Ocala April 2022

At the last minute I decided to attend in person. After seeing the horses in Ocala, I remain committed to the idea of buying yearlings. As I expected, there are not that many two turn horse on the grounds. However, maybe 20% of the horses are worth thinking about.

Lets try to find 4-5 horses from each day of the sale. Rather than hunting for bargains, I am much more willing to “pay up” for what I am looking for. My first impression is that the 9.4, 10.0 and even 10.1 works would be to expensive. On day 1 there were 36 works of 10.1 sold for a median of $150,000. For the 10.2 works, the median was only $40,000, but there were 32 sales and 15 RNA’s. For the 2 furlong works, the sweet spot 21.2 or 21.3

1. c – Mendelssohn – Circle of Rosetti by Bernardini – $150,000, Mike Maker, 4/23 foal, 10.2 work, B nick
2. c – Cairo Prince – Causara by Giant’s Causeway – $90,000, Ben Gase (small 0/2 owner), A++ nick, 10.1 work
3. c – Good Magic – Carleton Grinnell by Royal Academy, $42,000, Juan Arriagada, 4/23 foal, B+ nick, 10.2 work
4. f – Always Dreaming – Urbanini by Bernardini, $80,000, deLuca Racing, 5/4 foal, 21.3 work
5. f – Fed Biz – Ad In by Street Cry, $50,000, Peter Miller, A nick, 21.2 work, 2/28 foal

The more I look at this group, the more I like it. This is not a perfect group of sires, but the broodmare sires are outstanding. Given that prices were strong, this is a reasonable group of horses.

West Point bought 5 horses on the first day. I like the walking video of their Mohayman purchase. Ironhorse bought a $35K Jimmy Creed

Day 2

The focus of the first 3 is on horses that had a really great physical appearance and are by what I will call “acceptable” sires. For the last 2 I liked the pedigrees and the prices are “full” for such slow works. You have to pause and think about this strategy, but I think it might work.

1. c – Jack Milton – Grand Slam Kitten by Kitten’s Joy, $240,000, Hans Mason, 10.0 work
2. f – Free Drop Billy – Heart’s Song by Desert Party, $67,000, Sami and Reggie Racing. 10.1 work
3. f –Pat’schromecompass – California Chrome – Dancing Compass by Orientate, $125,000, Rennie Stable
4. c – Summer Front – In Stitches by Medaglia d’Oro – $105,000, Marshall Dowell, 10.2 work
5. c – Collected – Force of Humor by Distorted Humor, $80,000, Seri Reddy, 21.3 work
6. c – Hard Spun – Critic’s Choice by Smart Strike, $160,000, Jim and Susan Hill

I really wanted to add:

1. f – Mendelssohn – Egg Roll by Kitten’s Joy, $85,000, Chad Schumer agent for ??, 10.1 work

But that would be last year’s strategy, looking for “undervalued” horses. I really liked the looks of this horse, but should I really expect to “steal” a Mendelssohn from this crowd? To me it seems you are just “buying vet issues” when looking for that undervalued horse.

West Point added one more, and Eclipse bought two.

Day 3

This was a day of crazy prices where it was impossible to find value. On a day where a $5,000 sire (McCraken) , with a slow 10.2 work, sells for $175,000, you just have to be amazed. My only guess is that his unpublished gallop out times were very good.

1. c – Funtastic – Mikey Likes It by Elusive Quality – $120,000, Omni Racing, 10.2 work
2. f – Ransom the Moon – Miss Curley d’Oro by Medaglia d’Oro, $100,000 Blinkers On, 10.1 work
3. f – Cloud Computing – Miss Malibu Style by Malibu Moon, $300,000, Mike Ryan, 10.0 work
4. c – Classic Empire – Pi Bella by Pioneering, $175,000, Steve Young, 10.2