A strapping A.P. Indycolt topped the seventh annual Adena Springs sale of 2-year-olds in training Monday, bringing $380,000 during the Central Florida auction that was conducted by the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. (OBS) for the multiple Eclipse Award-winning operation headed by Frank Stronach. Trainer Cam Gambolati signed the sale ticket on behalf of Ol Memorial Stables, owned by University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, Rick Avare, Jamal Mashburn, and Chris Sullivan.
“He’s a big, magnificent colt; he’s a grand-looking individual,” Gambolati said. “Naturally, he’s going to need time. He’s not going to be a sprinter; we know that. If he went down there (to South Florida for the Fasig-Tipton select juvenile sale) and even breezed just :10 3/5, he would bring a lot more than he did here. It’s a good situation for us.”
The Adena Springs juveniles don’t work before they are sold, something that attracts Gambolati to the auction.
“I like the way they handle them here,” the trainer said. “They take care of their horses. You get tired of horses breezing so fast; they have so many problems that you’ve got to stop on them. It’s frustrating to me. Where does it end? How far do you push them? That’s why we like this sale; they’re handled with kid gloves.”
Gambolati, as agent for Ol Memorial, purchased 2008 Appleton Handicap (gr. IIIT) winner Buffalo Man for $190,000 at the 2006 Adena Springs juvenile auction.
The gray or roan A.P. Indy colt is the first foal out of the 9-year-old Smoke Glackenmare Smok’n Frolic, an earner of $1,534,720 and the winner of the 2002 Cotillion Handicap (gr . II), the 2001 Demoiselle Stakes (gr. II), and six other added-money events. Adena Springs purchased Smok’n Frolic for $1,250,000 at the 2004 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
The 97 horses sold during the Adena Springs auction, which was held at Stronach’s Adena Springs South farm near Williston, grossed $5,283,500 and averaged $54,469. The median price was $28,000.
Compared to 2007, the number of horses sold rose 7.8% from 90. The gross, which was a sale record, grew 8% from the former mark of $4,892,000. The average was about the same, increasing less than 1% from $54,356, and the median dropped 30% from $40,000. The buy-back rate fell from 31.8% last year to 23% this year.
“I’m happy,” Stronach said. “In the horse business, you’ve got to be realistic. The ones that are little crooked, they don’t sell as well. We love the game. I try to breed a good horse, but we don’t breed for the market.”
Chris Brothers of Hidden Brook, acting as agent for Paul Pompa Jr., bought the Adena Springs sale’s second-highest-priced 2-year-old, a $340,000 Awesome Again – Taxible colt. The bay juvenile's grade I-winning second dam, Hail a Cab (by Hail the Pirates), produced Peruvian champion Islam (by Carson City).