By Sarah Mace
Saving the best for last, the New York-bred juvenile contingent at OBS April saw a cluster of premium sales during Friday’s fourth and final session. A quartet of horses – three colts and filly – sold for price tags of $200,000 and up, including a pair by New York based sires Central Banker and Mission Impazible.
Buyer interest on Day 4 also improved the cumulative sale indicators for Empire State-breds across-the-board. In all, of 89 offered, 71 New York-breds sold (including 12 private sales to date) for a much improved buyback rate of 20.2%, comparable to the 19.7% overall figure for the auction. Following the opening session, New York-bred RNAs stood at 33.3%. The final cumulative New York-bred average was $73,451 and median came in at $50,000, which made up ground on the record-breaking overall sale average of $108,903 (up 10.9% from the prior year) and median $60,000 (up 9.1%).
The session’s top New York-bred seller was a dark bay/brown Violence colt out of Bear Now, the Sovereign Award champion older mare in 2008. Hip 960 was bred by Town & Country Horse Farms, LLC and foaled on April 9, 2017. Offered as a yearling at the Keeneland September sale, the colt brought a relatively modest $65,000 from Jeffrey Bloom. After breezing a sharp furlong of :10 flat in the under tack show for consignor by Randy Miles, Agent XV, he was purchased by Red Oak Farm, Inc. for $250,000. (VIDEO)
His dam Bear Now, who has produced two winners from four foals to start, is a highly accomplished Kentucky-bred daughter of Tiznow, who earned $1.1 million on the race track. Out of stakes winner Controlled, she won seven stakes, including a trio of graded contests, on her way to her 2008 championship. She was purchased by Town & Country for $950,000 at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale and has since been resold.
Following not far behind with a $240,000 price tag was Hip 1009, a filly by New York sire Central Banker, currently sitting third in the national second-crop sire rankings and standing at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds for a 2019 fee of $7,500. Purchased as a yearling at OBS by Sunshine Equine for $55,000, the sale filly breezed a furlong on :10 1/5 in the under tack show for consignor Mayberry Farm, Agent, before trainer Linda Rice signed the ticket for an undisclosed client. (VIDEO)
Bred by Klaravich Stables, the filly is a full-sister to Klaravich Stables’ New York-bred stakes winner Sassy Agnes, who won a trio of stakes as a juvenile last year for Rice, topped by Aqueduct’s Key Cents Stakes. The fillies are the first and second foals out of Bullish Sentiment, who issues from a familiar New York family.
An unraced daughter of Stormy Atlantic, Bullish Sentiment is a full sister to graded stakes-placed and multiple stakes winner Stormy’s Majesty who was bred in New York by Majesty Stud, LLC and earned $336,649. The mare’s second dam is New York-bred stakes performer Raffie’s Dream, who is a full-sister to graded winner Stormy’s Majesty. Bullish Sentiment has produced yearling full-brother to her first two foals and foaled a colt by Constitution on March 24, 2019. In 2018 she was sold to McMahon and Hill Bloodstock for $5,000.
The two other New York-bred juveniles to make the Friday honor roll fetched $205,000 each.
On behalf of Repole Stable, trainer Rudy Rodriguez signed the ticket for Hip 1172, a grey/roan colt named Neversayimpazible by Mission Impazible, who stands at Sequel Stallions New York for a 2019 stud fee of $7,500. Bred by Sequel New York, Twin Creeks Racing & Pamela Zielinski, the colt is out of Kentucky-bred winner Downtown Daria (Sky Mesa), a daughter of of stakes winner Hongkong Charley. This is the third time the colt has changed hands at public auction. A $15,000 weanling purchase by Northface Bloodstock at the Fasig-Tipton New York fall mixed sale, he brought $65,000 at the Fasig-Tipton preferred New York-bred yearling sale when purchased by Whetstone Farm. He was consigned by Paul Sharp, Agent I, at OBS for whom he breezed an eighth in :10 1/5 at the under tack show. (VIDEO)
Last but not least, Sallusto and Albina, Agent, paid $205,000 for Hip 1169, a dark bay/brown colt from the first crop of Grade 1 Champagne winner Daredevil (More than Ready). Bred in partnership by Hidden Lake Farm LLC, 3C Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, Inc., et al, he too is a veteran of the sales ring and followed the same path as Neversayimpazible, also gaining value with each transaction. A $60,000 weanling at the Fasig-Tipton New York fall mixed sale, he brought $100,000 from Grand Oaks at last year’s Fasig-Tipton preferred New York-bred yearling sale before being consigned by Bobby Dodd at OBS, where he posted a :10 1/5 eighth. (VIDEO). His dam Dorm Fever is a Virginia-bred daughter of Stormin Fever who was acquired by Hidden Lake Farm at Keeneland in November in 2016. She has a yearling colt by Japan and was bred to Unified last year.
