Graded Stakes-Winning Families to Shine at OBS Day 2

For anyone dissecting the pedigrees of the hundreds of horses expected to walk through the sales ring, evaluating the sales guide and in-person evaluations can be daunting. But one differentiator can be whether that horse comes from a graded stakes-winning family. Day 2 of the Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training at Ocala Breeders' Sales Company, April 26, features many whose lineage provides hope for a successful career. A colt by Good Magic (Hip 323) is out of Emerald Gal, a winning Gilded Time mare and producer of five-time graded stakes winner Sarah Sis. The colts half sister by Sharp Humor won the Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (G2), Raven Run Stakes (G2), Honeybee Stakes (G3), Iowa Oaks (G3), and Chicago Handicap (G3). Consigned by SGV Thoroughbreds, agent, the Kentucky-bred colt was sold twice last year: first to JDT Racing for $85,000 at the Keeneland January Horses of all Ages Sale as a short yearling, then nine months later to DILLIGAF for $160,000 at the OBS October Select and Open Yearling Sale. Consignor Steven Venosa is a fan of Curlin, Good Magic's sire. He believes the two-time champion is coming through in Hip 323. He breezed an eighth of a mile in :10 during last week's under tack preview show. "He's just a very balanced horse, very athletic horse, moves very well, has the right shape," said Venosa. Another juvenile with a graded winning family comes in Hip 374. The colt by Vino Rosso is a half sibling to multiple graded stakes runner Dance With Fate, winner of the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and second in the Del Mar Futurity (G1), FrontRunner Stakes (G1), and El Camino Real Derby (G3). Consignor Best A Luck's Lori Fackler said the colt from the first crop of Vino Rosso has a lot in common with his mare. The Kentucky-bred worked in :10 2/5 last week across an eighth of a mile on the all-weather track. "(Hip) 374 is one of our homebreds out of our good mare Flirting With Fate. He's an excellent mover. He just floats across the ground. And he's very, very well balanced," she said. Fackler added, "He's one of those horses that when he trains, everybody's like, 'Who's that?' " Best A Luck has another hip that has caught people's attention. The Divining Rod filly consigned as Hip 544 posted the co-fastest time April 19 during the Under Tack Show, going an eighth in :9 4/5. The dark bay or brown filly is out of the Speightstown mare and Winning Colors Stakes (G3) victress Island Bound. Bred in Maryland by Katharine M. Voss, she is also half sibling to Mill Ridge Farm sire Aloha West. The son of Hard Spun won the 2021 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and collected earnings of $1,507,290 in 13 starts with a record of 6-2-1. "She's extremely athletic and very precocious," Fackler said. "She's done everything right from Day 1." Wednesday will be the second trip through the sales pavilion. She was initially sold last year at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale for $60,000 to Michael J. Trombetta. Meanwhile, de Meric Sales bring a pair of fillies in Hip 533, by Kantharos, and Hip 552, by Medaglia d'Oro. Out of the Unbridled's Song mare Intensify, the filly was a $95,000 RNA at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale last year and shipped south to sell for $80,000 at the OBS October Sale to Machmer Hall. Bred in Kentucky by Colts Neck Stables, the filly carries half siblings in millionaire grade 2 winner Money Multiplier, by Lookin At Lucky. The ridgling won the Monmouth Stakes (G2) twice and was second in the Sword Dancer Stakes (G1) twice, Man o' War Stakes (G1), United Nations Stakes (G1) twice, Saranac Stakes (G3), and Kent Stakes (G3). Her other fast sibling, by Harlan's Holiday, was Intense Holiday, who won the Risen Star Stakes (G2), ran second in the Louisiana Derby (G2), and was third in the Holy Bull Stakes (G2). "She's a big filly with plenty of stretch. She's not a typical Kantharos. She looks like she could go long, but she does have the speed that you'd expect from a Kantharos," said Tristan de Meric. The filly breezed an eighth in :10 1/5 last week. He added, "She's a filly that could really go places." The second well-connected filly for the de Merics, by Medaglia d'Oro, is Hip 552, out of Itsagiantcauseway by Giant's Causeway, the bay filly is a half sister to Mucho Gusto, by Mucho Macho Man. The colt campaigned by Michael Lund Peterson and trained by Bob Baffert was a winner in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), Bob Hope Stakes (G3), Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3), Barrera Stakes (G3), and Affirmed Stakes (G3). He was second in the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1), Haskell Invitational (G1), and placed in the Sunland Park Derby (G3) and Travers Stakes (G1). The colt was transferred to Prince Faisal Bin Khaled for his final two starts. In three years on the track Mucho Gusto earned $3,953,800 in 13 starts with a record of 6-2-2. "The best thing about that filly is the way she moves," de Meric said. "She's a great mover, covers a ton of ground. She's obviously, with the female family, one that can make sense for a lot of people and she's got residual value." De Meric has high hopes for the Teneri Farms-bred filly who initially sold in her home state of Kentucky for $160,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton October Sale to D G Equine. "She's been well received," he said. "She's got some of the right people who seem to be in line for her, so fingers crossed and hope for the best."