NEWS: SALES

It’s a wrap: NY-breds gain ground at OBS Spring, top-end sales expand

Saturday, April 25th, 2015
by Sarah Mace

New York-breds made a strong showing during a robust renewal of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training, matching the overall sale median and gaining ground in average price over last year. The New York-bred market at the very top end also expanded significantly. The standout in the final session of the four-day auction, who fetched $265,000, brought the total of New York-breds selling for six figures up to 15, and the number selling for $200,000 and up to six.

In all 79 New York-breds changed hands at OBS of 103 offered, which includes 10 private sales, for a buyback percentage of 23.3. Although this number is up from last year’s New York-bred 16.7 percent buyback rate at the same sale, the sale overall saw the same year-to-year trend. In 2014 the full sale buyback percentage was 18.2. This year it rose to 22 percent.

The average price for a New York-bred juvenile of $66,759 at OBS rose 4.8 percent over last year’s $63,714 average. The cumulative overall sale average was a sale record $79,455, up 7.4 percent over last year’s record. The New York-bred median of $45,000 was down a tick or two from last year’s $47,000, but equal to the overall sale median, which held steady from last year.

The most marked trend this year for Empire-breds at OBS, which reflects a broader market trend for New York-bred 2-year-olds over the last two years, came at the very top of the spectrum. In 2014, 17 horses brought six figures, with four individuals commanding $200,000 and up, and a single juvenile selling for over $300,000. This year, despite a smaller population of New York-bred participants in the sale (103 offered in 2015, down from 126 offered in 2014), 15 horses cracked six figures, six brought $200,000 and up and three sold for $300,000 and up. The New York-bred sale topper, who fetched $310,000, was a sales coup for New York-based freshman sire Here Comes Ben (McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds). Read more.

The New York-bred standout in the sale’s final session was Hip 1148, a chestnut Summer Bird colt bred by Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding who posted a furlong work in :10.2 at the under tack show. The colt sold to Steven Venosa’s SGV Thoroughbreds at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale for $55,000. At OBS Narvick International secured him from SGV Thoroughbreds for $265,000. Summer Bird’s first crop are 3-year-olds of 2015.

Foaled on February 17, 2013, the sale colt is the second foal of a young unraced daughter of Vindication named Homecoming Dance, who is a half-sister to graded stakes performer Milam and issues from the family of Trumpet’s Blare and Albert the Great. Homecoming Dance has a registered New York-bred yearling by Archarcharch and was bred in 2014 to Morning Line.

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