'Everyone's excited to have him' - $1.7 million Tapit colt tops OBS day three

Lane's End Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds partnered to purchase a Tapit colt for $1.7 million during the third day of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training to top the session.

"We are looking for stallions and in this partnership, a good number of the owners have equity in [Grade 1 winner] Flightline, so everybody is excited," said West Point Thoroughbreds' Terry Finley.

"The economy is doing well, and the horse market at the top end is doing very well; we thought we would have to pay. About three years ago, we had a half-brother that could really run, he just got unlucky and took a bad step one day, but I think he was at the top of the talent list of all the horses.

"When we purchased this colt, he was in the back of our minds; everybody is excited to have him."

The colt, bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds and offered as hip 885 as part of the Eddie Woods consignment, worked a quarter-mile in :20 4/5 during the OBS under tack show. Out of the winning Seeking The Gold mare Pension, he is related to four black-type runners and three stakes winners, two of them at Grade 2 level.

The richest of those is the $186,587 earner Annual Report, by Harlan's Holiday, winner of the Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park for Godolphin, who acquired the colt for $600,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale in 2015.

Hip 885 is also a full-sister to Thoughtfully, a $950,000 purchase at the 2019 Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Select Sale of Yearlings and winner of the 2020 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga.

Pension's youngest offspring is a yearling filly by Tapit, who is yet to pass through the sales ring.

Thursday was the first trip through the sales arena for the flashy grey son of Tapit, who will be heading to New York with long-time trainer Shug McGaughey. The partnership has a common thread, top-end colts with the possibility of being a future commercial stallion.

"One of the things Bill Farish, David Ingordo, and I are looking for are the individuals who identify themselves as having the vision and prospect to separate themselves and be at the top end," commented Finley.

"So Flightline is a colt that we hit on, but the vast majority of them don't work out. We are trying to pick the ones that if they do well enough on the racetrack at the end of their career, we won't have a problem with their pedigree."

A high median trending at $65,000 shows the strength and demand seen in middle-market horses, which was last seen in 2019 at $75,000 on the second day of selling. On Thursday, 37 juveniles commanded over $200,000, with 13 of those horses going over $400,000.

Cumulatively over the past three days of selling, OBS reported 538 horses sold from 637 through the ring for an average of $135,343, up on $98,406 last year, a $70,000 median ($47,000 in 2021), and gross receipts of $72,814,500 versus $54,811,900. The RNA rate for the 99 horses that have gone unsold over the past three days is at 15.5 per cent, compared to a 12.4 per cent RNA rate for 79 unsold in 2021.

OBS reported 173 horses sold from 206 on offer, for gross receipts of $23,658,000, an increase of 59 per cent from 2021. A median price of $65,000 was achieved, and an average of $136,751 was established. There were 33 horses who failed to meet their reserve to represent an RNA rate of 16 per cent. Numbers reported on Thursday were subject to change due to post-sale activity.

At this point last year, 166 horses changed hands of the 191 on offer for total receipts of $14,819,500, at a median price of $46,000 and an average of $89,274. An RNA rate of 13 per cent represents the 25 horses that failed to meet their reserve. These figures include post-sale prices.

Six juveniles passed the $500,000 mark on the third selling day, with one individual - the Tapit colt - breaking the seven-figure ceiling.

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, who secured two juveniles in the six-figure range on Thursday, including the Justify filly (hip 762) for Klaravich Stables at $450,000, said, "Any nice physical that walks in the ring is selling well; the freshman sires are selling like crazy."

Trainer Keith Desormeaux, who came to Florida to purchase horses for client Ben Gase, including a $400,000 Twirling Candy filly (hip 641), said: "I bought one on the first day for $90,000; it's the same old cliché, the good ones are hard, everyone is after the good ones. It seems like the middle market is strong. Congratulations to OBS; they are doing a great job."

Niall Brennan, the second leading consignor on Thursday, after selling six head for a gross of $2,382,000, commented on the market as solid through day three.

He said: "The market is excellent still. People are focused on quality; I think they do their homework and anything that is genuinely very nice and shows up that way on the racetrack if they vet well, they are selling well.

"You have to jump through a lot of hoops; it's getting tougher and tougher and you are exposed at the two-year-old market, but when you get through everything, you are well-rewarded."

At the close of Thursday's action, Eddie Woods was the day's leading consignor, with seven horses sold for gross receipts of $3,005,000 at an average price of $429,285.

Lane's End Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds led the day as the leading buyer with their seven-figure purchase of the Tapit colt for $1.7m.

The sale concludes on Friday.

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