Corniche Colt Tops OBS March Sale Opening Session at $1.35 Million

A bay colt by Corniche out of Canadian champion mare Leigh Court blew past all competitors at the OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in Ocala, selling for $1.35 million to Legion Bloodstock on opening day to set the tone for what turned out to be one of the stronger first sessions the sale has seen in years.

The colt, Hip 95, was consigned by Pick View LLC, which had purchased him for $275,000 out of Stone Farm's consignment at the 2025 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. That's a return of nearly five times the buy-in price, and consignor Joe Pickerell made clear the result didn't surprise him. "We loved him all year. He's never had a bad day," Pickerell said. "We stretched to buy him and owned him with some great partners, and he showed up and did everything right. Hopefully, he'll be at the big races in about a year from now."

Legion Bloodstock's Kristian Vilante had been tracking the colt for months before writing the check. "He's a beautiful colt. His dad was a champion. We've been following him since January. We've been coming down to the farms, and we've seen him in January, and breeze at Joe Pickerell's farm again in February. He's been a standout all year. He's been a standout his whole life," Vilante said. The colt had reinforced that impression during the under-tack show, working a quarter-mile in :21. Vilante also noted that a member of their group, identified only as Whit, had made a personal trip to see the colt the previous month and was back on the grounds Tuesday morning before the session started.

Legion wasn't alone in chasing Corniche progeny on the day. Vilante said they had attempted to purchase a Corniche filly earlier in the session before finally landing Hip 95. "This is not the first horse we've tried to buy [Tuesday], but was the first horse we actually got to buy. The market is very strong and there is high demand for quality horses," he said.

The sire's performance at this sale is worth paying attention to. Corniche, the 2021 champion 2-year-old colt who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was a dual Grade 1 winner for trainer Bob Baffert, is represented by his first crop of juveniles this year from his base at Ashford Stud. He finished the opening session as the leading freshman sire by average, posting a $650,000 figure from four sold out of five offered. Fifteen freshman sires had six-figure averages at the sale, with eight clearing $200,000, but Corniche was in a class by himself at the top.

Hip 95 was one of three horses to crack seven figures on opening day. Just before the Corniche colt went through the ring, Hip 88, a dark bay colt by champion Nyquist out of Argentine champion La Extrana Dama, sold to the pairing of Marquee Bloodstock and Morplay Racing for $1.2 million. Consigned by Wavertree Stables' Ciaran Dunne, the colt had breezed in :9 4/5 during the under-tack show. The third seven-figure transaction was Hip 416, a colt by Into Mischief out of graded-placed winner Sweet Diane, who brought $1.85 million from Frank Fletcher Racing Operations out of Susan Montanye's SBM Training and Sales consignment. It was the first seven-figure horse Montanye has sold, and Into Mischief's two-horse average of $1,012,500 ranked second among sires on the session.

Among other notable moves, Hip 139, a bay Army Mule colt consigned by Cesar Loya Training & Sales and out of the winning mare Marching Fire (a half-sister to graded-stakes winner Sharp Sensation), topped the under-tack leaderboard by breezing an eighth in :9 3/5 before selling to Katsumi Yoshida for $750,000. Eight horses in total sold for $500,000 or more during the opening session.

Overall, 144 horses changed hands on the first day, generating $23,149,500 in turnover including private sales. That's a 34 percent increase over the corresponding session a year ago, when 133 horses sold for $17,235,500. Pick View alone moved three juveniles for a combined $1,390,000 on the day.

The OBS March Sale continues through Thursday, with sessions beginning at 11 a.m. each day.