$550,000 colt by 'on fire' Nyquist heads OBS Spring Sale trade

Ocala Breeders' Sales Company saved the best for last during the third session of its Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training on Thursday. A colt by Nyquist (hip 891) consigned by Wavertree Stables, agent, and one of the last horses through the ring, sold for $550,000 to Donato Lanni, agent for Zedan Racing Stables, to top the day's offerings. 

The good-looking bay colt is out of the Grade 1-winning Empire Maker mare Acoma. Winner of the 2010 Spinster Stakes for owners Helen Alexander and Helen Groves and trainer David Carroll, the millionaire earner won nine of 19 starts in a sensational racing career. 

As a broodmare, she is the dam of nine other foals of racing age, getting three winners from six foals to race, including Hidden Enemy, an earner of $238,501, and Roswell (a three-year-old filly by Into Mischief), a debut winner this year. This is also the family of Grade 1 winners Arch and Covfefe.

Bred in Kentucky by Alexander-Groves Thoroughbreds, the colt was acquired by Red Wings, the pinhooking partnership of Wavertree's Ciaran Dunne and. Paul Reddam, for $150,000 out of the Gainesway consignment at last year's Keeneland September Sale. Ahead of his trip through the ring, the colt breezed an eighth in :10 at the under tack preview.

"Obviously, he had a fast breeze," said Lanni. "He has a beautiful pedigree. The mare is due. She was a heck of a racehorse and hasn't really produced yet. He is a horse who came here and did everything he was asked to do, and he looks the part. He is the type of horse we're happy to have. He is definitely one we wanted. Plus, the sire is on fire. I'm glad we got him."

Dunne had high expectations for the colt, who demonstrated his speed and athleticism in the breeze and boasts sire power, as well as a family replete with black type.

"It seems like every sale I am sitting here talking about how great Nyquist is, and between every sale he does more to justify what you say about him," shared Dunne. "He was a beautiful horse. His work was fabulous, and I thought he was well received at the barn. We are maybe a hair disappointed in what he brought. I thought he could bring a little bit more. But he was well bought and well sold."

The second-highest priced horse of the day and top filly was hip 643, a daughter of Bolt D'Oro purchased by Woodford Thoroughbreds for $450,000. Consigned by de Meric Sales, the grey or roan filly was bred in Kentucky by H. Allen Poindexter and is out of the winning Henny Hughes mare Sky O' Blue. She breezed an eighth in :10 at the under tack preview.

A total of 147 horses changed hands on Thursday for gross sales of $15,122,000, for an average price of $102,871. The median price was $65,000, and 41 horses (22 per cent) were reported as not sold. 

Cumulative totals through three sessions were 478 sold for $61,893,500, compared to 531 juveniles sold for $67,624,000 at the corresponding juncture in 2023. A bright spot is the $75,000 median price this week is up slightly from a $65,000 median at the same stage last year, suggesting a more balanced middle market.

Impacting results in Thursday's penultimate session was a large number of outs. A total of 114 horses of the 302 hips catalogued in the session were listed as out.

OBS director of sales Tod Wojciechowski said: "The outs were certainly up. We had a high number of outs today. It was certainly the softest day that we've had so far. We still have tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be able to rebound and have a better day tomorrow. I don't really have anything to attribute it to off the top of my head."

Perhaps a factor that may have had an impact on the day's results was a growing number of sale transactions were completed online or on the phone.

"We always like to have people on site," said Wojciechowski. "Certainly, online bidding was more prevalent today, it seemed. We'll see how it shakes out tomorrow."

Consignor David Scanlon, who sold a $925,000 Into Mischief colt (hip 603) in the second session, said of the market this week: "It's good. It has been a little difficult in spots. You'll sell one good and start to feel good, and then you come back, and it will humble you a bit. We're doing good. We've bought a couple back, but then sold them after the sale. 

"We've sold quite a few horses just over the reserve, so you have to be pretty decent with the reserves. You can't get too aggressive. For the upper end, it's very good. The other end, I think we struggle a little bit in the lower and middle markets."

The sale concludes with the fourth and final session on Friday, with hips 907-1208 slated to sell beginning at 10.30am local time (3.30pm BST). As of Thursday afternoon, a total of 80 horses have been withdrawn from the final session.

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