Ransom The Moon colt tops concluding session of OBS October at $170,000

A colt from the first crop of Ransom the Moon was purchased for $170,000 by Redwings, a pinhooking partnership led by Paul Reddam and Ciaran Dunne, to top the open session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales October Yearling Sale. Wednesday's session concluded the two-day auction in Ocala, Florida.

Wednesday's session topper (hip 442) was consigned by Lisa McGreevy's Abbie Road Farm and was bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, which stands Ransom the Moon. He is the third foal out of the Aikenite mare Bold Lady, whose first foal, the three-year-old colt Boldish, has won his last two outings.

The dark bay or brown yearling colt was a successful weanling pinhook from the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale by Alejandro Chavez, who purchased the colt for $11,000 from the Calumet Farm consignment.

His second dam is Grade 1-placed Weekend in Seattle, a full sister to prolific two-time leading sire and Horse of the Year A.P. Indy. Weekend in Seattle produced stakes winner and Travers second Mambo In Seattle, and her daughters have produced Japanese Grade 3 winner Stay In Seattle and multiple Grade 3 winner Sky Kingdom.

McGreevy, who also consigned the top hip of Tuesday's selected yearlings session, couldn't have been happier with the results of the past two days, especially the sale of the Ransom the Moon colt.

"It was quite a pleasant surprise. He was very popular in the barns; physically, well balanced, and had a beautiful body," McGreevy said. "Very intelligent and handled all the sales stress like a professional … he looks fast and we wish Redwings all the success in the world with him.

"First and foremost, I owe much of the success to my team that got me through the sale; I had excellent people. It takes an excellent team to surround you and get it done and done well.

The Ransom the Moon colt matched the price of Tuesday's top hip, a Midnight Storm colt bought by Elusive Thoroughbreds, to be the co-sale topper. Hip 442 was the lone purchase over the two days for Redwings.

For the two days of the auction, OBS reported a total of 384 yearlings sold for an aggregate of $9,887,500, an average price of $25,749, and carried a median of $19,000. Eighty-nine yearlings of the 473 under the hammer failed to meet their reserve to represent an RNA rate of 19 per cent.

"It was a great sale both days. It shows the strength throughout the entire sale," said Tod Wojciechowski, OBS director of sales. "We had a good variety of buyers. People were looking to buy horses.

"I think the foot traffic was on par with pre-pandemic times, if not a little better. I walked around the back ring a few times today, and the number of people here was impressive."

The 2020 edition of the sale consisted of yearlings, two-year-olds, and horses of racing age over the two days of selling. OBS reported 381 horses sold last year for gross receipts of $7,361,400, an average price of $19,321, and a $10,000 median. With 119 horses not sold from the 500 offered, the RNA rate was 24 per cent.

"Last year, we added the horses of racing age portion as an accommodation for how strange the year was for sellers; it was a one-off deal," said Wojciechowski.

During Wednesday's open session, 276 yearlings sold for a total of $5,173,500, compared with the 258 yearlings sold last year for a gross of $2,811,900. The average price was up 72 per cent to $18,745, compared to $10,899 in 2020.

The median doubled to $15,000 from $7,500 a year ago. Trending in the right direction, the RNA rate was 18 per cent, compared with 21 per cent in 2020.

"We have seen the strength all year in the yearling market, and it carried through here at OBS as well," Wojciechowski said.

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