OBS Spring Sale Opens with $1 Million Tapit Colt Leading Strong Market
A colt by Tapit commanded $1 million during Tuesday’s opening session of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, highlighting a robust day of trading at the upper end of the market.
The session saw 153 juveniles sell for a total of $19,615,000, resulting in an average of $128,203 and a median of $60,000.
By comparison, last year’s opening session moved 145 horses for $19,725,000 with an average of $136,034 and median of $87,000. The 2024 Spring sale ultimately concluded with record figures, posting an average of $130,149 and median of $70,000.
Bloodstock agent Gayle Van Leer secured the session-topping Tapit colt for an unnamed racing partnership from the Top Line Sales consignment.
Tuesday’s session featured nine horses selling for $500,000 or more — more than double the four that reached that threshold during 2024’s opening session.
De Meric Sales led all consignors with eight horses sold for $2,257,000, including the day’s highest-priced filly, a daughter of Curlin that brought $900,000.
“It was a very good opening day for us,” said Tristan de Meric. “The market is there for the right horses that jump through the hoops. We’ve got more nice horses to come, but I feel good about the opening day.”
From a catalogue of 302 juveniles, 199 went through the ring with 46 failing to meet their reserves, resulting in a buy-back rate of 23.1%.
Nick Sallusto of Thorostock described the market conditions: “It feels like it’s just going to continue in that way. It’s really an unbelievable market at the top and I think that we continue to have to work really hard to get the middle market where it’s sold.”
Case Clay Thoroughbred Management emerged as the session’s leading buyer, acquiring three horses for $1,185,000.
The OBS Spring sale continues through Friday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m.
## ‘Caught My Eye Immediately:’ Tapit Colt Brings $1 Million at OBS
A colt by Tapit (hip 249) became the first to reach seven figures at the OBS Spring sale when bloodstock agent Gayle Van Leer signed the ticket at $1 million Tuesday.
“I bought the horse for a partnership that is just forming, so they will remain anonymous at this point. Trainer to be decided,” Van Leer said.
Van Leer noted the colt reminded her of another seven-figure son of Tapit, GI Arkansas Derby winner Sandman, who sold for $1.2 million at OBS last March.
“He reminded me an awful lot of Sandman, who I fell in love with and he’s my Derby horse,” Van Leer said. “He is just a smooth-moving horse and he just caught my eye immediately during the under-tack show.”
The colt, who worked a furlong in :10 flat during last week’s under-tack preview, is out of Grade I-placed Palacio de Amor (Dixieland Band). Top Line Sales consigned him on behalf of Luis Gavignano’s Lugamo Racing.
“It feels very good,” Gavignano said of his first seven-figure result. “He’s a very special horse. We knew from the first time that we started training him that he was going to be a very special horse. I have to give credit to Servando [Espinoza]. He was the one in charge of the training and everything.”
Lugamo purchased the gray colt for $300,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale.
“I love Tapits,” Gavignano said of the colt’s appeal last fall. “That’s one of my favorites. It is [a lot to pay for a pinhook prospect], but I don’t mind keeping horses. I knew this horse was special, so if he didn’t bring what I thought he would, I would be happy to race him.”
Gavignano, a native of Venezuela, owns a string of restaurants in Virginia and has recently acquired a farm in Ocala. He sold subsequent GII Jessamine Stakes winner May Day Ready (Tapit) for $325,000 at last year’s OBS April sale after purchasing the filly for $60,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton October sale.
## Baoma Corp Gets $900,000 Curlin Filly
Agent Donato Lanni and trainer Bob Baffert went to $900,000 to purchase a daughter of Curlin (hip 190) for Susan and Charlie Chu’s Baoma Corp during Tuesday’s session. The filly recorded one of the sale’s co-fastest furlong times in :9 4/5.
She is a daughter of the winning track record-setting mare Motivated Seller, who blitzed 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga in 1:02 2/5 and placed in the Qatar Fort Springs Stakes at Keeneland. The family also includes Australian G1SP French Lady (NZ).
“She’s an obvious type of horse,” said Baffert, who will assume training responsibilities. “She’s athletic, well-bred, Curlin’s hot and [she] breezed really well. We’re blessed to have clients to be able to buy horses like this.”
Baffert admitted the price tag aligned with his team’s expectations.
“We thought she’d probably be something like this,” he said of the $900,000 winning bid.
De Meric Stables, who purchased dam Motivated Seller for $160,000 as a yearling at FTKOCT in 2018, consigned the filly as a homebred.
“She is a beautiful filly,” added Tristan de Meric. “She did everything she was supposed to do and we were expecting a big number. Very happy with the result. She’s just a very balanced filly, very early looking, one that you can go right on with.”
## Vekoma Colt Leads Strong Results for Thorostock Team
A colt from the second crop of successful young sire Vekoma (hip 246) continued a strong day for Thorostock LLC when bringing $600,000 from Case Clay Thoroughbred Management.
The team of Nick Sallusto and John Kimmel purchased the colt as a Keeneland September Yearling for $275,000 after he first brought $75,000 as a weanling the previous November. Sallusto acknowledged his team’s success on a day which saw them sell three of four offered horses, including two for six figures.
“I’m just really grateful for all the great team that I have that works tirelessly day in and day out to get these kinds of results,” said Sallusto.
Of the Vekoma colt who worked a quarter in :20 3/5, Sallusto said, “He was incredibly apparent for buyers and by a really hot sire. He’s a beautiful individual on the end of a shank. A great moving horse. Checked all the proverbial boxes.”
Sallusto noted that, as with his $500,000 Tacitus colt (hip 102), the industry’s top judges validated his assessment.
“The best judges in the game liked him,” he said. “This is great affirmation for what we’re doing. And we’re really appreciative that the market’s responding to us the way that they are.”
## Tacitus Colt is Nothing But Net
Nick Sallusto’s Thorostock LLC scored a significant pinhooking success early Tuesday when a colt from the first crop of Tacitus (hip 102) sold for $500,000 to Justin Casse. The colt was purchased for just $60,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.
The juvenile is out of a Gun Runner first dam who herself is a half to MGSP Moraz (Empire Maker). He worked his eighth in :10 1/5.
“He was really athletic,” Sallusto said of what initially drew him to the colt in Kentucky last year. “It’s a first-year sire and a Gun Runner mare. [Gun Runner] is a great sire and it’s a great family, the family of Malibu Moon.”
Sallusto noted the colt had gained significant attention in the days leading up to the sale.
“He got pretty popular in the last 48 hours,” Sallusto said. “I thought [the price] was definitely in the realm of probability. Makes me feel really good that I think some of the best judges in the racing game saw [him] the way I did.”
Of the colt’s preparation, Sallusto added, “He’s a horse that’s changed inside and out in just the last 30 days. He sort of went from a boy to a man here in the last month. And when he came around, he really came around.”
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