Leprechaun Racing's Mike Mulligan, who suffered a fractured skull in a fall following the March 3 Fasig-Tipton Florida March select sale of 2-year-olds in training, is fully conscious and spoke to his wife on the phone March 18 during the second and final session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training.
As Leprechaun Racing's Mike Mulligan recuperated from a fractured skull in a South Florida hospital, his friends and associates in the Thoroughbred business reached out to offer support. Participants in the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training wore green rubber bracelets decorated with shamrocks and pitched in to help Mulligan's wife, Britt, at the Leprechaun consignment. They also held a prayer service prior to the March 17 opening session of the auction.
Still reeling from the effects of the worldwide financial crisis, buyers approached the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training cautiously, and their reluctance to spend the really big bucks was a major factor in the opening session's setbacks. Compared to a year ago, when the auction enjoyed a record-setting run, the gross revenue dropped 29.6% while the average price fell 32.6%,and the median price declined 22.2% March 17 in Central Florida.
A smooth-striding Grand Slam colt brought $400,000 early in the afternoon during the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training.
The Adena Springs sale of 2-year-olds in training bucked the downward trend in the Thoroughbred marketplace in one important statistical category. The median price rose 28.6% from a year ago during the eighth edition of the auction, which was held March 16 at Adena Springs South near Williston, Fla.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select juvenile auction "will be as good as a 2-year-old sale can be this year," according to Tom Ventura.
Here is a list of horses to keep an eye on during the March 16 first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training in Central Florida:
Here is a list of horses to keep an eye on during the March 18 seconds session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training.
A More Than Ready colt was the fastest worker at an eighth of a mile March 13 during the second session of the under tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training in Central Florida. He covered the distance in :9 3/5.
Four horses tied for the fastest work at a quarter mile during the March 12 first session of the under tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March select sale of 2-year-olds in training in Central Florida.
Uniform policies that restrict use of a riding crop in under tack shows for 2-year-olds in training had a significant effect on riders' actions at the preview for the Fasig-Tipton Florida select juvenile auction, according to Fasig-Tipton director of marketing Terence Collier.
The under tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March select sale of 2-year-olds in training will begin at 9 a.m. (EDT) instead of 8 a.m., as previously scheduled, because of the recent switch to Daylight Savings Time. The first session of the show is set for March 12 (Hip Nos. 1-260), and the second session will be held March 13 (Hip Nos. 261-523) in Central Florida.
If the recent Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) February select sale of 2-year-olds in training was any indication, it's going to be a tough year for yearling-to-juvenile pinhookers. The rate of return (ROR) on their investment, 30.7%, ranked among their worst ever based on figures that date back to 1990. It was the weakest since the ROR dropped to its lowest point during the 20-year period of 17.1% in 1993.
The set of uniform policies developed by four major auction firms Barretts, Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, and the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. took effect beginning with the OBS February select sale of 2-year-olds in training Feb. 17 in Central Florida. The policies address medication, prohibited practices, riding crops, and horseshoes. "As the first sale under these new guidelines, I thought it went tremendously well," said Tom Ventura, the OBS general manager and director of sales.
The selling season for select 2-year-olds in training staggered out of the starting gate in Central Florida Feb. 17. The year's first major juvenile auction, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. February sale, suffered sobering setbacks of 29.3% in gross revenue, 33.7% in average price, and 28% in median price from a year ago. Another discouraging result was the buy-back rate, which soared from 28.2% in 2008 to 38.3%.
Westrock Stables' Scott Ford, a former president and chief executive officer of Alltel, hasn't been in the Thoroughbred business for long, but he was a major player at the Ocala Breeders'Sales Co. select sale of 2-year-olds in training.
Prices were down significantly at the first major auction of the selling season for 2-year-olds in training Feb. 17 in Central Florida. Read what one buyer and several consignors had to say about the market at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. February auction.
After generating a grim series of results for breeding stock and weanlings, the Thoroughbred marketplace switches its focus to racing prospects beginning with the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. February select sale of 2-year-olds in training in Central Florida. Auction firm officials and consignors are hoping buyers will be more enthusiastic about acquiring young horses nearly ready for competition even though the global economy continues to struggle.
The selling season for select 2-year-olds in training kicks off Feb. 17 in Central Florida. Following are lists of some of the more interesting horses in the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. February auction based on yearling purchase prices, pedigrees, and workout times.
Times were faster than ever before during the under tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. February select sale of 2-year-olds in training Feb. 13 in Central Florida.
Jasmine Baggerman, a veteran horsewoman, died Feb. 9.
DataTrack International, a company that that quantifies speed, stride length, and motion analysis at juvenile auctions, recently announced the results of a study of sale 2-year-olds that looked at the types of surfaces over which the horses were breezed during under tack shows and then followed how they performed in races over synthetic and dirt tracks.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) has cataloged 523 horses for its March select sale of 2-year-olds in training. The number is up 13.7% from last year's total of 460.
Leprechaun Racing's Mike Mulligan, chairman of the National Association of Two-Year-Old Consignors, discusses the uniform sale policies for medication, prohibited practices, riding crops and horseshoes.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. has more horses for its February select sale of 2-year-olds in training than it did in 2008, according to Tom Ventura, the auction firm's general manager and director of sales. OBS will catalog 200 juveniles, up 16.3% from last year's total of 172.
