bold and Gorgeous is a stakes winner, as is her third dam Just Gorgeous. The filly’s $230,000 price-tag made her the third top-selling New York-bred in the sale overall.
A second closing-day standout, also the top New York-bred colt overall and fourth top-priced New York-bred, was Hip 1044 by Spring At Last. Bred by JND Stables, James Taylor, Deborah Bolstad and Fox Ridge Farm, Inc. and foaled at Silvernails Farm in Pine Plains, the bay colt brought $210,000 after breezing a furlong in :10 flat.
Hip 1044 was hammered down twice before at public auction, bringing $37,000 as a weanling at the inaugural Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed sale in Saratoga Springs in October 2012, and going to Ciaran Dunne, his consignor at OBS, for $80,000 at the OBS August yearling sale in 2013.
Out of Cercis, a placed daughter of Forty Niner, the colt has six winning siblings, topped by Botarate (Fly So Free) a multiple graded stakes performer in Peru. A half-sister is a stakes producer and his second dam is a stakes winner.
In the context of a sale that set new records for gross, average, and median for the second straight year, the performance of New York-breds was extremely solid. After four sessions the overall average price at OBS was $74,357 (up 24 percent over last year’s record $59,825), while the median figure was $47,000 (34 percent above the previous record $35,000 set in 2013). The buyback percentage was 18 percent, (up from 14 percent a year ago).
In the New York-bred population, 100 of 127 juveniles sold successfully for a 21 percent buy-back rate, slightly higher than the sale as a whole. The $65,400 average price for a New York-bred did not quite keep pace with the overall average, but the New York-bred median of $50,000 outperformed the general sale.
Eighteen New York-breds sold for six figures. Four brought $200,000 or more, of which three were fillies. The top Empire-bred was an Indian Charlie filly bred by Milfer Farm, Inc., who went to Gary Contessa, agent for Wounded Warrior Stables for $390,000 (thirteen top-seller overall).
Two fillies by Freud topped the New York-sired offerings: Hip 928, the third highest-priced New York-bred, who sold in session four (above) and Hip 736 the fifth highest-priced New York-bred who sold in session three. A Kentucky-bred colt by Bob and John (Hip 640), who currently stands at Saratoga Stud LLC in Stillwater, sold for $210,000.
