The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s 2014 August Yearling Sale begins Tuesday, August 26th. There are 1, 037 yearlings cataloged for the three-day sale, which gets underway at 10:30 a.m. with 258 horses offered in the Selected session. The Sale continues with two Open sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, August 27th and 28th. Hip No.’s 259-648 will be sold Wednesday; Hip No.’s 649-1037 sell on Thursday. Both Open sessions also start at 10:30 a.m.
Conformation photographs of Selected yearlings may be viewed through the Sortable Master Index on the OBS website at obssales.com. The Master Index also includes links to pedigree updates via equineline.com. The sale will be streamed live on the OBS, Blood-Horse and DRF websites.
The catalog can also be downloaded for use with the Equineline Sales Catalog iPad App. For more information and to obtain the application go to http://www.equineline.com/SalesCatalogApp/.
An important source of quality horses throughout its history, the OBS August Sale has produced twenty-two millionaires, a roster that includes Eclipse Award winners Groovy, Kodiak Kowboy, Not Surprising, Silver Charm and Xtra Heat. Since the beginning of 2013, 108 August alumni have won or placed in 193 stakes races, with Rustlewood Farm’s Prudhoe Bay and Ike & Dawn Thrash, Janet Alley and Sam Alley’s Istanford the most recent headline makers.
OBS Sprint Stakes winner Prudhoe Bay, consigned by Summerfield (Francis & Barbara Vanlangendonck), Agent, to the 2012 OBS August Sale, captured Monmouth’s Jersey Shore Stakes (G3) on August 16th for his first graded stakes win, giving him earnings of $191,535. A 3-year-old Florida-bred son of Songandaprayer, his half brother by Broken Vow (Hip No. 41) sells in the 2014 OBS Selected Yearling Sale on August 26th.
A day earlier at Del Mar, Ike & Dawn Thrash, Janet Alley and Sam Alley’s Istanford won the Sandy Blue Handicap in the same front-running fashion she used to win Del Mar’s San Clemente Handicap (G2) in July and beat the boys in the Arlington Classic (G3) in May. The 3-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Istan, also sold by Summerfield at the 2012 August Sale, has earned $332,205 to date.
The August class of 2013 has begun to make its mark. More than two dozen precocious 2-year-olds are already winners and Cecil N. Peacock’s Story to Tell is the first stakes winner, taking the W.L. Proctor Memorial Stakes at Los Alamitos after running second in the Santa Anita Juvenile Stakes.
The sale features a strong sire roster, with yearlings by stallions residing on the upper reaches of the general sire list. Top ten sires Speightstown, Kitten’s Joy, Giant’s Causeway, Curlin and Lemon Drop Kid have OBS August offspring, as well as proven stallions Bellamy Road, City Zip, Ghostzapper, Freud, Harlan’s Holiday, Leroidesanimaux (BRZ), Mineshaft, Scat Daddy, Stormy Atlantic, Street Sense and Unbridled’s Song.
OBS August is always a showcase for newcomers to the stallion ranks, and the 2014 sale features the offspring of first crop sires Archarcharch, Cape Blanco (IRE), Drosselmeyer, Dublin, Gio Ponti, Haynesfield, Paddy O’Prado, Sidney’s Candy, Tizway, Trappe Shot, Twirling Candy, Uncle Mo and Wilburn. In addition, up and comers Blame, Cowboy Cal, Lookin At Lucky, Majesticperfection, Majestic Warrior, Midnight Lute, Pioneerof the Nile, Super Saver, Tale of Ekati and Warrior’s Reward are all well represented.
Wildcat Heir and Two Step Salsa head the list of Florida-based stallions with offspring in the sale, along with Big Drama, Cool Coal Man, First Dude, Gone Astray, High Cotton, Kantharos and Put It Back.