Even though it's a new year, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. winter mixed sale was the victim of the same worldwide economic crisis that caused prices at many Thoroughbred auctions to plummet late in 2008. The gross revenue plunged 57.7% from a year ago while the average price and median price dropped 39.6% and 45.5%, respectively.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) winter mixed sale suffered downturns of 63% in its average price and 74.4% in its median price from a year ago as it opened with a consignor preferred session Jan. 6 in Central Florida. The gross revenue dropped 43% even though the number of horses sold was up 54.1% from 2008's first day total.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2009 Winter Mixed Sale begins Jan. 6 and a total of 613 horses are cataloged for the two-day sale, which begins with 264 horses in a Consignor Preferred Session. The single Open session is Jan. 7, with 349 horses cataloged. Both sessions begin at 11:00 a.m.
Ocala Breeders' Sales Company has hired Jim Ventura and Tod Wojciechowski as horsemen relations representatives. They will be visiting racetracks and training centers throughout the country in preparation for the 2-year-old sales season.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. has cataloged 613 horses for its 2009 winter mixed sale. The auction will be held Jan. 6 and 7 in Central Florida.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) recently revised the results for the 2008 August yearling sale on its Web site (www.obssales.com) because of new rules governing horse auctions in Florida that took effect in July. Sale companies now are required to disclose any horses that did not change ownership after being reported as sold.
Jim and Treasa Donnan and Terry Bailey's unbeaten Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) auction graduate Trinity Magic has been a blessing for Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in Ocala, Fla., since the 2-year-old colt was pinhooked out of a yearling sale in 2007, and the stakes are going up if he gets to the starting gate in the $1-million Delta Jackpot Stakes (gr. III) Dec.7.
What started as a simple conversation 13 years ago with the then chairman of Ocala Breeders' Sale Co. has turned into an extended labor of love for artist Catherine Goldman-Bloomfield - nearly 2,500 square feet of painstaking Thoroughbred painting excellence.
Frank Stronach's Adena Springs Farm will conduct a sale of 2-year-olds in training in March of 2009. Adena Springs' representatives had previously announced a decision to discontinue the auction earlier this year.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2009 February select sale of 2-year-olds in training has been rescheduled for Feb. 17 in Central Florida, and the Adena Springs sale of 2-year-olds in training has been added to the 2009 lineup and is scheduled for March 16.
The results were grim for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s fall mixed auction, which ended its three-day run in Central Florida Oct. 8. The buy-back/no bid rate rose significantly while the other key business figures suffered huge setbacks during a week when the American stock market is plunging and economic turmoil is increasing worldwide.
It took roughly six hours to get there, but a horse selling in the opening session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. fall mixed sale finally brought six figures Oct. 6, a day marked by severe across-the-board declines for the Central Florida auction.
With a yearling auction season all but over, and one that delivered a sharp dose of economic reality, industry eyes will be fixed on the upcoming Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. fall mixed sale, the unofficial annual kick-off to the campaign of selling of broodmares and weanlings.
Officials of Barretts, Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, and the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) announced in early September that they were banding together to make major changes in the under tack shows for their sales of 2-year-olds in training. Beginning in 2009, they said they would strictly regulate the use of whips by riders during workouts and would prohibit the use of front toe grabs on horses.
Officials of Barretts, Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, and the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. have agreed to institute major changes relating to the under tack shows for their sales of 2-year-olds in training.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) has cataloged 1,000 horses for its fall mixed sale, which will be held Oct. 6-8 in Central Florida. The auction will begin with a select session, and two open sessions will follow.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. August yearling produced some discouraging results, but they weren't really surprising considering the slumping American economy and the mixed bag of returns at other yearling auctions.
The market continued to lag behind last year's pace on the third day of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. August yearling sale. The gross revenue for the second of three open sessions fell 18.5%, and the average price dropped 30.4%. Meanwhile, the median price declined 26.7%.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. yearling sale didn't get pounded by Tropical Storm Fay, which rolled ashore in Florida Aug. 19. But the market did get battered by the reality of what happens to the demand for horses with modest pedigrees and physical attributes when the American economy is in the midst of a slump.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s August yearling sale got off to a rocky start in Central Florida, suffering significant downturns from the previous year in the number of horses sold, gross revenue, average price, and median price.
On top of America's economic woes, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) might have to deal with a tropical storm or hurricane during its yearling sale, which is scheduled for Aug. 18-21 in Central Florida.
Progeny of Stormy Atlantic, Closing Argument, and Macho Uno stand out in the select session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. August select yearling auction.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. (OBS) will test the yearling market with quantity at a time when some buyers might be cutting back on their purchases because of America's struggling economy. There are 1,342 horses cataloged for the auction, which begins with a select session of 230 yearlings Aug. 18. Three open sessions will follow.
Even though she could have gone into labor at any minute, a very pregnant Dr. Cara Erwin-Oliver spent Aug. 15 with her Marion Bloodstock consignment in the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s barn area. She is scheduled to offer more than 30 horses during the four-day August yearling sale, which begins Aug. 18 in Central Florida.
Adena Springs has canceled its juvenile sale for 2009, but is selling 217 yearlings this year at sales conducted by Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, and the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.
