by Jessica Martini & Stefanie GrimmOCALA, FL – With vibrant trade throughout the day, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its third session Thursday with figures still well ahead of its 2025 renewal and on track for a record-setting gross, average and median ahead of the auction's final session Friday. A filly by Bolt d'Oro became the auction's fourth million-dollar juvenile when purchased by Bill Childs's CSLR for $1.3 million. The session-topper was consigned by Raul Reyes's Kings Equine.Through three of four sessions, 478 horses have grossed $77,715,000 for an average of $162,584 and a median of $75,000. The average is up 13.7% from the corresponding 2025 figure and the median is up 15.4%.Both average and median are ahead of the auction's record figures for each metric. The 2025 Spring sale concluded with its third straight record average of $139,343, while the auction's record median of $70,000 was set in 2024. With one day of selling still to come, the Spring sale is just $14,414,000 short of its record gross of $92,129,000 set in 2022.Through three sessions a year ago, 482 horses had sold through the ring for a gross of $68,940,000, an average of $143,029 and a median $65,000.From 916 catalogued juveniles, 593 have gone through the ring with 115 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 19.4%. That figure was 18.4% at the same point a year ago.“It's been tough,” bloodstock agent Lauren Carlisle admitted of the market in Ocala this week. “The high-end horses are extremely high. There is really not a lot of middle. So if you see one you want to buy–especially the colts–it's the same story it always is. You have to spend.”The final session of the OBS Spring sale gets underway Friday morning at 10:30 a.m.A Fine Meal Indeed: Gas Station Sushi's Bolt d'Oro Filly A $1.3-Million Delicacy Eight years ago, Spendthrift Farm went to $675,000 to purchase GSW Gas Station Sushi at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She subsequently visited several of the farm's top young stallions for her early covers and struck gold Thursday when her 2-year-old Bolt d'Oro filly (hip 840) reached $1.3 million on a final bid from CSLR's Bill Childs at OBS April.“Her speed [made her stand out],” said Ned Toffey of the Spendthrift-bred. “She's obviously a lovely filly. I think Into Mischief mares are really popular right now. But most of all, bottom line is just how she breezed. She breezed so well. She was so efficient; it looked effortless, but very fast. And her gallop out was very strong. So she did everything the right way.”Hip 840 | OBS/VidHorseConsigned by Kings Equine, the bay filly impressed during her under-tack preview last week, working a furlong in :9 4/5. Toffey's expectations were exceeded with the price as he acknowledged how strongly she'd come into this week's sale.“[The price was] probably a little stronger [than we had in mind],” Toffey said. “We thought she was a nice filly, but I think, over the last month and then since she's been here, she's done nothing but get better and better. And that's the way the sale goes a lot. [It depends on] how they come into the sale. She very much came in here the right way.”Trainer Danny Gargan was thrilled to have such a promising juvenile join his string later this year at Saratoga, saying that Childs had waited for the right moment Thursday to pick up the filly they thought was the best in the sale.“This is the only horse we've bought so far,' Gargan said. “We passed on several trying to wait for her. I thought her breeze was tremendous. She's a very, very good-looking individual. Her hind leg, her gaskin. We thought she was the best filly in the sale. And we just had to wait. We're lucky enough we were able to buy her.”OBS March grad Gas Station Sushi won the GIII Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland and also placed in the GII Eight Belles Stakes, banking over $187,000 on the track before joining the Spendthrift broodmare band. From four foals to race, she has two winners.“She's got a pretty good pedigree,” Gargan said. “We were expecting her [price] to be a little bit more actually. But we're lucky, we were the last ones bidding. So I'm really excited that she'll be coming to me at Saratoga.” @SGrimmTDNViola All in on Liam's Map Filly Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable added a daughter of Liam's Map (hip 915) to its roster when Monique Delk bid $925,000 to acquire the filly for the operation late in Thursday's session of the OBS Spring sale. The gray filly, who worked a quarter-mile in a bullet :20 2/5 during last week's under-tack preview, was consigned by Tom McCrocklin. McCrocklin had purchased her for $120,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.Hip 915 | OBS/VidHorseViola's wife, Teresa, campaigned Liam's Map, winner of the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, along with West Point Thoroughbreds.“We are big fans of Liam's Map for obvious reasons,” Delk said. “We always look at his babies and like to support the sire.”The filly is out of Honor Hop (Honor Code) and from the family of multiple Grade I winner Palacio de Amor.