Obs Spring Restarts Sale Season Tuesday
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TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2020 OBS SPRING RESTARTS MAXFIELD TO SKIP BELMONT; BLUE GRASS NEXT SALE SEASON TUESDAY by Bill Finley Though coming off an impressive win in the GIII Matt Winn S. at Churchill Downs, Maxfield (Street Sense) will not start in the GI Belmont S., this year the first leg in the Triple Crown. His next start will come instead in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. July 11 at Keeneland. The news that Maxfield was headed to the Blue Grass was first reported by the Daily Racing Form. AIt=s really a matter of trying to make the proper progressive steps,@ said Jimmy Bell, the president and racing manager of Godolphin USA. ASometimes after a very long layoff, you get the big performance, which we certainly felt he gave us in the Matt Winn.@ Cont. p5 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY OBS sales grounds | Photos by Z THE WEEKLY WRAP: FROM FAMINE TO FEAST After a heavily concentrated weekend featuring the Guineas by Jessica Martini Meeting at Newmarket, Emma Berry is back with the latest The juvenile sales season, which has suffered cancellations, The Weekly Wrap. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN delays and reshuffling due to the coronavirus pandemic, will Europe. look to get back on track with the Ocala Breeders= Sales Company=s Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training which begins its four-day run in Central Florida Tuesday morning. AI would say we are cautiously optimistic about the sale in light of what we=ve all had to deal with in the last few months,@ said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. AI think the most important thing is that people are happy just to be able to have a sale.@ OBS staged the only 2-year-old sale of the season so far with its two-day March sale held just as the world was heading into lockdown and with the stock market in a free fall. All the uncertainties led to a steep downturn in business at the auction, with the average falling 34%, the median down 38%, and the buy-back rate at the close of the sale=s second session standing at 40%. The OBS Spring sale has set records for gross, average and median during its last three renewals and, while those lofty results may be out of reach this year, consignors have some reason for hope with a tentative return to a level of normalcy and racing resuming, albeit without spectators, at most racetracks across the globe. Cont. p3 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 Managing Editor Tuesday, June 9, 2020 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 Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Racing resumes in Ireland. Elfin Queen (American Pharoah) pictured winning the Photographer/Photo Editor Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden at Naas on Monday. The 3-year-old filly, and Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew half-sister to Grade I winner Cupid, was purchased by M.V. Magnier from [email protected] VanMeter-Gentry Sales for $1,200,000 at Keeneland September in 2018. | Racing Post Social Media Strategist Justina Severni NO DEAL FOR ARLINGTON MEET 6 Director of Customer Service T.D. Thornton reports on the ongoing impasse preventing Vicki Forbes the scheduling of a 2020 Arlington Park meet. [email protected] Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen TDN DERBY TOP 12 9 After this weekend’s GI Santa Anita Derby, see who Director of IT/Accounting Ray Villa takes the top spot in the TDN Derby Top 12. [email protected] [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES EST Race Click for TV WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor 9:00a Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial S.-G3, LEO -------------- TVG Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 9:30a Leopardstown Fillies Trial S.-G3, LEO -------------- TVG [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 | 732-747-8955 (fax) TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 17 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • JUNE 9, 2020 OBS Spring Restarts Sale Season cont. from p1 and Sunday=s first full day of showing was hampered by yet AI=m not quite sure what to expect,@ admitted consignor Tom more rainfall, but activity has been steadily building at the sales McCrocklin. AMy general barns. impression is that it=s going to be ATo this point we=ve seen top heavy. We are showing the mostly agentsBthe game has same horses over and over and kind of been gravitating that then we have horses who are way anyway, but we are seeing getting no attention at all. The some end users show up this market was kind of going that morning,@ McCrocklin said. AThe way, but I think it=s an more the better. It=s also rained exaggerated version of what we a lot, so we are dealing with that already had. I think anybody that too. We are seeing more and was kind of a marginal more people and particularly owner/buyer before is probably today we=ve seen some new out. And the guys that are in faces, so hopefully it will be a game are in the game to stay. I snowball effect here.@ think everybody has this idea A deep buying bench of that sellers are desperate and Tom McCrocklin | Fasig-Tipton photo international players has been a there is a >we are going to steal staple of the Spring sale in your horse mentality,= but I don=t think that=s the case here and I recent years, but that global participation may be tempered this don=t think that=s the case in a lot of places. We always want to year. sell horses, but we=re not looking to get beat over the head.@ AI think some of the international buyers will have to be The Spring sale=s under-tack show which tiptoed through distant simply because of travel restrictions for their various heavy rainstorms throughout the last week, concluded Saturday countries,@ Wojciechowski said. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 17 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • JUNE 9, 2020 ABut I know there are a number of buyers from those countries who have agents here in town looking at horses. I suspect that there will be some trade. It may not be as much as normal, but there will be some trade.@ To facilitate bidding for people unable to attend the auction, OBS has introduced the option to bid online. AThe online bidding is going to be kind of a whole new world for the industry with the live bidding component,@ Wojciechowski said. AWe have been pleased with the response that we=ve received for registration for online bidding. We think that this can be a very helpful tool, not only for this sale, but for our future sales as well.@ The Spring sale originally featured a catalogue of 1231 juveniles, but a further 79Bmany of whom had been targeted for Fasig-Tipton=s canceled boutique Gulfstream saleBhave been added to a supplemental catalogue. The end result is one of the deepest catalogues in the auction=s history. AIt=s a very good group of horses,@ Wojciechowski said. AThere are loads of really good horses all over the grounds.@ During the seven-session under tack show, a filly by Into Mischief (hip 429) turned in the fastest furlong work of :9 3/5 and 15 juveniles shared the second fastest time of :9 4/5. A filly by freshman sire Not This Time (hip 1254) turned in the fastest quarter-mile work of :20 1/5. Two colts shared the show=s second fastest quarter-mile time of :20 2/5. AThe breeze show went great,@ Wojciechowski said. AWe were very fortunate. We hit some weather windows that we, quite frankly, didn=t know that we would be able to hit. The last day, unfortunately, some of the horses had to contend with a little more rain than other days. But all in all, we were really fortunate to get all seven days off without some sort of delay.@ Bidding begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday with hips one through 308 and supplemental hips 1233 through 1252 scheduled to sell. Wednesday=s session will feature hips 309 through 616, plus supplements 1253 through 1272, while Thursday=s offerings will be hips 617 through 924 and supplements 1273 through 1292. Friday=s final session will include hips 925 through 1231 and supplements 1293 through 1315. Click to read, watch, or listen to the Keeneland Life=s Work Project No. 7 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 17 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • JUNE 9, 2020 Maxfield Skipping Belmont cont. from p1 ATo go in the Belmont, we=d have to come back in four weeks, ship to Belmont and go around one turn versus giving him extra time,@ Bell continued. AThe progression is really most important and we really want to keep him at two turns. He has trained at Keeneland, the Blue Grass is a great race and we are trying to gradually step up in competition and hopefully be competitive in the second half of the year.@ Maxfield | Coady There will be eight weeks between the Blue Grass and the GI Kentucky Derby.