A record-setting $10.5 million Flightline colt dominated the headlines during the recent Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale but what happened throughout the four-day sale was more significant.
The sale concluded with records set for gross, average, and median. Total sales topped out at $113,823,000, the average hit $178,686 (29% higher than the previous record of $138,709), and the median was a robust $80,000. Even if the $10.5 million sale topper is excluded from the results, the sale still would have achieved a record average of $162,458, which would have been 17% higher than the previous record.
Average in particular can be skewed by strong returns at the top end of the market, as has been the pattern at most Thoroughbred auctions for some time, but the OBS Spring sale saw extraordinary depth at all levels.
BloodHorse MarketWatch regularly monitors the strength of a sale by subdividing results into deciles, to illuminate what is happening at all price levels. The OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale started the juvenile sale season on a strong footing, producing growth at every price level. The Spring sale added significantly to that growth.
For comparison, the combined results of the 2025 OBS March and Spring sales showed growth only in the top four deciles that ranged from 11% in the top decile to 5.8% in the third decile. The averages for deciles five through 10 all showed declines ranging from 1.6% to 15% compared with 2024.
This year, an analysis of the March and Spring sales together showed double-digit growth in all deciles except one. The second decile, representing horses that sold for $250,000-$400,000, had its average rise by 8.6% compared with 2025 results.
The top decile showed a 23% jump in average, which aligns with the influence of $10.5 million sale topper. The 2025 Spring sale produced a sale-topping $3 million horse. But even with the $10.5 million purchase taken out of the mix, the top decile average still grew by 8.4%.
Together the March and Spring sales this year sold 14 horses that sold for $1 million or more compared with 16 seven-figure horses sold at these sales in 2025. This year, however, three horses sold for $2 million or more while last year there was just one.
The significantly higher prices at top is apparently helping to drive up prices throughout the market. Looking at the fifth decile for the combined March and Spring results shows the lowest price for its range to be $80,000, compared to a low-end price of $65,000 for the comparable decile of 2025—an increase of 23%. So while averages for deciles five through 10 last year all showed declines, this year these same deciles showed growth ranging from 16% in the fifth decile to 34% in the 10th decile.
"The top typically takes care of itself, but there was plenty of money in that second and third tier for horses all through the week," said Tod Wojciechowski, director of sales for OBS, following the Spring sale. "That was the impressive thing all week was not just the domestic buyers but the increased amount of interest we saw from all regions of the world. A deeper bench of buyers from Japan, more and more of the Middle East buyers coming in, European buyers. It just continues to grow."
