Ocala Breeders' Sales will raise the curtain on its 2021 season with the Winter Mixed Sale Jan. 26-27. Despite the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, sale officials and consignors are optimistic heading into the sale, which kicks off on Tuesday with a consignor preferred session (Hips 1-183) immediately followed by a Horses of Racing Age segment (Hips 251-371). The sale concludes on Wednesday with an open session (Hips 451-805).
Including supplemental entries, a total of 655 horses have been cataloged for the two-day auction that includes short yearlings, racing prospects, weanlings, broodmare prospects, and in-foal mares. As of Jan. 25, 109 horses had been withdrawn from the sale.
Tom Ventura, president of OBS, said he is looking forward to ushering in the new year.
"There is something for everyone at this sale," Ventura said. "Quality will again be in demand. The horses of racing age segment features a sizable number of horses from Adena Springs and that will be an attraction to buyers. There are horses with some form to them that will fit somebody's racing stable. I think having the combination of mares, short yearlings, and racing age horses will attract people to this sale."
OBS weathered an uncertain sale season in 2020, implementing new protocols for sale participants and offering online bidding. Sale officials, consignors, and buyers have collaborated to make the transition for off-site buyers as seamless as possible.
"As people continue to deal with this situation, they are figuring out ways to participate," Ventura said. "We've always had phone bidding. We added online bidding last June and it has been popular. One of the things we have noticed over the last year is that some buyers come here in person for part of the sale. They do their initial homework and then leave and go back to where they were and bid from there. The one big advantage we have in Ocala is that the horsemen here all have connections to people throughout the world and they can be the eyes of the buyers. I expect our crowd at the sale will be lighter than it was last January in terms of people on the grounds, but I don't know if the activity will be lighter. It will just be a different way of people doing things.
"In addition to instituting online bidding, we have more photographs and walking videos that have been a part of our 2-year-old sales for a long time and we are making them available for buyers. At some point in time, someone is looking at a horse physically for someone who is going to bid and buy that horse, so we've tried to do everything we can on our end to make it easier for someone to bid with confidence on a horse."
Consignor Terry Gabriel, who sells under the banner of Pelican State Thoroughbreds, has confidence in the consignment he is delivering to the market. Gabriel sold the sale topper at last year's Winter Mixed Sale, a Union Rags colt who fetched $165,000 from Blue Sky Stables. He harbors high hopes for the group he is leading over this time around including a half brother to last year's sale topper.
"I have a Twirling Candy filly (Hip 63) that we like a lot," Gabriel said. "She is big and tall; she's stretchy and stands over a lot of ground. Our Practical Joke colt (Hip 119) has a lot of bone and muscle. He is the kind of horse that is really pretty to look at. The Mor Spirit colt (Hip 149) is a half to the sale topper we sold last year, and he is as good a physical as that one. The Mo Town (Hip 19) is kind of a late foal, but he has all the right parts and is an Indian Charlie-looking horse. I've had a lot of calls about him already."
Brent Fernung of Journeyman Bloodstock Services says he is taking a Rolling Stones approach to the market.
"As they said, 'you can't always get what you want. You get what you need,'" said Fernung. "It is difficult to be too optimistic until all this stuff is over with, but we were busy for our first day of showing. I am hoping that the sale's average can remain somewhat close to what it was last year."
Within his consignment, Fernung is enthusiastic about a yearling colt by Khozan —Florida's leading general sire of 2020 and Journeyman Stud stallion—who sells with Journeyman Bloodstock as Hip 46. Bred by Fernung out of the Congrats mare Wave Bye Bye, the colt—named Big John—is from the family of grade 3 winners Salior's Cap, Hot Option, and Valor Lady.
"He is a really nice horse," Fernung said of the bay colt. "He is an exceptional individual and we hope to do well with him."
He also anticipates that the stakes-winning J P's Delight (Hip 175) will be well-received as a broodmare prospect. The 5-year-old daughter of J P's Gusto won the 2019 FTBOA City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and returned to the Oldsmar oval in 2020 to annex an overnight handicap where she defeated Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) winner Point of Honor.
"She is very nice," Fernung said. "She beat some nice horses, she is good-looking and has a lot of class to her."
Lisa McGreevy of Abbie Road Farm reported that traffic at her barn has been solid and she is encouraged by the attention the consignment has received from prospective buyers.
"We have some nice ones (short yearlings) by Always Dreaming , Bucchero , Long On Value, Ransom the Moon , and Outwork ," McGreevy said. "They have all been getting a lot of attention and I am looking for good things from them."
"For the sale, I hope that the momentum carries over from Keeneland," she added. "We had a pretty steady first day of showing on Sunday, so I'm optimistic that is a good sign that we will have a strong sale this week."
"I think this sale will do well," said consignor Jay Goodwin of K P Sales, who has 25 horses consigned to the auction. "I feel like horses sold pretty well at Keeneland, and there are still a lot of people that need to fill orders and need horses to pinhook. All the big players are here. With the weather being as cold as it has been in Kentucky, I think everyone wanted to get away and come down. They have been rewarded because it has been beautiful here. I could not be more pleased with the traffic we have had the last couple of days.
"We have a solid group from top to bottom. We don't have a bad horse in the barn. We have something that fits everyone."
With a large selection of prospects of all ages on offer over the next two days, and with sire power coming in the form of perennial leading stallions Into Mischief , Medaglia d'Oro , Distorted Humor, Speightstown , Malibu Moon, and Curlin , as well as young Florida-based stallions such as Awesome Slew , Bucchero, and Girvin with first yearlings, Ventura is hopeful for vibrant trade.
"Going into this year, we can say we've been through it now," Ventura said. "We made it through last March, June, July, and October and through all different phases of the pandemic. The way we looked at things last spring and fall was to conduct business and have some commerce. And that is the way we are looking at it now. While sales have been down, there has been plenty of business that has taken place and it hasn't been a dramatic fall off. Racing has continued and we look forward to having a sale and keeping things moving. I'm hopeful."
Last year's Winter Mixed Sale saw 360 head sell for gross receipts of $4,959,100, with an average price of $13,775 and a median price of $7,000. Summerfield (Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck), agent, led all consignors in 2020 with 66 head sold for $757,800. In 2019, 399 head sold for $4,459,900, averaging $11,178 with a $6,000 median price.
"Mixed sales are often difficult to compare from one sale to the next under normal circumstances," Ventura noted. "Certainly, in today's environment, it is hard to compare anything to previous years as we are dealing with and adjusting to the current situation."
The sale begins at 10:30 a.m. ET on both days.
