FOUR millionaires and massive increases in all the sale metrics have been the hallmarks of the first three sessions of the OBS Spring Sale of two-year-olds in training. An increased concentration on quality is said to be responsible for the slight increase in lots unsold, up from 12.4% last year to 16.5% this time.

The opening session produced the sale leader, Top Line Sales selling a son of leading sire Uncle Mo to Gary Young for $2.3 million. For a while the colt’s sale provided a serious threat to the sale record price, achieved in 2017, of $2.45 million. Gary Young made the winning bid on behalf of Zedan Racing Stables for the colt whose female family is solid if unremarkable.

The colt breezed a furlong in a sensational 9.8 seconds, thus impacting positively for the consignors on his yearling purchase price of $250,000.

After three sessions, eight lots had sold for $700,000 or more, and three of them came from de Meric Sales. The consignor headed the trade on day two with a son of Medaglia D’Oro. The half-brother to Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Drefong, who last week sired the winner of the Group 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas, saw his value soar from his $325,000 yearling sale tag to $1.75 million. He will be trained by Red Baron’s Barn by Mark Glatt.

Irishman Eddie Woods consigned the Gainesway-bred Tapit colt out of the Seeking The Gold mare Pension. A winner at four, Pension has been a great success at stud, her first seven foals all being successful, headed by a pair of Grade 2 winners in Annual Report and the Tapit filly Thoughtfully.

Lane’s End Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds combined to pay $1.7 million for the February-born grey who will be trained by Shug McGaughney.

The fourth millionaire breezer was sold at the second session, and this son of Mendelssohn is heading to race in Japan. Trainer Mitsu Nakauchida paid $1.3 million for the colt who is from the first crop of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and Group 2 UAE Derby winning son of Scat Daddy. This was a third visit to the sales for the colt, and he has been profitable each time. Sold for $100,000 as a foal, be brought $235,000 last year, but David Scanlon as agent hit the jackpot on this occasion.

More Mischief

Few sales are held without the offspring of Into Mischief being among the headliners. This week two of his sons were among the top eight at the sale. Niall Brennan sold the more expensive of the pair, getting $870,000 for a son of the Curlin mare No Curfew.

The dam is a half-sister to the Irish stakes winner Sing Softly, and to the stakes-winning dams of Group and Grade 1 winners Mozu Ascot, To Honour And Serve and Angela Renee. The Hatfield’s CHP Racing now own this $180,000 yearling purchase.

The second son of Spendthrift’s Into Mischief to sell exceptionally well was the half-brother to Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed Isotherm. He is another who will join trainer Mitsu Nakauchida in Japan, having cost $825,000. Sold as a yearling for $385,000, he has two other siblings who were placed at Grade 1 level.

The de Meric bandwagon rolled on with the sale of a Curlin colt to Donato Lanni, acting for Michael Lund Peterson, for $800,000. The grey is out of the Hard Spun mare Hard Not To Like, and she set a new course record when winning the Grade 1 Diana Stakes, one of three successes she enjoyed at this level.

Shadwell-bred

Bred by Shadwell, yet another grey to sell well was the best-priced filly to date, a daughter of champion juvenile, Kentucky Derby winner and now Grade 1 sire, Nyquist. Out of a Hard Spun half-sister to the champion juvenile and triple Group 1 winner Aljabr, this Eisaman Equine consigned filly was bought by DJ Stable for $700,000. The filly’s grandam was the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner Sierra Madre.

After three days selling, a total of 538 lots have sold for $72,814,500, up from $54,811,900 for 557 lots last year. The average has gone from $98,406 to $135,343, while the median has jumped from $47,000 t0 $70,000.