BY CYNTHIA MCFARLAND

As yearling sale season continues, buyers and sellers converge in Ocala for the Ocala Breeders’ Sales October Yearling Sale on Tuesday, Oct. 7, and Wednesday, Oct. 8, with sessions starting at 12 noon ET both days.

Coming on the heels of a record-setting Keeneland September Yearling Sale, consignors, buyers and sale officials anticipate the market momentum to carry over.

“We have a good crop of horses representing the top sires in the U.S. We have almost 50 supplemental entries, including horses with pedigree and sire power. We’ve had so much success with our graduates going on and doing well,” OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said.

“I think the sire power of the catalog has never been better,” long-time OBS consignor Richard Kent of Kaizen Sales said.

Wojciechowski agrees.

“Chad Johnson and Andrew Fernung, our sales coordinator and assistant sales coordinator, did a very good job putting together the catalog and recruiting quality horses for the sale,” he noted.

Leading sire Into Mischief and leading first-crop sire Yaupon—both OBS sale grads—are represented by yearlings in the sale. Also among the entries are yearlings by Florida’s leading sire Khozan and Florida’s leading first-crop sire Leinster.

Among the supplemental entries are yearlings by Army Mule, Cyberknife, Essential Quality, Girvin, Independence Hall, Jack Christopher, Omaha Beach, Oscar Performance, Vekoma and Ocala Stud’s Win Win Win. 

“Given the strength of the market in Kentucky, we usually find that people who get shut out at Keeneland will come down here. It was a record-breaking sale by any measure. I’ve talked to a bunch of people who didn’t get what they wanted to fill their quota there, so we should see some good traffic. It’s hard for the 2-year-old guys to run a candy store with no candy,” said Richard Kent, whose Kaizen Sales has been selling at OBS since the early 1990s and is consistently among the top consignors at OBS yearling sales. 

“I thought it was strong vote of confidence that Glen Hill put their horses in this sale. I take that as a very positive sign. They raise a great horse and have a lot of sire power and a great reputation. I also like seeing Vinery Sales here with a great draft of horses,” Kent said, adding that he’ll be the first to go look at their entries.

Including supplements, Kaizen Sales has 49 head consigned to the sale. 

“We’ve got some very good horses here this year that could sell anywhere, so we’re very optimistic,” Kent said, noting that his consignment features both Kentucky-bred and Florida-bred yearlings.

“To race a Florida-bred here with the increased breeder awards is very attractive. The increased purses at Tampa help, too. When I’m selling for Florida breeders, most of them really hope their horses stay and race in Florida because then they earn breeder awards,” Kent said. 

Kaizen Sales (Richard Kent), agent, sold the highest-priced colt at the 2024 OBS October Yearling sale. That yearling by Win Win Win out of Prize Informant was purchased for $135,000 by No Money No Honey, agent.

At last October’s sale, 297 yearlings sold for $5,724,600 bringing an average price of $19,275 and a median price of $10,000.

Last year’s sale topper was a filly by Complexity out of Silver Lantana purchased for $150,000 by Top Line Sales LLC, agent, from the consignment of Thoroughstock, agent. 

Lisa McGreevy’s Abbie Road Farm was the leading consignor at the 2024 sale, selling 31 head for $863,600, followed by Kaizen Sales selling 26 head for $684,700.

Among the top priced horses last October were three yearlings that each sold for $130,000. Abbie Road Farm consigned one of these, a Vekoma filly out of Sinister Siren purchased by D.J. Stable LLC.

Lisa McGreevy is a long-time OBS yearling consignor, whose Abbie Road Farm has 48 yearlings in the catalog for this sale. 

“With my own consignment, I think we’re presenting a good solid group of horses and some of these yearlings have very big updates,” McGreevy said, adding that she’s optimistic the success of earlier sales will continue at OBS October.

“If you really shop this sale, you will find some very nice horses at any price range. I feel positive that people who weren’t able to fill all their orders at the yearling sales so far will be shopping here,” McGreevy said. 

Moving the sale’s start time to noon is intended to benefit working horsemen.

“This time of year, there are a lot of horses in Marion County getting their early training started. Plenty of buyers are busy in the morning with the horses on their farms, so we pushed the time back a little more to help accommodate them,” Wojciechowski said. 

For many years, the OBS Yearling sale was held in August, but in 2017 it was moved to October, where it has remained.

“Major race meets at Del Mar and Saratoga are held in August, and we wanted to be able to attract top trainers from the Northeast and West Coast,” Wojciechowski said, noting that Florida weather in October also tends to be more agreeable than in August.

Hips 1 – 230, plus Supplemental Hips 231 – 258, sell on Tuesday. Hips 301 – 530, plus Supplemental Hips 531 – 551, sell on Wednesday.

Conformation photos, walking videos and updates can be viewed on the catalog page on the obs website.

Online bidding will be available during the October Yearling Sale. Buyers should create an account on the website and register for bidding approval.

Check Florida Sire Stakes Eligibility: 2025 OBS October Yearling Sale

Return to the October 4 issue of Wire to Wire