Into Mischief filly sets new OBS June Sale record as $900,000 top lot

As Torie Gladwell of Top Line Sales made her way to the Ocala Breeders' Sales grounds on Friday, she thought about the Into Mischief filly waiting for her back in Barn 1 and tried her best to manage expectations.

"I woke up this morning and I was like, 'I'll be happy if she sells for $400,000, and I won't cry,'" said Gladwell. "Then on the way here I said, 'I'll be happy if she sells for $500,000, and I still won't cry."

The trip through the ring was the second for the daughter of Spendthrift's famed sire, who was previously offered at the OBS March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training. While she had breezed well enough to please buyers in the spring, the bay went unsold on a final bid of $400,000.

"She did everything right at OBS March," said Gladwell. "She was just a heavy filly and she looked still like a big, immature baby. She just got better and better and we ended up coming here. Those big horses are sometimes hard to get ready for the early sales. "

One of a handful of pinhook prospects entrusted to Top Line Sales by Carlo Vaccarezza, the filly had been a pricey yearling in her own right, purchased by Vaccarezza for $375,000 from Bluewater Sales' consignment to The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in Saratoga Springs.

Any nerves that Gladwell or Vacarezza felt turned out to be unfounded. Sent through the ring in the early afternoon hours, their filly set an OBS June record when she was purchased for $900,000 by bloodstock agent John Dowd on behalf of Larry Best's OXO Equine.

View Ocala Breeders' Sales Company 2019 June Sale results here

"After she brought $900,000 all of our expectations flew out the door," said Gladwell. "We've never sold one for a $1 million. That's the closest we ever got, so I'm probably still shaking. It's fantastic."

The previous June record was set in 2016, when a colt by the late City Zip was purchased for $800,000 by Frank Fletcher Racing from the consignment of Stephens Thoroughbreds.

"I just have to thank Jim and Torie Gladwell," said Vaccarezza. "They helped us a lot. There are a lot of good people who helped us. She has bloomed with the three extra months. The extra time really let her show off her talent. I really loved her. Jimbo and Torie Gladwell did a phenomenal job and it paid off."

Bred in Kentucky by H. Allen Poindexter, lot 748 was out of the Indian Charlie mare Rosemonde and is full sister to Grade 1-placed colt Rowayton, who is also owned and campaigned by OXO Equine. The filly's second dam, Kid Majic, produced stakes winner and Canadian champion Miss Mischief. During the under tack show pre-sale workouts, the filly breezed a quarter-mile in :20 4/5.

Rowayton finished second in last year's Del Mar Futurity and third in the American Pharoah Stakes as a two-year-old of 2018.

"She's a very nice filly, and obviously we have her full brother and we really like him so it made sense," said Dowd. "She was a standout."

"Carlo has had a fantastic year," said Gladwell. "He did an excellent job picking these horses out. We just stood back and let him do his job. We had confidence in him. He's a very humble guy, a very generous man, so we're thankful to have him.

Consignor Torie Gladwell was overjoyed with the resultCredit: @TopLineTBs

"June is a great sale. That filly was vetted by five or six of the right guys who had plenty of money to buy her. There is definitely money at the June sale."

"You have to do a lot of homework and you have to surround yourself with good people," said Vaccarezza, who said he will plan to attend the yearling sales this autumn in hopes of repeat success. "Jimbo Gladwell and John Shaw really helped us a lot. So we have a really good team and hopefully we can duplicate this next year."

Cumulatively, OBS has reported 609 two-year-olds from 756 offered sold for gross receipts of $21,493,300. The cumulative average was $35,293 and the median price $17,000. At this sale last year, OBS sold 530 horses for gross receipts of $17,231,000 with a $32,511 average and a $17,000 median. The total buyback percentage for this year's juveniles was 19.4 per cent, down from 20.3 per cent last year.

"We are happy with the results of the whole sale," said OBS sales director Todd Wojciechowski. "We set a record for the highest priced-selling horse and increased our gross. This isn't your father's June sale. It bodes well for OBS as a whole that consignors can have confidence that no matter what sale they bring a horse to, they have the opportunity to get what it's worth."

The second-highest price of the day was a Ghostzapper filly (914) consigned by Gayle Woods who was purchased by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni on behalf of Stetson Racing for $600,000. She is a half sister to graded stakes winner Come Dancing.

Reflecting on the sale, OBS president Tom Ventura said: "Consignors put horses where they're ready to go. Sometimes it's their second time through but more often you see a lot of first-time horses in the sale. I think that is certainly the direction the sale has been going.

"I think one thing that was evident that there was a lot of activity in the moderately priced horses. Being out back in the last 25 or 30 horses, there were people scrambling to buy horses. It wasn't like we had an empty building and it was at the $100,000 price level to $20,000 price level so that was good to see."

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