“This filly was big with a beautiful body,” Delk continued. “She looks more like a colt to me. She has a lot of substance to her. And she breezed lights out. There wasn't much not to like.”Of the market at OBS this week, Delk added, “We've been outrun a few times on some big purchases. We try to stay disciplined. We have a lot of horses, so it's not like we are in need. But if there is something that we love, we are usually in the mix.”Delk said a trainer for the filly was still undecided.The result continued a string of strong results for McCrocklin this week. The horseman sold a filly by Omaha Beach, purchased for $400,000 at Fasig October, for $900,000 Tuesday. Thursday he sold a filly by Ghostzapper, acquired for $100,000 at Keeneland last September, for $750,000, and a filly by Oscar Performance, purchased for $125,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, for $675,000. @JessMartiniTDNChu's Baoma Corp Gets Her 'One Filly A Year' At OBS AprilA bay daughter (hip 754) of third-crop sire McKinzie became Susan Chu's Baoma Corp “one filly of the year” after bloodstock agent Donato Lanni signed the ticket at $900,000.Out of E Built This City, the Wavertree Stable-consignee blitzed her furlong in a sales co-fastest time of :9 3/5.Hip 754 | OBS/VidHorse“This horse is for a wonderful, wonderful lady, Susan Chu,” Lanni said. “They're [Susan and her husband Charles] wonderful people. We all need a lot of luck to have really good horses, and she seems to have a lot of luck. She creates her own luck too.”Lanni has signed plenty of OBS tickets for Baoma Corp, picking up another $900,000 filly last year by Curlin who became GSW and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Himika (Curlin). Two years back, another filly came home to the Chus for $850,000 and became GISW Tenma (Nyquist).Out of a winning City Zip mare, this filly was purchased by Red Wings (the partnership of Paul Reddam and Ciaran Dunne) for $155,000 as a Keeneland September grad and is a half to stakes-placed Fulminate (Get Stormy).“We try to buy [Susan] one filly every year and I was saying, 'that's the one',” said Lanni. “I'm happy we got her. She breezed really, really well. Everybody saw what she went in and she came back excellent. She vetted, physically she looked good, mentally she looked good. She just jumped over every hoop, and there are some big hoops they have to jump. It's a premium when they do what they do, and you have to pay for that. But I'm happy we got her. I love her. I wasn't sure if we were gonna get her or not, but you never know what's going to happen. It's a crazy sale. Just when you think it's not going to get crazier, it gets crazier, which is a good thing.”Lanni indicated that the progeny of McKinzie, such as MGISW and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Chancer McPatrick, continue to perform well through their 2-year-old season and beyond.“McKinzies seem to have speed,” Lanni said. “They seem precocious and then they seem to come back as 3-year-olds and they want to go two turns. I think he's getting things done at the farm. He went up, had a really good start, but he's coming on. He's continuing his success. It's good to see. I feel good about buying McKinzies.” @SGrimmTDN'A Grown Man': Speaker's Corner Colt Joins Casse BarnA colt by Speaker's Corner (hip 704) will be joining the barn of trainer Mark Casse after bloodstock agent Lauren Carlisle signed the ticket on the youngster at $875,000 Thursday at OBS. Carlisle, who was sitting next to Casse during the bidding, was acting on behalf of an undisclosed client.“[Casse] loved the colt,” Carlisle said. “And I liked him, too. I just followed his lead.”Hip 704 | OBS/VidHorseThe bay, from the first crop of GI Carter Handicap winner Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), worked a furlong in :9 4/5 during last week's under-tack preview. He is out of graded-placed Danessa Deluxe (Summer Bird) and was bred by Tommy Wente, Jr. and Scott Stephens and consigned by Omar Ramirez Bloodstock.“He's a beautiful horse,” Carlisle said. “He's a grown man. He's a big, robust horse. We are thinking big. Hopefully, dirt, two turns that would be great. You know how it goes, you hope for the best.”Godolphin homebred Speaker's Corner, who stands at Darley for $10,000, had another standout result Thursday when a colt by the sire consigned by Julie Davies (hip 770) sold for $500,000 to Flanagan Racing. @JessMartiniTDNSabby Racing Steps Up To The Plate For Omaha Beach FillyThe momentum for progeny by Omaha Beach carried through into Thursday morning when the seventh horse through the ring, a daughter (hip 623) of the Spendthrift Farm-based stallion, hammered down for $825,000 to Sabby Racing.Purchased as a Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale grad and consigned Thursday by Jesse Hoppel, the filly, who worked a quarter-mile in :20 3/5, was a nice return on the $130,000 investment Hoppel made six months ago.“I keep expectations low, they're easier to exceed that way,” Hoppel admitted. “But I love her. I hope she goes to a good home and lives up to the expectation. [Her breeze] was phenomenal. She just skipped. She's really reliable. Great mind on her. Anything you ask of her, she does it.”Hip 623 | OBS/VidHorseOmaha Beach has seen plenty of success with his daughters at OBS April thus far with the highest-priced filly during Tuesday's opening session at $900,000 to Spendthrift Farm and Alex & JoAnn Lieblong picking up another filly for $650,000 Wednesday.This filly was the first purchase of the sale for Sabby Racing, who was active last year, picking up two juveniles for $250,000 and a third in partnership with Eclipse Thoroughbreds for $560,000.“I bought her for Sabby Racing, Hal and Allison Mintz. It's hard for me to feel good or bad about prices that are $825,000,” bloodstock agent Seth Morris said with a laugh. “All I could do is go through the sale and try to find the top quality horses. We certainly use the data from the workouts and the gallop outs, the physicals and the pedigree. Hal's always liked Omaha Beach and we've never been able to find him something. This is the one that kind of checked the boxes for me. I think, if you do right by her, she's really going to be a spectacular filly.”Morris indicated that this filly's work, where she matched the second-fastest quarter-mile of the sale, was part of what set her apart from the rest of the field.