Market Opens Strong at OBS (Cont
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2021 MARKET OPENS OP/ED: HORSEMEN=S GROUPS TURN THEIR BACKS ON HONEST TRAINERS, OWNERS STRONG AT OBS by Bill Finley If you are an owner and trainer who plays by the rules, the last several years should have been hard to swallow. Racing, with its broken system, has proven unable to police itself and the result has been that cheaters have prospered and have done so at the expense of the vast majority of horsemen who do things right. Armed with syringes, the bad guys have been stealing money from the good guys. Lots of it. Which is exactly why every honest horsemen should be 100% behind the Horseracing Integrity Safety and Integrity Act (HISA). It will give them a fighting chance. HISA is not a magic bullet and it will not solve all of the sport=s problems. Cheating will never go away totally. What HISA will do is to usher in a competent, effective system to police the sport. Cont. p12 Co-session topping filly by Munnings | Photos by Z by Brian DiDonato & Steve Sherack IN TDN EUROPE TODAY With the end of the coronavirus pandemic seemingly in sight, BLACKMORE MAKES HISTORY AT CHELTENHAM and both buyers and sellers eager to return to some semblance Jockey Rachael Blackmore is the first woman to ride the winner of of normalcy, the opener of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's the Champion Hurdle and Emma Berry has the details. March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training featured borderline Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. euphoric trade from start to finish. A total of 160 head changed hands Tuesday for gross receipts of $18,482,500 at an average of $115,516 and a median of $62,500. The RNA rate as of Tuesday evening stood at 20%. While exact year-to-year comparisons are somewhat difficult due to OBS policy of adding subsequent post-sale transactions to its official statistics, it's clear that participants found a far different market than they did 12 months ago, when the industry and world at large was right on the precipice of COVID- 19 shutting down everything and the sport was still trying to weigh the impact of a high-profile doping scandal. During last year's corresponding session and afterwards, 145 sales were completed for a combined $12,994,500. The average was $89,617 and the median $50,000. The RNA rate was more than 44% at the immediate conclusion of the session. AIt was a very good day,@ OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said at the conclusion of Tuesday's session. AIt seemed like it held through the entire sale--a lot of horses got moved, with a very low RNA rate. What was great is that we saw horses trade at a lot of different levels. Cont. p3 LORD NELSON $385,000 Consignor: GOP Racing Stable Corp., Agent Breeder: Farm III Enterprices Buyer: Three Amigos He looked and moved like his sire. Speed and more speed. -Bob Baffert Trainer of Lord Nelson & buyer of Hip 67 Don’t Miss More First 2YOs Selling Today. PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Senior Contributing Editor Wednesday, March 17, 2021 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Project Manager Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] The first group of horses arrives at Churchill Downs on Tuesday morning for the 2021 Social Media Strategist season. | Coady Justina Severni Associate Producer Katie Ritz ESSENTIAL QUALITY TO BLUE GRASS 13 Last year's champion 2-year-old Essential Quality (Tapit) will be Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes pointed towards the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland [email protected] Apr. 3, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Tuesday. Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen FANS EXPECTED TO RETURN TO DEL MAR IN '21 14 Director of IT/Accounting After a year of conducting races without fans due to the Ray Villa global pandemic, Del Mar officials announced they expect [email protected] to be welcoming patrons to the oceanside oval this summer. [email protected] WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 16 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • MARCH 17, 2021 Market Opens Strong at OBS (cont. from p1) AI think the market has been very good all day,@ Woods said. AEven for the handy horses. You've got to remember, we didn't Wojciechowski continued, AWhat we saw pre-sale, from have the Koreans [due to the Korean Racing Authority's people on the grounds, and that pent-up energy, it bore itself temporary restriction on foreign-bred racing imports] who took out today, for sure... Kudos to the consignors for the quality of all those horses in the past. The traffic in the barns has been horses that they brought. Without them, it's hard to have a sale, nothing short of amazing--all the and they did a great job of way through until this evening. presenting some horses that When you went up there this people really wanted.@ morning at five to 11 a.m. to Nine horses sold for between walk around the corner, you $500,000 and $550,000 haven't seen that many people Tuesday, with two sharing top up there in years. It's been very billing--a Violence colt (hip 48, vibrant and positive all week.@ :9 4/5) purchased by Spendthrift OBS President Tom Ventura Farm from Kirkwood Stables, noted that pinhookers fared Agent I; and a Munnings filly significantly better buying in the (hip 216, :10) bought by agent 2020 yearling market and selling Donato Lanni from Eddie at March than they did in the Woods, Agent VIII. corresponding 2019/2020 cycle. Woods led all consignors AThe fall was good in that there during the first day of trade at was activity, and it was steady,@ OBS March, selling six juveniles Eddie Woods | Photos by Z Ventura said. AI think the for $2.127 million. He sold three pinhookers paid less on average--we know what's in our sale, head for $500,000 or more Tuesday. and it's less on average than it was last year.@ TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 16 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • MARCH 17, 2021 Ventura continued, ASo at least they're playing in a market that was similar and maybe even a little better right now than it was in the fall, versus last year when they were buying [yearlings] in a normal market [in 2019] and selling in the middle of a pandemic. For the market to do well today--even if the prices are not quite what they were two years ago--the money that's invested in these pinhooks is less. We're very happy with the strength and depth of the market, and hopefully we have a similar day tomorrow." Japan's Yuji Hasegawa was the session's top buyer, spending $1.5 million total and $500,000 apiece on three juveniles. AWe do have some Japanese buyers on the grounds, but some of the higher-priced ones were bought online,@ noted Ventura. ASo, not only is the online bidding part of it, but also the veterinarians in Japan are actually able to access the repository information. They need to have someone on the ground scoping the horse and looking at the horse physically, but technology is helping us from that end too." Wojciechowski added, "Our representative in Japan has been telling us that for a number of the horses who have come out of our sales, and out of March in particular, the buyers who purchased those horses are really happy with them, and that's driven them back to the sale." Among March grads to succeed in Japan is Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah), a $475,000 purchase by Emmanuel de Seroux's Narvick International on behalf of Koichi Nishikawa two years ago. Selling continues Wednesday at 11 a.m. Watch live on www.thetdn.com. OBS Sales coverage continues p5 OBS MARCH SALE- SESSION ONE SESSION TOTALS 2021 2020 $ Catalogued 287 340 $ No. Offered 208 241 $ No. Sold 160 145 $ RNAs 48 96 $ % RNAs 23.08% 39.8% $ No. $500K+ 9 4 $ High Price 550,000 $1,070,000 $ Gross $18,482,500 $12,994,500 $ Average (% change) $115,516 (+28.9%) $89,617 $ Median (% change) $62,500 (+25%) $50,000 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 16 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • MARCH 17, 2021 Woods Consignment 'Riding' High After Day One at OBS March With three offerings bringing a half-million dollars or more during the first session of OBS March--a co-topping $550,000 Munnings filly (purchased by Donato Lanni, agent); a $525,000 War Front colt (purchased by Ron Ellis); and a $500,000 Candy Ride colt (purchased by Yuji Hasegawa)--Eddie Woods led all consignors during the first day of trade, selling six juveniles for $2.127 million.