Summer At the Spa tops horses of racing age at OBS winter mixed

By Sarah Mace

Ralph M. Evans went to $125,000 to purchase 3-year-old filly Summer At the Spa, who emerged as the top-seller in the Horses of Racing Age Session at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s 2020 Winter Mixed sale. The two-day auction on January 28-29 featured a consignor preferred session Tuesday immediately followed by a horses of racing age section and an open session Wednesday.

Summer At the Spa, who is from the first crop of Summer Front, won her lone start at two, a 6-furlong turf maiden special weight at Aqueduct on November 23, by rallying from far back to defeat a field of 10 for trainer James Toner and owner Michael J. Ryan.

Bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Summer At the Spa first sold for $60,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton preferred New York-bred yearling sale at Saratoga to Burkhardt Stable. At two she was purchased by Upstate Stable for $55,000 at the OBS April 2019 spring sale of 2-year-olds.

Summer At the Spa, who was consigned by Niall Brennan Stables, Agent XIV, is the first foal out of Myself, an unplaced Kentucky-bred daughter of Giant’s Causeway. Second dam is graded stakes performer Obsequious by Fusaichi Pegasus. This is also the family of British-bred multiple grade 1 winner and horse of the year User Friendly who earned the equivalent of $1.7 million.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas, who signed the ticket on Evans’ behalf, told the Blood-Horse, “She’s a lightly-raced New York-bred that’s hopefully going to cycle back into the turf (racing) season. She was good enough to win first time out and she’s coming out of Jimmy Toner’s barn, for whom we have a lot of respect for as a caretaker and Niall (Brennan) sold her, in whom we have a lot of confidence.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/01/29/summer-at-the-spa-hora-obs-winter-mixed-2020/

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