“Her work speaks for itself,” Morris said. “I mean, she went in :20 3/5 with a good gallop out. If you just watch the rider's hands, he's just sitting chilly, which is what I want. I don't want a horse that's all out and falling all over the place. If you're looking at the actual times, you really have to differentiate between :20 2/5 and :20 3/5, because so many of the horses, with this track and the level of consignors, get them to all kind of bunch up time-wise. So you have to separate them in some way and she separated herself. Visually, she checked all the boxes and on the shank, I loved her. I thought she improved every day.”This was the first big splash purchase for Sabby Racing who Morris said was prepared to step up and fight for the one they wanted.“I'm obviously ecstatic that Sabby is willing to spend that kind of money to get top quality horses,” Morris said. “We participated in the sale earlier [last year] at the $95,000 and $100,000 level for what we thought were really nice horses that just had limitations on pedigree because they were Florida-breds. But this one we knew we'd have to go to bat for a little bit, especially knowing some of the people that were bidding against us. So we're really happy to acquire the filly and we'll see what she can do.” @SGrimmTDNWente Doubles Up at OBS ThursdayTommy Wente added to his ever-expanding list of astute transactions with a pair of impressive scores within minutes of each other at OBS Thursday. Through Omar Ramirez's consignment, he sold a colt by Not This Time (hip 679) for $450,000 to D.J. Stable. Wente had purchased the colt for just $4,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale. Wente and Ramirez returned a few hips later to sell a colt by Speaker's Corner (hip 704) for $875,000 to Lauren Carlisle, agent. Wente co-bred the colt with Scott Stephens and had purchased his dam, Danessa Deluxe (Summer Bird), for $7,000 at the 2023 Keeneland January sale.“I had four really good yearlings last year and he was one of them,” Wente said of hip 704. “Two of them went to Bob Baffert and one of them went to Michael McCarthy for some money. And then this colt here, the Speaker's Corner, was the best of the four. But I just couldn't get him to the sale. He had some growing issues. He was a big horse. We were down to the last sale and I had to scratch him out.”Tommy Wente and Omar Ramirez flank Ramirez's sister, Claribel | Courtesy Tommy WenteWente re-routed the colt to the 2-year-old sales and, on Ramirez's recommendation, picked up a new partner in Robby Norman, co-owner of GI Santa Anita Derby winner So Happy (Runhappy).“He just needed the time,” Wente explained. “He is a big horse, but he's a very athletic horse who went really fast. He went in :9 4/5 with a gallop-out in :32 1/5. Freaky athletic for a big horse like that.”Timing was also key to Wente's other success Thursday.“The Not This Time was kind of a crazy deal,” Wente said. “I was at Fasig-Tipton one day and I saw this black thing come in and I knew it was a big stud fee. He was sitting at $3,000 and they were asking for $4,000. So I hit it one time. The next thing I know, they dropped the hammer. So I took the ticket and I gave it to Omar. I said, 'Omar, here you go. Here is your half, and I don't want any bills.' Omar smiled and grabbed the ticket.”Wente added, “He had knee problems. He had some vetting problems. But again, a horse that needed some time, needed some clean up. He cleaned up really well and the horse just took off. He never looked back. He grew and he's beautiful.”Reflecting on the two results, Wente said, “Today was just a really good day.” @JessMartiniTDN'Control' Colt Has Wycoff in New York State of MindKirk Wycoff admitted he had thoughts of racing a New York-bred colt by Mind Control (hip 805) this summer at Saratoga, but the colt proved too popular to keep when selling for $700,000 to the bid of Justin Casse Thursday at OBS. The dark bay was purchased for $55,000 at Keeneland last September and entered to the ring in Ocala with a spiffy :9 3/5 work for the Grassroots Training and Sales consignment of Jody Mihalic and David McKathan.“My wife actually brought the farm staff to Keeneland that day and picked him out as a show horse because he was so pretty,” Wycoff said. “Dave McKathan okayed it and she went inside and bought him. So all credit to Debra.”Hip 805 | OBS/VidHorseThe colt is from the first crop of Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), a three-time Grade I winner who stands at Rockridge Stud/Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Venture for $6,000.“We like New York-sired horses,” Wycoff said. “We are breeding with Leinster in New York at Mountain View Farm and we like to race them.”The colt is out of the unraced First Valentine (Flatter) and from the family of Grade I winner Mor Spirit.“He had prepped here in :9 4/5, so it wasn't a surprise,” Wycoff said of the colt's bullet work. “The surprise was that he galloped out in :20 flat. He's a real racehorse.”Of Mind Control's first foals, Wycoff said, “I have looked at a lot of them. We bid on a few. We'd like to get a couple more. I think they are nicely shaped horses.”As for his expectations Thursday, Wycoff said, “We had kind of decided we'd race him in the range that we usually race, which is $200,000-$300,000. After that it was up to the buyers. But we would have been very happy to put a saddle on him at Saratoga.” @JessMartiniTDNThe post $1.3-Million Bolt d’Oro Filly Tops Lively Day of Trade at OBS appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.