For the second day in a row, one of the fastest workers during the Ocala Breeders' Sales 2-year-olds and horses in training sale under tack show session came from Jaime Mejia's Thoroughbred Champions Training Center.
On June 9, the bullet work of a quarter-mile in :20 2/5, the fastest during the three days of pre-sale workouts so far, was turned in by Hip 491, an Into Mischief colt bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm. The quick juvenile was produced from the unraced Divine Park mare Wooden Nickel, a half sister to two-time grade 1 winner Include Me Out and to grade 1 winner Check the Label.
"I knew that horse was going to do a great job," Mejia said through an interpreter, his son-in-law Sebastian Pereira. "He has always been a fast horse. He's a strong horse."
The colt was entered in the OBS March sale but was withdrawn after developing a fever. Consigned to the Keeneland September yearling sale by James Keogh, the colt was bought by Mejia after failing to reach his reserve on a final bid of $27,000.
Mejia, who has one of the largest consignments at the sale, said all of his horses met expectations during the under tack show. On Thursday, a Midshipman colt from Thoroughbred Champions was one of four 2-year-olds to share the best quarter-mile time of :20 3/5.
Two juveniles shared Friday's second-fastest quarter-mile time of :20 4/5.
Hip 573, an Uncle Mo colt from Top Line Sales, agent, was bred in Pennsylvania by C Biscuit Racing and Smart Angle. Consigned by Walnut Green to last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic October yearling sale, the colt was purchased by Sam Wright for $200,000.
Produced from an unraced Unbridled's Song mare, the dark bay or brown colt foaled May 27, 2015, is from the female family of Magic Broomstick, whose seven wins in 14 career starts included the grade 3 Bessarabian Stakes at Woodbine.
"He's a really, really nice colt," said Top Line's Torie Gladwell of the colt who was bought back for $190,000 out of this year's OBS April 2-year-olds in training sale. "He did everything right today. He galloped out huge."
Gladwell said the colt had sore shins that led to a subpar breeze prior to the April sale and that he benefited from the extra time leading up to the June auction.
"Mentally, he matured a lot from April to June," the consignor said. "He's a tall colt, but a little immature looking because he was a late foal. But he's happy and he looks good."
Hip 536 is a Half Ours filly from the consignment of Las Palmas Farm, as agent. Produced from the stakes-placed Lion Heart mare Because I Like It, the filly descends from the extended female family of champion older horse Left Bank and grade 1 winner Lucifer's Stone, among others.
Friday's best time for an eighth-mile was :10 flat, with 11 juveniles breezing in that time.
The under tack show concludes June 10 with a session that begins at 7:30 a.m. EDT. The sale takes place June 13-14, beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT daily.
