Ocala Breeder’s Sales Co. August Sale

The Ocala Breeder’s Sales Co. kicked off their August Sale on Monday, 18 August 2008. The four day sale has been successful, even though the average pricing has declined when compared to last year. Director of Sales for Ocala Breeder’s Sales Co., Tom Ventura, said that due to the state of the economy at present, it was expected that sales figures would drop and that they had been spoilt with the figures in the last few years. However, when taking the economy in consideration, the sale has gone well and a few noteworthy purchases were made within the first two days.

On the first day of the August Sale, the open yearling sale showed a 40.3% decline in sales, but with a hundred and fifteen yearlings sold at a total price of $5 778 000, the sale was not a complete disaster. Hip No 47 made a great impression, as the Macho Uno filly was purchased for $200 000 on behalf of Dr. Robert Fishman. Dream of Atlantis, a colt sired by Stormy Atlantic, sold for $165 000 and a filly out of Cherokee Crossing and sired by Purge sold for $150 000. Another top seller for the day was a Eurosilver colt that was bought by Whitehall Lane Farm for $135 000 and a chestnut colt sired by Dehere and out of Hostile Witness sold for $120 000, purchased by the Kinsman Farm.

Tuesday saw two hundred and four horses being purchased, of the three hundred and twenty-seven on offer, which brought in a total sales figure of $2 334 500 for the session. The top seller in this session of the August sale, was a beautiful chestnut filly by Western Pride and out of So Much More, that was bought by Eddie Woods for $100 000. A Hennessy colt, Hip No 405, was sold for $80 000, while Dream Society by Greatness fetched a price of $77 000. Bloodstock Agent, Tom McCrocklin, bought a filly out of Sararegal, sired by Milwaukee Brew, for $70 000 and $65 000 was paid by Kenneth L. & Sarah K. Ramsey for a dark bay filly sired by Forest Camp and out of Romantic Reason.

The average price paid at this session was $11 444, whereas a year ago, the average price was $13 104 with a buy back rate of 34.8 %. The overall feeling between buyers and sellers was that the market was stable, and consignors such as Summerfield had much success with most of their yearlings being sold. Francis Vanlangendonck, from Summerfield, was quoted saying: “There are still guys back there with money to spend on a nice horse. Ocala is probably one of the few places that can sustain a sale of this size with these kinds of yearlings without anybody shipping in. Whether it’s $1,000 or $100,000, there are people here to buy those kinds of horses.” Ocala Breeder’s Sales Co. has enjoyed a good outcome for their August Sale, and can confidently look forward towards the next event.