OBS March Grads Price High to Start Careers at Santa Anita – Horse Racing News
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Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
Santa Anita will soon be receiving high-priced horse meat after the three days are over this week. OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in Ocala, Fla.
Heading the sale was a colt by Good Magic out of winner Uncle Mo mare Hoppa, who commanded a final bid of $2 million on Tuesday. Agent Donato Lanni signed the bright chestnut card on behalf of owner Amr Zedan. They will be sent to trainer Bob Baffert.
Baffert, who was at the sale, returned to Santa Anita on Thursday.
“It was good to see some California trainers buying horses there, that was important,” Baffert said. “I don’t know how many horses will come back here in total, probably not as many as in previous years, but it was important to see the owners and trainers there buying horses.”
Also sprinkled into the sale were Southern California owners Lee and Susan Searing, who ride as CRK Stable. Bidding as Parks Investment, Searing bought three colts for a total of $1.65 million. With trainer John Shirreffs at his side, Searing’s most expensive purchase was a $950,000 daughter of Arrogate’s Heart of Paradise, herself a stakes winner by More Than Ready.
“He was a very good looking colt, very wide, great looking,” Shirreffs said Friday. “He did very well in the show. Just a colt who presented herself very well.
Searings also paid $375,000 for a colt Union Rags Malibu Moon mare out of Winding Way. She is a half-sister to the Shirreffs-trained Skinner, grade 1 marked. Happy running Santa Anita Derby on April 8th. Searings’ third purchase was a colt by Curlin, out of the mare Cee’s Tizzy out of Tiz o Gold, who is a half-sister to the $2 million Bravazo.
“I think Mr. Searing is always looking to improve his mare team,” Shirreffs said of his focus on foals.
As for Zedan’s sales peak, he was one of two colts to breeze a furlong in 9.60 seconds, the fastest recorded time.
“His breeze was tremendous,” Baffert said. “He handled it well, came out well and looked very healthy. That’s the key. It’s like the NFL Combine.”
Last year, Zedan also topped the sale at the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds with a final bid of $2.3 million. That colt would be named Arabian Knight. He would go on to make his debut at Keeneland on November 5th and then win the G3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on his 3-year-old bow on January 28th. Arabian Knight, who was among the favorites. for this year’s Kentucky Derby, he recently came out of training with plans to return this summer.
You can expect more premium Zedan purchases going forward. After the Good Magic colt landed in a duel with Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who was the alleged underbidder, Zedan offered this warning to the competition:
“Our motto is that when we own them, we stop (offering them),” he told Blood-Horse.
Shirreffs said the three Searing colts will arrive at Santa Anita “next week.” He hopes to be ready to race sooner rather than later.
“It looks like They have a great foundation that they’ve already worked with for the sale a few times,” Shirreffs said. “Hopefully everything will work out and come through.”
Baffert noted that it could be a little longer before the sales leaders race. Good Magic’s first crop of 2-year-olds last year wasn’t particularly early, but they’ve now developed to the point where he ranks second among 2022 first-year sons. Bolt d’Oro higher rates
“Some of the ones we’ve bought there, we’ll go back a little bit, we’ll give them 30 days on the farm,” Baffert said. “We will continue with some. But we think some of them will get better as they get older. We’ll get them out of here and see how they go.”
Southern California’s first 2-year-old races of the year will be held the weekend of April 28-30 at Santa Anita.
