As the North American yearling market nears its close, Ocala Breeders' Sales looks to channel recent successes at its 2-year-olds-in-training sales into its upcoming October Yearling Sale, a two-day auction offering 464 yearlings.
The sale runs Oct. 6-7, beginning at noon each day. Hips 1-224 will sell Tuesday, with Hips 251-464 to sell Wednesday.
Following Keeneland's record-breaking September Yearling Sale, consignors hope the market's strong momentum will carry over to Ocala.
"I'm hoping there will be some out-of-town people coming in; that tends to vary from year to year," said Colin Brennan of Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center. "It seems like Book 5 (at Keeneland) was pretty strong and you would have to think anyone who was pushed out there would be shopping a pretty similar market here and/or taking another shot here to improve off of previous sales."
Brennan brings a draft of 22 horses, bred in a variety of states, to the auction. He believes the market, more so at the top-end, has been driven by the permanent tax depreciation made available through the Big Beautiful Bill.
“Statistically, the lower end of the market was stronger this year than normal,” Brennan said. “It seems like that kind of range, that $20,000-$50,000 range, was a little bit stronger than previous sales. There are a lot of syndications going on and that helps as well. I’m just hoping that people didn’t fill orders and that they’ll be here trying to shop. Everyone needs inventory.”
Brennan said fast and precocious-looking horses typically do well at the October sale, as a majority of the pinhookers will be scouting out potential prospects to offer at the juvenile sales next spring.
"A really good physical will do well here, kind of regardless of pedigree. And with Ocala being the horse capital of the world, mostly 2-year-old pinhookers, if you bring something that looks fast and early, those tend to do really well here," he said. "Some of the more evident end-user type, it just depends on who comes to town and is shopping for end-user type of horses. Personally, I try to target a 2-year-old type. There tends to be more people for them basically."
Beth Bayer, one of the top consignors at last year's sale, also has high expectations, due partly to the yearling market being so strong elsewhere. Bayer said the traffic at the barns has been very steady, leaving consignors cautiously optimistic.
"The lower to middle is starting to get support, which is what we need," Bayer said. "Obviously, that's where the market needs to get the strength, and I think we are starting to get that.
"You see more (pinhookers) are doing well, and they're going to come out and support that middle market, especially if they're selling 2-year-olds down the road. And they have money, so I think that is giving us a more diversified market."
The October sale has produced top runners over the years, highlighted by last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner Bentornato. The Florida-bred son of Valiant Minister sold for $45,000 at the 2022 edition of the sale. Millionaire and 2024 Florida-bred Horse of the Year Mystic Lake and grade 1 winner Trikari also are graduates of the October sale.
Last year's auction saw strong results, which led to a 27% increase in gross sales from 2024. A total of 313 horses changed hands for gross receipts of $7,581,700, including private sales. The average and median also saw an increase to $24,223 and $15,000, respectively. The RNA rate was 24.6%, representing the 102 horses who failed to meet their reserve.
The top-priced horse of the sale was Hip 513, a colt by Into Mischief out of the War Front mare Compelled, who sold for $275,000 to the leading buyer of the sale, Tami Bobo. She purchased two horses for a total of $350,000.
The Into Mischief colt, now named Medinah, broke his maiden by 3 1/2 lengths Sept. 9 at Kentucky Downs. He was a $575,000 juvenile purchase by Greenwell Thoroughbreds at the OBS Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
The top-priced filly of the sale was Hip 177, a daughter of Mo Donegal , who sold for $240,000 to Dream With Me Florida and consigned by Kaizen Sales. Kaizen Sales was the leading consignor of the sale, selling 34 from its draft for $1,133,000.
Hips 1-224 are slated to head to the ring Tuesday afternoon. As of Monday evening, OBS had reported 24 outs.
