During the April 11 final day of the under-tack show for Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, three youngsters found themselves sharing the accolades for the day's fastest breeze over an eighth of a mile.
After Hip 1221, a bay filly by Girvin from the female family of Breeders' Cup winner Cy Fair, set the bar for the day when she threw down an eighth in :09 3/5, a pair of entrants equaled that mark as Hip 1056, a bay colt by Flightline , and Hip 937, English Woman, a dark bay or brown filly by Authentic helped highlight the sixth day of presale works.
Consigned by Top Line Sales, the Girvin filly started the morning with an exclamation point as the first horse to breeze. Out of the Curlin mare Soma, who is a half sister to graded stakes winner Celestial City, the filly has a page overflowing with grade 1 talent with champion Caledonia Road and top-level winners Hymn Book and Data Link all in her female family. Soma has had one runner, the Michael McCarthy trainee Miss Donna, who scored her maiden win Jan. 23 at Santa Anita Park.
That existing quality got a significant boost at Del Mar last October when another member of her maternal family in Cy Fair, who sold at last year's OBS Spring sale, became just the second filly to prevail in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T). She earned another stakes placing April 10 when third in the Limestone Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland.
"She's done very well for us over the winter. From yearling to now, she's just blossomed into a gorgeous, beautiful, stretchy filly," said Torie Gladwell of Top Line Sales. "She's not just a little speedball type. People are really going to like her when they see her on the end of the shank. Mentally, she's a little bit of a Girvin. She loves her job. She goes out there and she will give it up every time you ask her.
"Jimbo (Gladwell) said when he walked her up to the track, he was more confident in that horse than any other horse he's taken to the track all season."
The mood was already upbeat in the Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds shed row this week as they had sent out Hip 570, a daughter of Jackie's Warrior , to a :09 3/5 breeze during the third day of the under-tack show. The Flightline colt had been the buzz horse of their consignment, however, a status he backed up during his time on the track under ideal weather conditions Saturday.
"It's been, not like pressure but we've had high expectations for this colt since we bought him. He's just been amazing his whole life," Randy Hartley said. "You know it can happen and you know what they are, but they have to come here and perform like we think they are. He's an amazing horse."
The colt is out of the multiple stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed mare Lucrezia. She was the winner of the 2019 Sandpiper Stakes and 2020 Suncoast Stakes, both at Tampa Bay Downs, and was second in the 2020 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). A half sister to stakes winner and producer Ghalia, she is a daughter of Into Mischief , and Hartley says he sees many qualities of the record-setting Spendthrift stallion coming through in the Flightline colt.
"We love Into Mischief mares, and he looks like an Into Mischief," Hartley said. "He's a big colt and you wouldn't necessarily think a big colt like him would have that kind of speed. He's got that Into Mischief hip and body and, if you watch his video, he just has so much power when he pushes off. He' s just a cool horse to be around. I'm just super proud of him."
Just as Flightline capped his career in 2022 with a Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) victory, so too did champion Authentic, himself a son of Into Mischief. On Saturday, a daughter of the 2020 Horse of the Year showed her own level of class for the Navas Equine consignment.
English Woman is out of the winning Speightstown mare In It for the Gold, a daughter of stakes winner and multiple grade 1-placed All Due Respect.
Hoppel consigned two of the three juveniles that clocked the fastest quarter on the day in :20 2/5: Hip 1037, a dark bay or brown filly by Early Voting , and Hip 1070, a chestnut filly by Drain the Clock . Hip 1181, a dark bay or brown colt by Golden Pal consigned by Richardson Bloodstock, also breezed in :20 2/5 Saturday.
The OBS Spring sale takes place April 14-17 with sessions beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET each day.
For full results of the under-tack show, visit obssales.com
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
