A flashy Tiznow colt sparked a spirited bidding battle early in the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. February select sale of 2-year-olds in training. And when it ended Feb. 16 in Central Florida, his price of $475,000 had passed the sale-topping amount of $340,000 at the 2009 edition of the auction.
Chuck and Maribeth Sandford purchased the dark bay or brown juvenile, which is the second reported foal out of 10-year-old winning Tale of the Cat mare Six Pack Sally, who finished second in the 2003 Joseph Buckelew Stakes at Monmouth Park. The colt, which has four white feet, worked an eighth of a mile prior to the auction, using a quick, efficient stride to cover the distance in :10 1/5.
"We;re trying to put together a nice stable, and that was the colt we came to buy," said Chuck Sandford. "We just got into the horse business last June, and we're trying to do the right thing like a lot of other people. To get into it at this level is just like a dream come true. It's a terrific industry, and I've met some real nice people. Today was the epitome. I was not going hiome without him."
The Sandfords, who live in Illinois, own Bag Maker, a company that prints a variety of differnt types of bags for promotional purposes. One of their horses, a 3-year-old Distorted Humor colt named Jambonied, finished second in a six-furlong maiden-special-weight event at Gulfstream Park Jan. 23. The colt is trained by Patrick Byrne, who also will condition the $475,000 juvenile.
Bo Hunt consigned the Tiznow colt, which was purchased by Carl Bowling’s Straightaway Farm, agent, for $55,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale from Eaton Sales, agent.
“I wasn’t too surprised by the price,” said Bowling in a cell phone interview with The Blood-Horse. “I had gotten offers of $300,000 to $350,000 to take him out of the sale (and sell him privately), but I wasn’t going to take him out of the sale. I wanted to put him through the sale, and I had said that he would bring $375,000 to $500,000 even in this sale and this economy. If you’ve got what the wealthy man wants, he’s going to buy it. There’s no shortage of money if a wealthy man wants something. The best horse still sells well.”
According to Bowling, when the colt was a yearling, the way he walked left a lot to be desired.
“Bo was with me, and I said, “I’m going to buy him,” Bowling remembered. “I figured I was going to get a good deal because everybody was talking about him being a little crooked in the front end. I told Bo, ‘When I ‘blacksmith’ him, he’s going to be correct; he’s just set backwards.’ That’s the only reason I got him for what I did. He was a little immature, and he really came on after that and matured really well. We had to a little corrective work on his feet, and when we set him right, he walked like a champ. Bo couldn’t believe it.”
The colt also ran like a champ, displaying a quick, efficient stride in his work over the OBS track’s synthetic Safetrack surface and recording a fast time even though he broke off early. Hunt prepared him for the sale at the Nelson Jones Training Center.
“A lot of your Tiznows are real big, powerful horses," Bowling said. "This horse leans to the Tale of the Cat side; he’s more refined and smaller. He stands maybe 15.2 (hands) right now. He’s just a light-hitting-the-ground, easy-on-himself type of horse. He did the :10 1/5 so easy it was unreal. He loves to train. The best part about him is his mind. He gets rattled over nothing. He did not break a hair going through this sale out here in the walk ring. He did not sweat a drop. He just walked around like the boss, and went in there and didn’t get excited about anything. He didn’t jump, kick, or buck or get silly because of the noise. He just walked like a gentleman, sold, and went back to his stall. He really is the right kind. I personally was not letting him bring less than $300,00 to $350,000.”
Bowling said he might be involved in the partnership that races the colt.
Carlos Medina contributed to this story.