Beth Bayer took center stage at the Ocala Breeders' Winter Mixed Sale Jan. 27, finishing as the sale's leading consignor. Her banner day was accentuated by the sale of Hip 80—a filly by first-crop sire Taiba —whom she bred and sold for $150,000 to Marc Gunderson to top the one-day auction.
"The Taiba filly, I bred her, I raised her, I love that filly," Beth Bayer said. "I've loved her since the day she was born. I loved everything about her. She just had so much class and has done everything right for me and ended up paying off for me at the end of the day."
The April-born filly was bred in Florida out of the Unbridled's Song mare Tranquil Song. Bayer purchased the mare in 2018 at Keeneland's November Breeding Stock Sale for $2,000 in foal to Outwork.
Bayer also sold the sale's highest-priced colt (Hip 22), a son of Nashville who brought $140,000 from the entity Always Dreaming. He proved to be a successful pinhook after being purchased at the Keeneland November Sale last fall by Racing Point for $37,000. He was bred in Kentucky by Boone Family Trust and is out of the stakes-winning and graded stakes-producing mare Rapid Racer. Hip 22 hails from the immediate family of grade 1 winner and sire McKinzie .
"Hip 22, the Nashville colt, was for a client of ours that they purchased out of the November Sale," Bayer said. "When he arrived, I was pleasantly pleased with him because he was a big, strong colt, a lot of bone, a lot of size, a lot of substance, and presented himself really well. Obviously, the price showed that he was worth what they gave. He reciprocated what I thought he would bring."
Bayer finished the day selling 21 from her draft for gross receipts of $719,800. She sold three of the top four-priced horses. The leading buyer was Pine Creek Ranch with two purchases totaling $172,000, one of which was Hip 133, a Florida-bred colt by Zandon , who brought $90,000 from Bayer's consignment. They also purchased Hip 49, a colt by Drain the Clock , for $82,000.
The highest-priced broodmare or broodmare prospect was Callie's Courage, a 5-year-old daughter of Girvin , who brought $48,000 from William Churly. She was offered in foal to Gunite , by Kaizen Sales (Richard Kent), agent.
At the end of the sale, OBS saw gains across all metrics, with 186 horses changing hands for a total of $3,507,850, including private sales, up from last year's gross of $3,093,700, from 212 head. The average price was $18,859, with a median of $12,000. Last year's sale produced an average of $14,593 and a median of $7,500. Seventy-one horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 27.6%.
OBS will now set its sights on its next live auction, the March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, held March 10-12, with an under tack show March 4-7.
