End of the Season -- the OBS June 2YO Sale

Ocala Breeders Sales Co. (OBS) held the last sale of the two-year-old auction season last week, concluding the juvenile auction calendar with neither a bang nor a whimper, but rather a continuation of the stabilization that has marked much of this year's sales. (See my reports on earlier two-year-old sales this year here, here, here, here and here.)

Overall, the OBS June sale continued its recent improvement in prices, albeit with a smaller catalog than in recent years. Of the 769 horses listed in the catalog, 424 (55%) sold for an average price of $36,000 and a median price of $19,000, both substantial improvements over last year, when 619 horses sold, most at lower prices. So the June sale, like most of the others on the calendar, continues to adjust to the new reality of smaller foal crops and a stagnant, if not decreasing, pool of potential buyers, especially in the "middle market," between, say, $25,000 and $100,000.

Still, there was some notable action at the high end at OBS June. For example, all five horses sired by Tapit -- North America's leading sire the past three years -- were sold, for an average price of $170,000. Without knowing what those horses' vet reports looked like or what kind of physical appearance they presented, it's hard to know whether the buyers got bargains. But, compared to Tapit's $150,000 stud fee in 2014, the year this season's sales horses were conceived (the fee is $300,000 now), it seems the buyers got a pretty good deal, if only based on their purchases' residual pedigree value.

The most active buyer at the high end of the sale was New York-based trainer Linda Rice, who bought seven horses for an average of $157,000 each. Her top purchase was a $320,000 Midnight Lute colt, who had the co-fastest one-furlong breeze of the sale, in 9 4/5 seconds. One might question the wisdom of breezing a two-year-old at the sale faster than they'll ever run again, but, in the aggregate, the horses that run faster at the sales do go on to do better on the race track than their slower colleagues, so if you're buying in bulk, time does count.

Korean buyers were, as usual, out in abundance at the June sale, buying 19 horses for a total of $864,000, an average of $45,000, including three for $100,000 or more. Not so long ago, the Koreans were looking more at the bottom of the market, with a cap of $20,000 on their bids. Now, they've become a serious middle-market player.

At the bottom of the market, condolences to the 36 horses bought for low prices by C.H.P.R., all destined to be shipped to Puerto Rico and to run for very little money and less food at El Comandante. Having rescued some horses from Puerto Rico, I know the kind of treatment they receive, and it ain't pretty. It's hard to prevent older claiming horses from ending up at Comandante, but perhaps the sales companies could take the small step of prohibiting direct export from the sales to Puerto Rico (and other countries where conditions are known to be unacceptable) before a horse has even had a chance to run on a North American track.

So that's the end of this year's two-year-old sales. All in all, it's probably a relief to breeders, pinhookers,  consignors and the auction houses that things weren't worse, and even seem to have stabilized a bit, especially at the top end of the market. Now, on to the yearling sales, starting next month, and to looking for some of those high-end two-year-olds at Saratoga.