Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
CALENDAR HAS MORE FAMILIAR LOOK THAN 2020
After a season of upheaval in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the calendar for this year’s North American juvenile sales season, formally running from March until June, regains some semblance of normalcy for 2021. Here is a look at the sales on tap for this spring, in chronological order.
Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March sale of 2-year-olds in training
March 16-17
(Under-tack preview show March 11-13)
The OBS March sale has the unenviable pole position and must establish market momentum – and last year fell just as the pandemic was gripping the nation, causing its figures to stumble, with the top price just $650,000 for an American Pharoah filly. This year’s sale will provide early hints as to how trade will develop in a more stable marketplace.
All three of the OBS sales are preceded by under-tack preview shows on the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack surface.
Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale of selected 2-year-olds in training
March 31
(Under-tack preview show March 29)
The Fasig-Tipton Florida sale has improved its figures each year since moving to Gulfstream Park in 2015, but it will be hard-pressed to keep improving the figures off its most recent powerhouse renewal – particularly in a marketplace that has vastly changed since that edition, in 2019. Last year’s sale was canceled due to the pandemic.
The 2019 sale was led by the most expensive 2-year-old sold in North America that season, a $3.65 million Curlin colt named Cezanne purchased by the Coolmore group. The sale finished with a a 24 percent gain in gross receipts compared to the 2018 edition, and also recorded record average and median figures. The average price finished at $493,475, soaring 28 percent compared to the year prior and, remarkably, besting Fasig Florida’s prior record mark of $403,812 set in 2006, when The Green Monkey brought a staggering $16 million in an edition of the sale held at Calder.
The Gulfstream sale provides the opportunity for 2-year-olds to breeze over both the dirt and turf racing surfaces.
Texas Thoroughbred Association 2-year-olds in training sale
April 7
(Under-tack preview show April 5)
This sale, with a breeze show at Lone Star Park, will be held a few weeks before Lone Star kicks off its expanded race meeting. The sale is billed as an opportunity to stock up for the meet, which will have an enhanced stakes schedule worth more than $2.2 million, with the revival of Lone Star Million Day. The Texas Thoroughbred Sales Futurity, for TTA sales graduates and those made eligible through a consignor berth, will be held at Lone Star with two $100,000-estimated divisions.
Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. spring sale of 2-year-olds in training
April 20-23
(Under-tack preview show April 11-17)
The OBS April sale is considered the auction company’s flagship sale, and is also something of a bellwether for the national market. The auction typically offers the largest catalog of the season, and is seen as a market with a broad spectrum of horses for buyers at all levels.
Last year’s spring sale was pushed back to early June by the pandemic, but boasted the most expensive 2-year-old of the season, who became a graduate for the sale to brag about. Princess Noor, from the first crop of Not This Time, sold for $1.35 million to bloodstock agent Gary Young, for Zedan Racing Stables. She went on to win the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes.
Keeneland April horses of racing age sale
April 26
Keeneland will conduct a sale of horses of racing age at the beginning of Kentucky Derby week, which some juveniles will certainly find their way into, as the company continues to reimagine its early season sale offerings. This auction will be conducted as an integrated event, with horses presented for sale both physi
cally at Keeneland as well as digitally at off-site locations, at the choice of the sellers and consignors. Keeneland auctioneers will present and preside over all offerings on-site. Buyers both on-site at Keeneland and working remotely using telephone or internet bidding will be able to bid on all offerings.
“Keeneland is excited to have the April sale to showcase horses in training during the racing season,” said Keeneland president and CEO Shannon Arvin, also the company’s interim head of sales. “Our goal with this innovative format is to provide flexibility for both buyers and sellers. For their convenience, buyers may attend the sale or participate via the internet. Sellers have the option to send their horses to Keeneland or keep them at the racetrack where they are in training. We hope this unique marketplace facilitates vibrant trade.”
Keeneland conducted an April sale of 2-year-olds in training from 1993 to 2014, after which the auction went on hiatus. The auction company revived and reinvented the sale in April 2019 as a combination of its traditional juvenile offerings along with older horses of racing age, a market segment that has gained popularity at the company’s November and January mixed sales in recent years. Keeneland planned to conduct a similar sale in April 2020, but it was a casualty of the pandemic.
Keeneland also plans to host seven mixed sales via its digital auction platform, taking place in March, May, June, July, August, October, and December. Unraced or active juveniles could find a place in those as well.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale
May 17-18
(Under-tack preview show May 11-13)
After being pushed to late June last year, the Fasig Midlantic sale, at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, returns to its usual date on the calendar, where it can draw luster and a buying bench of prominent horsemen from the Preakness Stakes at nearby Pimlico the weekend prior. The sale has grown in numbers and popularity in recent years, evolving beyond a solid regional sale into a marketplace that has produced sevenfigure horses in six consecutive years. Gamine set a sale record when sold for $1.8 million at this auction in 2019, then joined its high-profile graduates by earning an Eclipse Award last season.
Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. June sale of 2-year-olds and horses of racing age
June 9-11
(Under-tack preview show June 1-6)
In addition to providing an option on the calendar for lateblooming juveniles or those who were scratched from or failed to meet their reserve at prior auctions, this sale also offers a selection of active racehorses.
Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita sale of 2-year-olds in training
June 23
(Under-tack preview show June 21)
Fasig-Tipton took over the California auction market for Barretts in 2019, and placed a boutique sale at a major racetrack, looking to replicate the atmosphere and breeze-show opportunity of its Gulfstream sale. The sale has faced adversity in its brief history. It was first held in 2019 during a tumultuous season for Santa Anita, and last year was canceled by the pandemic.
Fasig-Tipton Kentucky horses of racing age sale
July 12
Although this sale is not part of the traditional 2-year-olds in training sale calendar, it will provide an opportunity for sellers to strike while the iron is hot with juveniles and perhaps give buyers a chance to stock up for the major summer race meetings. The opportunity this sale provides was illustrated last year, when County Final finished second in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes, then sold for $475,000 to top the sale.