OBS March Sale Opens with $1 Million Maxfield Colt Leading the Way
A colt from the first crop of Grade I winner Maxfield topped the opening session of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Tuesday, selling for $1 million to Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida. The juvenile, consigned by Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree Stables, was one of 117 horses that sold for a total of $15,902,000.
The session produced an average of $135,915 and a median of $85,000, showing improvement over last year’s finalized figures that saw 167 horses gross $21,859,000 for an average of $130,892 and a median of $60,000.
“We’re pleased to see that the average and median were up,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “The good news is we still have two days of some really nice horses to sell. It’s kind of hard to compare session to session, year to year. But it was a good start.”
With 272 juveniles catalogued for Tuesday’s session, 102 were withdrawn. Of the 170 head offered, 54 failed to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 31.8%.
Horses sold Tuesday had worked during Thursday’s first session of the under-tack show, facing persistent head winds. The session-topping colt shared the day’s bullet furlong time of :9 4/5, but Dunne suggested the conditions may have created value opportunities for buyers.
“I think that, [the $1-million colt] aside, there is tremendous value here,” Dunne said. “We’ve gotten so statistical and so analytical with our numbers, and our gallop-outs and our stride lengths that they’ve eliminated 80% of the catalogue before they even start to look at them.”
Japanese buyers were particularly active Tuesday. Katsumi Yoshida secured the day’s third highest-priced offering, a son of Not This Time, for $650,000 and also purchased an Upstart filly for $375,000.
Texas-based owner Leland Ackerley emerged as the session’s leading buyer, acquiring four juveniles for $1,175,000, including a Vekoma filly for $425,000 from Wavertree Stables.
The OBS March sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 11 a.m.
A Cool Million For Maxfield Colt
Competitive bidding erupted early at Tuesday’s opening session when agent Donato Lanni, accompanied by trainer Bob Baffert, faced off against Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida for a colt by Maxfield. The international duel ended with Nakauchida securing the juvenile for $1 million. Offered as hip 119, the colt had breezed an eighth in :9.4 during Thursday’s under-tack show.
“Physically, he looks really strong and his movement is really smooth—very nice,” explained Nakauchida, who conditioned 2023 Japanese Filly Triple Crown winner Liberty Island (Jpn) and Grade I winner Serifos (Jpn). “I just liked everything about him.”
The session-topping juvenile was Nakauchida’s sole purchase Tuesday.
“I liked his breeze at first and then I looked at the physical and I really liked him,” he added. “He’s by freshman sire Maxfield and he looks like he will be good.”
The colt will race in Japan, according to Nakauchida.
Consigned by Wavertree Stables, the son of MSW and GSP Eyeinthesky (Sky Mesa) was bred by War Horse Place, which secured the mare in foal to War of Will in 2021 at the Keeneland November Sale.
Wavertree’s Ciaran Dunne purchased the April 8 foal for a pinhooking partnership for $75,000 at Keeneland last September.
“We were lucky enough to get him for what we got him for,” said Dunne. “He was just an easy horse to train. We had originally targeted him for April, but he was just forward and easy to deal with that he kind of pushed himself here. He breezed phenomenally.”
Another Mule for Viola
Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stable, which purchased Army Mule for $825,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, acquired a son (hip 81) of the 2018 GI Carter Handicap winner for $950,000 during Tuesday’s session.
“We love Army Mule,” said Monique Delk, who signed the ticket on behalf of St. Elias. “So to be able to support the stallion like that with a horse that we love, we are really very honored.”
The juvenile is out of the unraced Diplomatic Miss (Violence), a daughter of multiple graded winner Miraculous Miss (Mr. Greeley). He was consigned by de Meric Sales and was bred by Machmer Hall.
Despite strong headwinds during the first session of last week’s under-tack preview, the colt worked a furlong in :10 flat.
“The wind was a huge issue, so for a horse to perform like that under those conditions, made it even more spectacular,” Delk said.
The colt will get time off at the farm before decisions about his trainer are made, according to Delk.
Machmer Hall purchased Diplomatic Miss for $45,000 at the 2019 Keeneland January sale. Her 2-year-old colt had originally been slated to sell at last year’s Keeneland September sale but was withdrawn due to a small fragment found in his X-rays.
“He was a bigger version [Tuesday] of what he always was. He was always a magnificent horse,” said Machmer Hall’s Carrie Brogden.
Diplomatic Miss died of colic last month, leaving behind an Authentic yearling filly.
“I am not sure if we are in a rush to sell her,” co-breeder Sandy Fubini said of the yearling. “We keep the broodmares and especially when they throw physicals like this. I really hope he is a star for [St. Elias], And then we will have the half-sister.”
