Search begins for another Into Mischief or Cafe Pharoah at OBS March Sale

The major two-year-old sales circuit returns in the US this week, with individuals at the OBS March Sale going under the hammer on Tuesday and Wednesday in Florida after the breezing sessions. Tod Wojciechowski, the director of sales, explains more.

Could you tell us a little about the history of the March Sale?

Ocala Breeders’ Sales held its first sale in 1975 and has really been a pioneer of the two-year-old in training sale, or 'breeze-up' sale as you call them. The March sale has been a part of the OBS sale schedule since 1989.

Through most of those years, it was a selected sale yielding many top-class runners. In 2015, in response to our consignors and buyers, we moved away from the 'select' model and opened up the March sale giving buyers a larger catalogue from which to select their runners while giving consignors more opportunities to sell. It has proven very successful.

It has quite a hall of fame. Who are the most notable names to have appeared there?

Well, I suppose we don’t have to look much further than our catalogue cover this year. Into Mischief sold in our 2007 March sale and was the leading general sire in 2020 based on worldwide earnings. In that same year another March graduate was crowned Champion Sprinter in North America, Midnight Lute.

Big-league sire Into Mischief is one of the sale's star graduates

The March sale has produced a number of millionaires including Carpe Diem, Plum Pretty, Stopchargingmaria, Mucho Gusto and Japanese runner Moanin. Most recently and featured on the back of this year’s cover are Speech, Structor, Instilled Regard, Nay Lady Nay and recent Grade 1 winner in Japan, Cafe Pharoah.

Last year’s sale arrived just at the time Covid-19 was beginning to make an impact in the world. Was it a difficult time for OBS?

Just like everyone around the world, we certainly experienced challenges but were lucky in the respect that we were able to hold all of our sales in 2020. As you mentioned, the Covid situation was starting to come to a head during the March Sale. We had a number of meetings discussing cancelling or forging ahead.

Given the horses had performed under tack and many of the buyers were onsite doing their homework, our board of directors ultimately decided to go forward with the sale with the support of our local government. In light of the uncertainty, the sale held up well and consignors got the opportunity to sell their horses.

Have any of last year’s graduates began to make an impact on the track?

From last year’s March sale we have had 36 horses run 1-2-3 in 65 stakes races and 15 Graded Stakes 1-2-3 finishes.

For the uninitiated, is the event the same as a European-style breeze-up sale? And how do the timings work?

I am not intimately familiar with the European-style breeze-up sale, but I do know there are some differences for sure. One thing to keep in mind, no other sales company in the world breezes more horses over more days than OBS. Our system is pretty efficient.

In March, we will have three days of breezes with approximately 170 horses per day (this is net of outs). We begin at 8am each day, breaking the group up into three sets. We will condition the track in between each set.

Our mile all-weather surface gives consignors the best opportunity to showcase their horses. Whether it is at 8am or 1pm, day one or day three, the racing surface allows us to provide consignors with a safe and consistent surface. We electronically time the breezes and publish these times for the public as well as live stream and post the individual videos on our website.

How is this year’s catalogue shaping up? Are there any particular individuals or progeny of sires that the organisers are excited about?

We are excited about the group of horses we have. We have a good mix of proven stallions as well as a number new sires that have some buzz to them. We have 11 two-year-olds by the aforementioned Into Mischief and one of his young sons, Practical Joke, is a first-year sire that consignors seem to be talking about. Our stallion roster is very deep.

Does it tend to attract clientele from outside of the US? Are you expecting that to be the case next week, either in person or online?

Absolutely! We have a number of international buyers that have great success at OBS. Each year it seems more and more international buyers recognise the quality and value they can find here.

We will see a number of buyers here from Asia, the Middle East, as well as Europe. Some have told us they will be here in person and some have already signed up for online bidding. Obviously the online bidders have representation on the grounds to do homework, but they seem very comfortable gathering information from their representatives and ultimately making buying decisions online.

Additionally with array of information we provide on our website (breeze videos, walking videos, photographs) online buyers have a lot of information at their disposal. Certainly we prefer to have buyers here in person, but given what last year handed us and what some people still have to deal with, the online bidding is a great alternative.

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