By BROCK SHERIDANOCALA, FLA.—

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company is setto begin their annual October Yearling SaleTuesday and run three days through Thursday.The 2018 Yearling Sale will begin with Hips 1 –190 selling in the Selected Session on Tuesdayfollowed by the two open sessions on Wednes-day and Thursday that will present an additional477 catalogued yearlings. Hips 301 – 550 willpass through the auction ring Wednesday whileHips 551 – 777 are set for Thursday’s session.All three sessions will begin each day at noon.

After the catalog was printed in Septem-ber, 35 yearlings were supplemented to thesale of which 23 horses (Hips 191 – 213)were added to the Selected session and 12(Hips 778 – 789) to the Open session. Theircatalog pages are available via the OBS web-site at obssales.com and in printed form atthe sales grounds.

Walking videos of many of the Selectedyearlings may be viewed through the sortablemaster index on the OBS website. The sortablemaster index provides searchable pedigree andconsignor information as well as access to

pedigree updates occurring since the catalogwas printed. Advanced search and filter capa-bility has been added to allow shortlist creation.

Year in and year out, the OBS Yearling Salehas been a reliable source of high class race-horses, producing winners of graded stakesfrom coast to coast in North America as well asat Ascot, Dubai and Japan, with 25 Yearling Salegraduates surpassing the million dollar mark inearnings.

One such millionaire graduate of the OBSyearling market is Florida-bred Discreet Lover

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SALE HEADLINESFLORIDA’S DAILY SALES DIGEST • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

October Yearling Sale Begins Today

See OBS on page 2

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with his $1,354,060 bankroll after he won theGrade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Parkon Sept. 29 at odds of 45-1. Owned and trainedby Uriah St. Lewis at his base at Parx, DiscreetLover was bred in Florida by Woodford Thor-oughbreds and also includes a victory in theGrade 3 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct in Aprilamong his wins this year.

The sale catalogue cover girl for 2018 is an-other Florida-bred graded-stakes winner inCatherinethegreat, who races for owner John C.Oxley and trainer Mark Casse. Purchased byOxley out of this sale last year for $170,000from the Turtle Pond Farm consignment, thedaughter of Ocala Stud stallion Uncaptured outof Classy City Lady, by Carson City won theGrade 3 Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga onJuly 20. She was bred by Wendy Christ andKathie Holmes.

Other prominent OBS Yearling Sale alumi in-clude Grade 1-winning millionaires SharpAzteca and X Y Jet.

Sharp Azteca counts the Grade 1 Cigar MilePresented by NYRA Bets, the Grade 2 KelsoHandicap, Grade 2 Hardacre Mile GulfstreamPark Handicap and the Grade 3 Monmouth CupStakes among his many wins. After selling for$35,000 as an OBS Yearling in 2014 and for$220,000 as 2-year-old at OBS the followingApril, Sharp Azteca racked up $2,406,740.

Florida-bred X Y Jet has amassed$1,558,663 in his 22-race career with his mostrecent victory coming in the Grade 3 SmileSprint Stakes at Gulfstream Park in June.Trained by Jorge Navarro for RockinghamRanch and Gelfenstein Farm, Sharp Azteca alsohas on his resume wins in the Grade 3 Mr.Prospector Stakes (twice), the Grade 3 Gulf-stream Park Sprint Stakes and the Sunshine

Millions Sprint Stakes. Bred in Florida by DidierPlasencia, X Y Jet is by Kantharos out of Sol-diersingstheblues, by Lost Soldier.

Mr. Oxley’s graded stakes-placed Strike Silver,sold by Kaizen Sales for a Selected Sales topping$275,000, came from dead last turning for hometo get up in the last jump and win Keeneland’s In-dian Summer Stakes by a neck Sunday. The vic-tory earned a trip to the Breeders’ Cup for theMark Casse trainee, who has two wins from threestarts and has earned $180,600.

The 2018 sale features the Year-ling Sale’s strongest stallion roster todate, featuring yearlings by upperechelon sires Awesome Again,Bernardini, Bodemeister, Candy Ride(ARG), City Zip, Flatter, Into Mischief,

Kitten’s Joy, Macleans Music, More Than Ready,Speightstown, Street Sense, Tiznow, UnionRags and Will Take Charge.

