Much of the attention at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training will focus on its top prices – and with good reason. The sale-toppers from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 editions of the sale all went on to be Grade 1 winners, with Corniche, sold for $1.5 million in 2021, that season’s Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old male. But the OBS April sale offers the widest swath of juveniles of any auction in North America – there are 1,208 hips cataloged for this year’s sale, set for Tuesday through Friday. There are solid horses to be found at all price points, for all manner of operations. One recent example is Mugatu. The son of Maryland stallion Blofeld was a $14,000 purchase by bloodstock agent Dan Preiss out of last year’s edition of this sale. Now racing for Average Joe Racing Stables and Dan Wells, the winner has earned $80,570, more than five times his purchase price, in 12 starts. A good chunk of that came recently, as Mugatu far outran his 181-1 odds to be fifth of 10 in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes. “The gallop-out [after his breeze] initially attracted me to Mugatu,” Preiss said. “The ‘off-brand’ stallion gave me hope that we could afford him. And then the physical matched up with my expectations. I’m really celebrating a fifth place, which sounds bad, but I think that race showed us that he belongs.” The April auction is considered a bellwether for the national marketplace. It offers the largest catalog of the season, with its broad spectrum of horses testing the market at all levels. “April is really, I call it, the Keeneland September of the 2-year-old sales, where you get variety from top to bottom,” bloodstock agent Liz Crow told OBS. “You can find a good $30,000 horse, and you can find a nice million-dollar horse.” Last year’s OBS April sale set a high bar, with 699 horses selling for $90,805,000, topping the previous high-water mark set just the year prior, when 705 horses brought $90,723,000. The 2023 sale broke and tied the respective records for average and median that had been established in 2022. The average was $129,907, compared to $128,685, while the median was unchanged at $65,000. The buyback rate also compared favorably, finishing at 17 percent versus 16 percent the year prior. The 2024 breeze-up season opened last month with a relatively steady average and median at the OBS March sale. The company reported 447 horses sold over three days for gross receipts of $66,487,600, compared with 464 bringing $71,473,500 in 2023. The average price finished at $148,742, ticking down just 3 percent from last year. The median, considered a key figure in assessing market health, was unchanged at $75,000. The buyback rate was 25 percent in what has been a polarized and selective marketplace, compared to 21 percent the prior year. “I think [the market has] cooled off a little bit,” Preiss said. “So for me, I’m kind of excited.” The OBS March sale was topped by a $1.8 million Win Win Win filly who had breezed a quarter-mile during the pre-sale under-tack show in 20 1/5 seconds, which OBS said was a track record on the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack surface. Among the juveniles distinguishing themselves at the under-tack preview for the OBS April sale was a Tiz the Law filly who matched that record time. This is the first crop for New York-bred Tiz the Law, who won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes as a 2-year-old, boding well for the precocity of his offspring. At 3, the son of Constitution added Grade 1 wins in the Florida Derby, the pandemic-adjusted Belmont Stakes, and the Travers Stakes, and was second in the Kentucky Derby. He stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky. Tiz the Law’s bullet-working filly, consigned by Tom McCrocklin, as agent, is out of the stakes-placed Sky Mesa mare Moonlight Sky, whose first starter is Grade 3-placed Urban. Moonlight Sky is a full sister to Grade 3 winner Sky Girl and a half-sister to champion Abel Tasman. Through the first four of seven sessions at the breeze show – the final three sessions were to take place Friday-Sunday after poor weather pushed back Thursday’s session – fillies from the respective second crops of Mitole and Omaha Beach were tied for the fastest furlong, both going in 9 3/5 seconds. Mitole, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, was last year’s leading freshman sire by earnings. His bullet-working filly, consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds, as agent, is out of the winning Into Mischief mare Mischief Galore, whose first starter, the winner Sapphire Nights, is a full sister to this filly. Spendthrift barn mate Omaha Beach was fourth behind Mitole on the freshman list. His filly, consigned by Omar Ramirez Bloodstock, as agent, is the first foal out of the unraced Frosted mare Marla. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.