Mo Donegal Filly Tops Day 1 of OBS October at $240,000

Expectations (Hip 177), a filly by first-crop yearling sire Mo Donegal, topped Day 1 of the Ocala Breeders' Sales October Yearling Sale Oct. 7, bringing $240,000 from Dream With Me Florida from the Kaizen Sales consignment. "The price was excellent," Kaizen Sales Richard Kent said. "The filly justified the price. She was just a superstar all week. She'd been scoped eight times and showed herself just brilliantly over 100 times. I sold Serena's Song as a yearling and this filly has that kind of class. That's big words. She's a very classy filly. We had all the players in town bidding on her." Christophe Nouvellet who signed the ticket for the filly echoed those statements. "She's a good physical and we're going to hope for the best," Nouvellet said. "She's a good mover and I think on paper she has everything to succeed. In reality, I'll tell you in a couple of years. We just like to buy good horses." The bay filly is out of On the Good List—a half sister to grade 1 winner and millionaire Dunbar Road—who has produced two winners from three to race. Expectations was bred in Kentucky by Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, who purchased her dam in foal to Mo Donegal at the 2023 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $95,000. Expectations had been to the sales ring once before, where she failed to meet her reserve at last year's Keeneland November sale, bringing a final bid of $55,000. Kaizen Sales also sold the second-highest-priced filly of the day—Hip 1 for $110,000. Thorostock, with Nick Sallusto as agent, purchased the Bucchero filly, who was bred in Florida by Rivermont Farm. "She was just a real quality filly," Kent said. "Many people told us she was the best filly on the grounds. We were not coming in with that high of expectations but once we were here, she really sold herself and she did all the work. She looked fabulous, behaved great. We showed her 100 times and she did as well on the 100th time as she did on the first. And (Bucchero's grade 1 winner) Book'em Danno helps." Two colts by first-crop yearling sires sold for $200,000. Hip 148, a Florida-bred colt by Corniche, sold to MJB Stable and was bred and consigned by Soler & Soler Thoroughbred. "I thought he was going to bring more but it is what it is," Edisley Soler said. "That's a good horse for a cheap price; $200,000 for that horse is cheap. I liked everything about him. I raised him, he's been my baby. I just sold him for cheap. This is my first time, I was training but I bought the mom and the filly, his mom died a few months ago. I have my farm—40-acre farm, training center. He's a nice colt. He's a nice horse." Hip 251, a Jack Christopher colt consigned by Beth Bayer, agent was picked up by DiBello Racing Stables. He was bred in Kentucky by Mike Pressley, and had been to the sales ring twice, with his last outing just a month ago where he did not meet his reserve at $170,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He sold for $195,000 to Scout Bloodstock last year at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale. "We were very pleased with him, we had been waiting all day for him to come up," Bayer said. "He's going to be a very nice horse at the end of the day. I love Jack Christopher as a new sire, and we've found that they are very well represented at the sales. All the ones we've seen have looked like athletes. And he had a nice pedigree as well and had a very good mind, he showed really well every time." At the end of the first session, 146 head changed hands for $3,255,600, including private sales. The average price was $22,299, with a median of $15,000. Seventy horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 32%. Kaizen Sales led the consignors, selling 18 horses for a total of $605,000. DiBello Racing Stables was the leading buyer with gross receipts of $255,000 for three buys. Last year saw 55 fewer horses offered in the first session, when 104 horses sold for $1,713,900, with an average of $16,480 and a median of $10,000. The RNA rate was 35% representing the 57 horses who failed to meet their reserve. The highest price on the first day was $75,000 for a son of Yaupon. The October sale's final session begins Oct. 8 at 12 p.m. ET, with hips 301-551 set to head to the ring.