Led by a $400,000 Tiz the Law juvenile filly, the Ocala Breeders’ June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale began with mixed results June 12 in Ocala, Fla., which yielded lower gross sales than a year ago but gains in the average and median.
Bill Childs purchased the session-topping filly for $400,000, adding to a haul of quick-working juveniles he acquired earlier this year at OBS. The dark bay or brown filly consigned as Hip 187 by Tom McCrocklin breezed a quarter-mile in :20 2/5 in advance of the sale.
Childs and his son Alex, both of Fort Worth, Texas, head the CSLR Racing partnership.
“She did what you pretty much have to do anymore at a 2-year-old sale to get rewarded,” McCrocklin said. “You have to breeze fast, you have to be visually pleasing, you have to gallop out fast, and you need to pass all the veterinary scrutiny and there’s plenty of it. Once you clear all those barriers, sometimes you get rewarded.”
On the first session of the three-day sale, 173 lots were sold out of 259 offered, generating gross sales of $6,825,500, a reduction of 15%. A total of 350 were cataloged during the first day.
Last year, 225 were sold during the corresponding session, generating $8,047,900 in receipts, a BloodHorse-compiled total that counts post-sale transactions. Such sales mean the horse did not sell in the ring but in a post or private sale after the horse left the ring.
On Wednesday, 86 did not meet their reserves, an RNA rate of 33%. The average price and median increased to $39,454 (up 10%) and $21,000 (up 5.0%), respectively. Last year, again with postsale figures, the average was $35,768 and the median $20,000.
Sales this year have experienced favorable returns at the top of the market, less so in the middle to lower portions of it, and McCrocklin said the June Sale continued that trend.
“If you have a standout horse, like we had today, they’re always somebody that wants to buy a filly like that,” McCrocklin said.”But it’s more the middle of the bell curve that’s really struggling. Nice horses but maybe not the metrics this filly had. Not the breeze time, not the gallop-out time. These horses are struggling to be sold.”
The Tiz the Law filly consigned as Hip 187 breezes a quarter-mile at the OBS June Sale under tack show
The session topper, bred in Kentucky by Newstead Corp out of the Dixie Union mare Southern Silence , is a half sibling to four black-type runners, including Ohio-bred stakes winners Liberate (Gemologist ) and Esplanande (Daredevil ). The latter, however, also performed well in graded company, placing in the 2020 Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course as a 2-year-old.
Hip 187 was purchased for $80,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She then went unsold for consignor Halcyon Hammock Farm at the Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training when bidding stalled at $190,000 after days earlier working a furlong in :10. She then landed in the June sale.
One of the top foals of 2017, Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes (G1) as a 3-year-old during the COVID-19-impacted season of 2020. He entered stud in 2021 and currently stands for a $20,000 fee at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky.
His first foals, 2-year-olds of this year, have been popular at juvenile auctions, with one filly bringing $1.9 million during the Spring Sale in April.
Two fillies also shared honors for the second-highest price of the session at $250,000. Selling for that price was a daughter of Authentic (Hip 25) that went Legion Bloodstock, agent, from the Pick View consignment, and a Munnings filly (Hip 34) sold for that same figure to Holly and David Wilson from the Britton Peak consignment. The former worked a furlong in :10 2/5 and the latter in :09 4/5.
The June Sale continues June 13 at 10 a.m. ET. Hips 351 —700 will be offered for sale. The session will be streamed live on the OBS and BloodHorse websites.
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