The WinStar Farm team bided their time throughout the day April 20 before striking hard and fast in the final minutes of the opening session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale for a $550,000 son of freshman stallion Midnight Storm . The sale topped off a strong day for the Taylor Made stallion as four juveniles were sold through the ring on Tuesday for $1,033,000.
Consigned as Hip 297 by Woodford Thoroughbreds, agent, the colt was purchased on a final bid of $550,000 to tie for the second-highest price of the day. WinStar Farm signed the winning ticket in the name of their racing arm, Maverick Racing, and CMNWLTH.
During the under tack show the colt worked a quarter-mile in :20 4/5.
"We loved him," said WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden. "He is a really nice colt and breezed great. We felt like he looked a lot like his daddy. We have a few shares in his daddy. We bought one at the yearling sales as well. I'm very impressed with the Midnight Storms and I think everyone is. He's had a good sales season. He's going to go back to the farm and we will regroup."
Bred in Kentucky by Siena Farms, the colt is out of the Indian Charlie mare Tasunke and from the family of grade 1 winners Tap to Music and Cuddles. He was previously purchased by Woodford for $180,000 from the consignment of Taylor Made to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
"We've been waiting all afternoon for this colt to sell," said Beth Bayer of Woodford Thoroughbreds. "He's a big, strong, beautiful colt by a freshman sire. We really loved him and Don loved him all season training. It's very exciting. He got vetted and he was well-received. We thought he would get close to that, yes. It's the first Midnight Storm I've ever dealt with. It makes you want to breed back to him right?"
Another strong sale for Midnight Storm came earlier in the sale when Hip 264, a colt from the consignment of Parrish Farms, agent, was purchased by John Fort for $310,000. Bred in Kentucky by V. Gail Ray out of Summer of Joy (by Sky Mesa ), the colt was previously consigned to the Keeneland September Sale where he was purchased by Parrish Farms for $34,000.
The colt breezed an eighth-mile in :9 4/5 during the under tack show.
"It was awesome. Those were two really nice horses," said Taylor Made's Liam Benson. "The Woodford horse, that horse they paid a good bit of money for as a baby and he continued to develop the way you expect a horse like that to develop. The Parrish's horse was fast-looking and it came out here and worked like a monster and sold accordingly.
"It's hard to check every box at these sales because it's not just looks. They have to come out here and they have to work good, they have to vet after. The general feel is that things look pretty good for the horse (Midnight Storm) so far but they still have to get to the races."
Benson said so far, the consensus was that Taylor Made had been pleased with the physicals they'd seen from the Midnight Storms.
"They're all just pretty," said Benson. "They all have a gorgeous top line on them and they're all just well-made horses. In general across the board, we've been very happy with what we've seen so far. I've bred a couple mares to him myself this year. I've been drinking the Kool-Aid hoping it turns into Dom Perignon."
