Ocala Breeders’ Sales of 2-year-olds’ March training auction, the first juvenile auction of the season, begins Monday morning in China. Florida center. With 833 horses cataloged – compared with 635 a year ago – the auction has been extended to three days this year and the auction begins every day at 11am.
Tod Wojciechowski, Sales Director of OBS said: “We are pleased with the amount of traffic in the warehouse area. “With all the buyers who have contacted us about coming to town to sell, I feel pretty good. There are many good horses on the field. I feel like we should have a good deal.”
The March sale, which was moved from a pick sale to an open sale in 2015, has been held for two days since 2014.
“It just happened naturally,” Wojciechowski said of extending the drop to three days. “We didn’t do it on purpose. The whole idea of opening March up a few years ago was to create a larger, better critical volume catalog, for buyers to be able to participate in, making it worthwhile to come to the sale. I think shippers became more comfortable selling in March in that environment, so I think it’s just organic growth of sales.”
OBS’s April sale has marked itself as the top 2-year-old sale in the country in recent years, but the March sale seems to have drawn more attention this year even when the auction schedule was disrupted due to the absence of a Fasig-Tipton Gulf Sale store.
“It’s safe to say that we see the pendulum swing during sales seasons from year to year or over a period of time,” says Wojciechowski. “Certainly April, yes, attracted a lot of attention. But I think March is doing his job and holding his ground.”
Without a seven-figure horse in two years, four hit the million dollar mark during the March 2022 sale.
When asked if that is the trend for the March market, Wojciechowski said succinctly, “I certainly hope so.”
With the arrival of the first two-year sale of the year, according to Wojciechowski, March attracts a specific type of offer and that could limit any future auction expansion, according to Wojciechowski. according to Wojciechowski.
“As the start of the year, you need to make sure you bring the right kind of horse through to March,” he said. “You need to bring a precocious horse. That kind of horse is the good one in March. Not every horse fits that bill.
OBS conducted a four-day preview of the March drop last week. a pony equal to good magic (hip 546, videotapes) and son of Not this time (hip 654, videotapes) shared the fastest elongation time of :9 3/5, while a pony of hero (hip 406, videotapes) and a child by attractive (hip 631, videotapes) the fastest time shared quarter mile was :20 3/5.
Wojciechowski said: “The show went very well. “Unfortunately we encountered some pretty strong headwinds on Friday, with speeds up to 20 and 30 mph. There are some horses that hope not to be overlooked and that buyers pay attention to the conditions in which they must perform. There are some beautiful horses in that group that may not necessarily be of the same age as the other horses on the premises, but are equally beautiful.
“The second episode of the second day was a bit slower than the first episode of the other days, but I think the buying public are the ones who are keen and they should be able to overcome different conditions like that and pick out good horses.”
During last March’s sale, 374 horses were sold for $49,371, a median of $132,008 and a median of $75,000. A More Than Ready pony brought the highest bid at auction of $1.2 million.
