The clip-clop of horseshoes filled the air as the first group of horses made its way into the walking ring at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s Spring Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale on Friday.

A breeze blew between the barns, swaying the limbs of the oak trees while horses whinny and potential buyers peer out from behind their sunglasses, scoping out the remaining horses on the last day of the four-day sale.

With a bustling crowd of bidders in the sales pavilion and auction ring, the sale finished strong and set multiple OBS records with the help of five horses that sold for over $1 million. The previous overall record for the Spring Sale, set at $73,874,900 last year for 724 horses, was surpassed by this year's $92,070,000 for 710 horses, an increase of nearly 25%.

Marion County's biggest concerns: Quality of life survey highlights importance of farmland preservation

Horse racing: Cause of Marion-bred Medina Spirit's death inconclusive but compatible with cardiac issue

Last year: Former North Marion equine student, 22, sells $70K yearling at Ocala Breeders' Sales

OBS and consignors agree horse market is strong

"The horse sales have been strong (this year), but this sale has exceeded our expectations,” OBS President Tom Ventura said Friday morning. “It's been very good from the first horse through the ring and hopefully to the last horse today. The quality of the horses in this sale is excellent, and we're only as good as the horses that we sell, so we're very appreciative that the consigners have brought some very good horses here to the sale.”

Just two years after the sale was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, he says they have “bounced back dramatically.”

The average price of $129,676 was also a record, beating $108,227 in 2019. The median of $65,000 broke the 2019 record of $60,000. The buyback percentage of 15.2% did rise from last year’s 13.1%.

One good addition that came from the pandemic was online bidding, allowing international and remote buyers an easier way to bid without spending two weeks in Ocala for a seven-day Under Tack show and four-day sale.

“Our buying bench is very diverse, and with 1,200 horses in the sale, the buyers can come here and feel comfortable that they're going to find a horse for their budget and for their taste," Ventura said. "Whether they're here looking for the super top-end horse or a moderately priced horse, there’s something here for them.”

Second most expensive horse in OBS history sold

Among the less moderately priced horses was Hip. 206, a bay colt by Uncle Mo out of Borealis Night that sold for $2.3 million, just shy of the all-time record of $2.45 million, Ventura said.

Torie and Jimbo Gladwell of Top Line Sales out of Reddick consigned the horse for a client, surpassing their all-time record by about $1 million. The horse had been bought at Keeneland for $250,000 last September.

“When you get a special horse like him, the minute you start training them and start letting them do a little work on the track as far as breezing goes, you know what you’ve got pretty quick, and the minute that we started letting that colt do anything on the farm, we knew he was going to be special,” Torie Gladwell said.

Zedan Racing Stables, owned by Saudi Arabian businessman Amr Zedan, bought the horse, which Gladwell said has a “monster stride.” Zedan also owned two-time OBS grad Medina Spirit, the horse whose 2021 Kentucky Derby win was posthumously overturned.

The colt will race with Bob Baffert, who will return to racing after serving a 90-day suspension for his connection to Medina Spirit’s positive betamethasone test, which his team contends was not illegal because it was a topical ointment.

“(The horse is) going to get a little time off, which is always deserving when they leave these sales because there's a lot of pressure put on these horses and they're still very much young 2-year-olds,” Gladwell said. “Then he will go out to California and hopefully do great things.”

Four other sales exceed $1 million

De Meric Sales had the next highest horse in a dark bay colt by Medaglia d’Oro out of Eltimaas. Red Baron’s Barn purchased the colt for $1.75 million, which surpassed the $1.5 million show-topper de Meric Sales had last year at OBS.

They had purchased the colt at Keeneland for $325,000 last year.

“It's just an amazing feeling,” Tristan de Meric said. “We all work, put so much into it. It’s what we do every day and a full-time seven day a week job, and it's rewarding when you have days like that. It's worth all the struggle and everything you put into it."

The horse, which de Meric said has an impressive pedigree and breezed well, will race in California with Mark Glatt.

Like Ventura, de Meric noted the strong market for horse sales right now. When the current crop of 2-year-olds were sold as yearlings last year, he says buyers had to spend 20% to 30% more than in previous years.

“I'm just glad that we're selling in a market that’s strong also because with everything happening in the world right now to see this thoroughbred market doing what it’s doing just shows how resilient this business is,” de Meric said.

Eddie Woods had the third highest sale with a gray colt by Tapit out of Pension. Lane’s End Racing bought the horse for $1.7 million, and he is expected to race with trainer Shug McGaughey.

“He's a lovely horse, big handsome colt. Well-bred. He worked really good. He vetted really well,” Woods said.

Woods, who has been in the business for 27 years, believes the sale was his second most expensive ever and definitely his highest in Ocala.

“I knew he was going to be pricey. I didn't think he would bring that much, but I suspected he'd bring a million or better because of the popularity,” he said. “The two groups got into it and away they went.”

Woods also sold the next most expensive horse of the sale: a $1.6 million filly, to OXO Equine LLC.

“It’s been amazing. We’ve never had an April sale like this before,” he said even before the filly sale. “The March sale was the same thing. It was spectacular."

OBS grads performing well nationally and internationally

Rounding out the Top Five was a chestnut colt consigned by Scanlon Training & Sales and purchased by Mitsu Nakauchida for $1.3 million.

Ventura noted that even more important than the sales prices is the performance of OBS horses in races: Two grads placed first and second in the $20 million Saudi Cup in February, one horse won the $12 million Dubai World Cup in March and two fillies are looking toward the Kentucky Oaks in May.

“We've had tremendous success at the racetrack with our graduates,” he said. “Not only are we winning the prestigious races nationally, (but) we are winning internationally, which has attracted even more buyers.”

Contact reporter Danielle Johnson at djohnson@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala Breeders' Sales sets new spring record amid strong horse market