During the Friday’s final day of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Amr Zedan went to all-time high $10.5 million to acquire a colt by champion Flightline from the Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbred consignment.
The price was the second-highest ever paid for a 2-year-old at auction in North America, surpassed only by The Green Monkey, at $16 million. It also by far eclipsed the OBS record of $3 million for Brant, who Zedan also purchased. Brant, who is now 3, won last year’s Del Mar Juvenile (G1).
The Flightline colt carried plenty of hype going into Friday’s session after working a bullet furlong of :9 3/5 at the Under Tack Show.
After an electric bidding frenzy, Zedan emerged victorious.
“One needs to respect the amount, it’s a lot of money, but this is what it takes to buy quality,” Zedan said. “This is the game. So I was ready to go to what was necessary to buy the horse, as much as necessary and as low as possible.”
“I’m a little numb,” Donato Lanni said after signing the ticket on the record colt. “Amr is tough. He is an emotional guy who is great for the sport. He loves the racing. His enthusiasm is unbelievable. I didn’t know he was going to do that, but Amr was riding me pretty hard. Everybody had different numbers on what he could bring, he could bring six, he could bring seven, I never thought [he could bring that], honestly. But that’s why there is a horse auction. You never know what they are going to bring.”
“I have a great relationship with Hartley/DeRenzo,” Zedan continued. “We have a gentlemen’s agreement, we sort of have a conversation and, man to man, just let us know he’s a good one. And then when you have someone like Bob Baffert in your corner, and he absolutely says that he hasn’t seen a horse like that in the longest time at OBS, you’ve got to take note. And that’s what we did.”
