The March Sale of Two Year Olds in Training will kick off the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s 2015 two-year-old sale schedule on March 17 with a new open-style format designed to provide buyers with an expanded selection of horses and adding another session to the sale.
Three sessions, set for Tuesday – Thursday, March 17 – 19, 2015, will be preceded by the Under Tack Show on Wednesday through Friday, March 11 – 13. While no longer carrying the Selected moniker, the March Sale will continue to offer a high quality group of horses with top physicals and solid pedigrees that buyers have become accustomed to in previous years, as well as the addition of the next tier of horses that have advanced through their early training and prepared to showcase their talents in March.
Performance on the track at the highest levels of the sport continues to highlight the OBS Two Year Old Sales as a prime source of quality racehorses, on display this past weekend with victories by March graduates Tom’s Tribute in Del Mar’s Eddie Read Stakes (G1) and millionaire Stopchargingmaria in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga.
“The evolution of the juvenile market is telling us that buyers prefer a larger and more varied sample than they have in the past,” said OBS sales director Tod Wojciechowski. “We plan to monitor our entries so as to blend our usual March sale offerings with an additional group of precocious, athletic horses. The result of the past few sales seasons proves that buyers are responding to the quality as well as quantity of the offerings, not the date and title on the catalog cover.”
Initial response to the new format by consignors has been enthusiastic. “I think this is going to be great.” stated Nick de Meric, “The new format will certainly allow us to increase the variety of horses we offer and will be attractive not only to buyers accustomed to the March sale, but also new buyers who may not have considered coming to this sale in the past.”
Trainer Bret Calhoun also applauded the change. “There have been times that I or my owners bypassed the March sale because we didn’t feel there would be enough horses within our budget. This new format definitely changes that and makes coming to the March sale a must, regardless of how much we have to spend.”
The four-day Spring Sale is set for Tuesday, April 21 through Friday, April 24. There will be six Under Tack sessions, beginning Monday, April 13 and continuing through Saturday, April 18.
“Both consignors and buyers were pleased with the extended Under Tack Shows we began in June,’ said OBS board Chairman Mike O’Farrell. “Shorter sessions allow for flexibility to react to inclement weather, and level the playing field for consignors.”
The June Sale of Two Year Olds and Horses of Racing Age is planned for four sessions, beginning Tuesday, June 16 and ending Friday, June 19. The six-session June Under Tack Show gets underway on Monday, June 8 and runs through Saturday, June 13.