Traditionally a showcase for newcomers tothe stallion ranks, the 2018 October Yearlingsale features the offspring of Triple Crown win-ner American Pharoah, Carpe Diem, Constitu-tion, Honor Code, Kantharos, Lea, Liam’s, Map,Palace Malice and Tonalist.

Florida-based First Dude, He’s Had Enough,Poseidon’s Warrior, Treasure Beach (GB) and

Uncaptured are represented, as wellas local newcomers Chitu, Fury Kap-cori, Khozan and The Big Beast.

The sale will be streamed live viathe OBS website as well as theBlood-Horse and DRF websites. n

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OBS from page 1

FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Takes Show On the Road to Tampa for3-Year-Olds In Dec. 15 FSS City of Ocala and FSS Marion County

FTBOA, Tampa Bay Downs and Horsemen Reach Early Deal on2019 Florida-bred Stakes and Purse Incentive Agreement

By BROCK SHERIDANOCALA, FLA. –

Coming on the heels of a highly successful Florida Sire Stakes pro-gram at Gulfstream Park in 2018 where six summer Florida Sire Stakes for2-year-olds totaling more than $1.4 million in purse money racked up$27.241 million in all-sources handle while featuring strong field sizes thataveraged 11.33 starters, the Florida-bred/Florida-sired action now travelsto the Florida gulf coast to Tampa Bay Downs in pursuit of 3-year-olds forthe winter and spring.

The FSS action starts early in the meet with the second running of the$125,000 FTBOA FSS City of Ocala for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on the main track See FTBOA on page 3

Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ & Owners’ Association

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WWW.FTBOA.COM • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018 • 3www.facebook.com/thefloridahorse

and the $125,000 FTBOA FSS Marion Countyfor 3-year-olds, also at seven furlongs ondirt. Both races will be contested on Dec. 15.

Last year, Marco Thoroughbreds Corp.and Stuart Zook’s Mo Cash won the inauguralrunning of the FTBOA FSS Marion Countyahead of 2016 FTBOA Horse of the Year ThreeRules in an exciting stretch run with Zippingthird. Mo Cash went on to finish second be-hind winner X Y Jet in the Sunshine MillionsSprint in January and won the $100,000Benny the Bull Stakes in August, both atGulfstream Park.

William A.T. Rainbow’s homebred Sur-prise Wedding took the first running of theCity of Ocala over future Grade 2 winner and2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint(G1)-bound Stormy Embrace in second withR Angel Katelyn third.

As was the case last year, two additionalFSS stakes of eligible 3-year-olds will take place in May withthe first renewals of the$100,000 FSS Silver Charm forcolts and geldings at a mile and70 yards and $100,000 FSSIvanavinalot Stakes for fillies atthe same distance.

The Silver Charm and Ivanav-inalot will combine with the six$100,000 “Florida Cup” stakesraces to be contested by Florida-breds in March, as well as nu-merous stakes bonuses andpurse incentives comprise a2019 Tampa Florida-bred stakes schedulewhich even surpasses 2018’s record offer-ings. In fact, the only significant difference isan additional $90,000 in FSS Win bonuses to

be equally spread over the sixFlorida Cup stakes.

“As Florida breeders and own-ers, we easily recognize the im-portance of Tampa Bay Downs toour entire industry. Our supportof a vibrant Florida stakes pro-gram there acknowledges our be-lief that a strong Tampa racingprogram is good for our entireindustry,” noted FTBOA CEOLonny Powell. “Virtually all but acouple of their stakes have someform of Florida-bred and/orFlorida-sired bonus money at-tached. Those economic rewards, combinedwith six $100,000 Florida-bred stakes, eachwith a $15,000 FSS Win bonus, and fourFSS races combining for an additional$450,000 in purses, really shine a bright

light on owners and trainerswith a number of Florida-bredsin their Tampa shed rows.”

Tampa Bay Downs generalmanager Peter Berube is also ex-cited about the Florida SireStakes and Florida-bred racingset for the upcoming season.

