BY CYNTHIA MCFARLAND

A total of 440 horses, including 60 supplements, are entered in the 2026 OBS October Yearling Sale, scheduled for Tuesday, October 6, and Wednesday, October 7, with sessions starting at 12 noon Eastern both days.

The OBS October Yearling Sale follows a record-setting Keeneland September Yearling Sale, that just wrapped up September 26 having sold 2,856 horses for $536,737,900.  

As hints of fall weather tease and buyers arrive in Ocala, consignors and OBS sale officials look for continued momentum in the market.

“It was obviously very strong at Keeneland and I’m sure there are a number of orders that didn’t get filled. So buyers still have money to spend and we have a good catalog of horses,” OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said. “We have some very nice physicals and we’re in great shape with sire power. From the top of the general sire list to exciting new sires, we have them all.” 

OBS has compiled a solid roster of yearlings by proven sires, such Army Mule, Authentic, Blame, Bucchero, Charlatan, City of Light, Collected, Complexity, Dialed In, Frosted, Girvin, Hard Spun, Kantharos, Leinster, Maclean’s Music, Maxfield, Midshipman, Mitole, Munnings, Oscar Performance, Practical Joke, Tiz the Law, Uncle Mo, Vekoma, Vino Rosso, War Front, Win Win Win and Yaupon.

Also in the catalogue are yearlings by first crop sires, including Aloha West, Colonel Liam, Corniche, Cyberknife, Drain the Clock, Jack Christopher, Jackie’s Warrior, Mage, Mandaloun, Mind Control, Mystic Guide, Olympiad, Roadster and Speaker’s Corner.

Always intriguing to buyers are sires represented by their first yearlings. This year’s sale includes yearlings by Americanrevolution, Arabian Lion, Arcangelo, Country Grammer, Doppelganger, Dr. Schivel, Elite Power, Gunite, Mullion, Florida-breds Pappacap and Simplification; Taiba, Up to the Mark, Verifying and Zandon.

“Coming off Keenland, which has been a phenomenal sale, I’m excited coming into this sale,” said consignor Beth Bayer, who has been selling yearlings at OBS for 30 years. “People still need horses. Some of them got shut out at Keeneland because the market is so strong.” 

At the 2025 OBS October Yearling Sale, Bayer was ranked fourth among leading consignors, selling 24 yearlings for $521,500. She sold one of the sale’s top-priced yearlings, a Jack Christopher Colt purchased by DiBello Racing Stables for $200,000. Named Stormdog, the colt has been working at Monmouth Park preparing for his first start, popping a bullet four furlongs in :48 Thursday, fastest of 27.

Bayer is enthusiastic about the three dozen yearlings she’s brought to this sale.

“It’s a nice well-rounded group of horses, including Florida-breds, yearlings by Florida and Kentucky sires, first year sires and proven sires, so it should appeal to all buyers,” Bayer said. “I have yearlings by first year sires Simplification and Verifying and also by Florida sires Colonel Liam and Roadster, who both have 2-year-olds off and running this year and doing well.” 

At the 2025 October sale, 309 yearlings sold for a gross of $7,509,700, bringing an average price of $24,303 and a median price of $15,000.

Richard Kent’s Kaizen Sales led all consignors last October selling 34 yearlings for a total of $1,133,000, including the sale’s second highest-priced horse, Expectations, a Mo Donegal filly purchased for $240,000 by Dream With Me Florida LLC. Expectations was recently fifth, just two-and-three-quarters lengths behind winner Riyadh Way. 

Tami Bobo was leading buyer at last year’s sale, purchasing two yearlings for $350,000. Among those was the sales-topping Into Mischief filly, consigned by Glen Hill Farm, which Bobo bought for $275,000. 

That filly, now named Medinah, was sold as a 2-year-old at this year’s OBS April sale for $575,000. Trained by Mark Casse for owner Greenwell Thoroughbreds, Medinah broke her maiden by three-and-a-half lengths in her first start in a $180,000 maiden special weight on September 9 at Kentucky Downs.

Bobo owns Simplification, a graded stakes winner of $873,110, the 2022 Florida-bred Champion Horse of the Year and Champion 3-year-old male, who stands locally at Pleasant Acres Stallions. Simplification is represented by his first yearlings at auction this year. More than a dozen yearlings by Simplification are catalogued for this sale, four of which are in Beth Bayer’s consignment.

Although high-priced yearlings always make headlines, there are plenty of OBS yearling sales grads that sold for modest prices before going on to stellar racing careers.

Catalog cover horse Bentornato is a multiple graded stakes winner of more than $2.8 million and winner of the Grade 1 Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2025. The Florida-bred son of Valiant Minister was a $45,000 purchase out of the Stuart Morris consignment at the 2022 OBS October Yearling Sale.

Also sold at the 2022 sale was Mystic Lake, purchased for $3,500 out of the Summerfield consignment. The daughter of Mo Town is now a multiple graded stakes winner of $1,664,102 and was 2024 Florida-bred Horse of the Year.

Starship Jubilee was Sovereign Award Champion Turf Female in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and won the Sovereign Award as 2019 Horse of the Year. The Florida-bred Indy Wind mare earned $2,093,069 and was a $6,500 purchase out of The Acorn consignment at the 2014 OBS August Yearling Sale. (The sale moved to its current October schedule in 2017.)

The opening session of the 2026 OBS October Yearling Sale on Tuesday, October 6, features hips 1 – 189, plus supplements hips 190 – 224. On Wednesday, October 7, hips 251 – 439 go through the ring, along with supplements hips 440 – 464.

Conformation photos, walking videos and updates can be viewed on the catalog page at obssales.com

Online bidding will be available during the October Yearling Sale. Buyers should create an account and register for bidding approval at the OBS website: obs-internet-bidding. 

To view PDFs of the Florida-breds in the 2026 OBS October Yearling Sale, click here.

Return to the October 3 issue of Wire to Wire