A filly by the hot first-crop sire Wildcat Heir was the most expensive horse sold on the second day of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s slumping yearling auction, bringing $100,000 Aug. 25 in Central Florida. Mike Repole's Repole Stable purchased the New York-bred chestnut from Bryan and Holley Rice’s Woodside Ranch, agent.
Produced from the 19-year-old winning Afleet mare Afleet Closer, the filly is a half-sister to Diablo’s Closer (by Diablo), who captured a division of the 1999 Star Shoot Stakes at Woodbine in Canada; the winner Fleeting Diablo (by Diablo), who was stakes-placed in Puerto Rico; and the winner Driven by Success (by Precise End), who has finished second or third in four 2009 added-money events, including the Carter Handicap (gr. I) at Aqueduct and the Shadwell Metropolitan (gr. I) and Tom Fool (gr. II) Handicaps at Belmont Park. Diablo’s Closer is the dam of Ablo (by Lite the Fuse), who scored in the 2004 Coronation Futurity at Woodbine and the 2005 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.
New Dawn Stud bred the session-topping filly, whose sire is the leading first-crop stallion in North America by progeny earnings ($427,049) and winners (15). She was one of the 193 yearlings that sold during the first of three open sessions for the auction, which started Aug. 24 with a select session. The gross Aug. 25 was $1,465,800, and the average price was $7,595. The median price was $4,000.
Compared to last year, when 198 horses were sold, the gross dropped 33.9% from $2,217,500. The average price fell 32.2% from $11,199, and the median declined 27.3% from $5,500.
The buy-back /no bid rate was 33%, down from 39.4% in 2008.
During this year's select session, the gross, average, and median all were down by more than 30%.
The auction is scheduled to continue through Aug. 27, with each day’s selling beginning at 10:30 a.m. (EDT).