"It is extremely gratifying tous to partner with the FTBOA forthe betterment of the Floridathoroughbred racing industry,”Berube said. “Our FTBOA stakeslast season produced four qualitywinners, while providing our fans

and racing participants a chance to watchmany of the top state-bred horses in action.

"We are also appreciative of the additional$90,000 in funding being provided to our

Florida Cup Day races on March31 through the FTBOA's FloridaSire Stakes program. The FloridaCup is in its 17th season, and thepurse enhancements allow us tocontinue to attract the quality ofracehorse that has made the se-ries such a success."

FTBOA president, Brent Fer-nung, put the importance of themutual support and synergy be-tween the track, horsemen andhis association in perspective.

“Many good Florida-bredshave competed at Tampa,” Fer-

nung said. “They play an important role inthe Florida thoroughbred industry and itonly makes sense that we work together togrow our businesses together. The closeproximity of the track to Marion County andthe Ocala area also leads itself to many ofour area members, connections and resi-dents to driving over for a day of fun at theraces while rooting home their favoriteFlorida-breds.”

Tampa Bay Downs HBPA president BobJefferies also said he was happy with theagreement.

“Once again, the Tampa Bay HBPA ispleased to partner with the FTBOA for an ex-citing season of racing,” Jefferies said. “Be-cause of the support and additional fundingprovided by the FTBOA, Tampa Bay horse-men are able to earn Florida-bred supple-ments in addition to regular purse money.We look forward to a continuing partner-ship with the FTBOA and Tampa Bay Downsas we move forward to promote racing inFlorida.” n

Bob Jefferies

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WWW.FTBOA.COM • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018 • 4www.facebook.com/thefloridahorse

BY KEENELAND PRESS OFFICELEXINGTON, KY—

Merriebelle Stable’s Blue Prize (Arg) over-came an adventurous run in the stretch to turnback Champagne Problems by three-quartersof a length to win the $500,000 JuddmonteSpinster (Grade 1) for fillies and mares beforea Sunday afternoon crowd of 14,223.

Trained by Ignacio Correas IV and ridden byJoe Bravo, Blue Prize won her second Breed-ers’ Cup Challenge race that provides the win-ner a fees-paid berth into the $2 millionBreeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) to be run Nov. 3 atChurchill Downs. Previously she won the Fleurde Lis (G2) at Churchill Downs.

Also earning Breeders’ Cup berths Sundaywere Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and RobertLaPenta’s Current, winner of the $250,000 Dix-iana Bourbon (G3) and John Oxley’s Strike Sil-ver, winner of the inaugural $200,000 IndianSummer, both races for 2-year-olds.

In the Juddmonte Spinster, longshot South-ernperfection led the field of 11 through frac-tions of :23.79, :47.62 and 1:12.27. On the farturn, Bravo moved to the far outside, circling theleaders and striking the front turning for home.

Blue Prize quickly opened a daylight ad-vantage, but twice before the eighth poleducked out sharply beyond the middle of thetrack, allowing Champagne Problems, whowas skimming the rail, to reach near eventerms. Bravo got Blue Prize straightened outinside the sixteenth pole and drew clear for thevictory in 1:50.02.

A 5-year-old Argentine-bred daughter ofPure Prize out of the Not For Sale mare Bluesfor Sale (Arg), Blue Prize won her fourth

graded stakes in North America and first Grade1. A Group 1 winner in Argentina, Blue Prizeelevated her career earnings to $964,753 withSunday’s $300,000 check.

Blue Prize returned $11, $5 and $3.80.Champagne Problems, ridden by Calvin Borel,returned $7.80 and $5.20 and finished 1½

lengths in front of Pacific Wind who, paid$5.20 to show under Luis Saez.

It was another three and one-quarter lengthsback to Fuhriously Kissed, who was followed inorder by Chocolate Martini, Talk Veuve to Me, fa-vored Eskimo Kisses, Skeptic, Southernperfec-tion, Tiger Moth and Sassy Sienna. n

Blue Prize Regroups To Win Spinster

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Blue Prize winning the G1 Juddmonte Spinster