Drain the Clock Filly Matches OBS March Track Record, Sparks Buyer Interest

Hip 284, a chestnut filly by Gainesway stallion Drain the Clock, equaled the OBS quarter-mile track record in :20 1/5 on Day 2 of the OBS March under-tack show, a performance that immediately refocused buyer attention ahead of the OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, scheduled to run March 10–12 with sessions beginning at 11 a.m. ET each day.

The filly was consigned by Hoppel LLC and is out of the unraced Street Boss mare Queen of Aces, who has produced two foals to race, both winners. Southern Comfort Farm of Kentucky bred Hip 284, tying a track record that has become the headline number of the week at the OBS track.

Drain the Clock, a first-crop Gainesway sire, dominated the speed lists across the four-day under-tack shows. Hip 748, a chestnut colt by Drain the Clock consigned by Doble J Equine Sales, matched the same OBS quarter-mile time of :20 1/5 on the final day, becoming the second horse by the sire to equal the track record that week. Hip 508, a chestnut filly by Drain the Clock breezing for Top Line Sales LLC, tied for the fastest eighth at :9 3/5 on Friday. The pattern extended beyond a single barn: Hip 299, a colt by Mo Town, recorded a quarter-mile in :20 2/5 on Day 2.

Pedigree notes on the week’s top performers increase commercial interest. Hip 748 is out of the Exhi mare Exsqueeze Me, an OBS graduate who is a half sister to GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue, while Hip 284’s dam Queen of Aces brings a small but winning produce record. Those family ties are the kind of details pinhookers and buyers examine between clocking and consignor lists.

Not all sprint highlights belonged to Drain the Clock. Hip 688, a bay filly by Jack Christopher consigned by Randy Miles, posted the fastest eighth on Saturday in :9 3/5; that Saturday session got off nearly 40 minutes late due to dense fog before giving way to clear skies. Across the under-tack shows, two horses worked a furlong in :09 3/5 and a total of 10 horses breezed a furlong in :09 4/5, underscoring how competitive the pre-sale clocking was this week.

Buyers at OBS heard the same refrain on the walkways. Norton said, “(His offspring) are the most consistent group of horses I think I’ve seen in a long time from a stallion,” Norton continued. “It’s not necessarily one thing but they’re pretty like he is, they look fast and I always thought the pinhookers would gravitate towards him because they are big and pretty.” That assessment landed with timing: Session 3 of the under-tack show was scheduled to begin March 6 at 8:00 a.m. ET with hips 409–612 breezing, and the sale itself follows days later.

Full under-tack-show results are available from OBS’s results pages and the sales office; with Hip 284 and Hip 748 both posting :20 1/5 quarter-mile blows, Drain the Clock hips will be circled on consignor sheets when the March sale opens March 10.