A Macho Uno colt lived up to expectations when he sold for $825,000 on Day 4 of the Ocala Breeders’ 2YO Sale on Thursday.

The grey colt was a standout at the Florida sale grounds and he breezed the fastest 400m (20.40s) last Sunday.  “I knew he was going to be a lot of money,” Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Donato Lanni said after signing for the youngster.  “He performed very well on the track and he just looked really good.”

Consigned by Nick de Meric, the colt was bred in Florida by Haras Santa Maria de Araras and had been purchased for $22,000 at the 2010 Ocala Breeders’ winter sale.

Hill ‘n’ Dale bought the sale-topper for Arkansas car dealer Frank Fletcher and also weighed in with $675,000 for a Hard Spun colt on his behalf.  The latter is out of Light From Above (A.P. Indy), a half sister to Group winner Strategic Partner.  The Kentucky bred colt was acquired for $30,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale.

“Both colts will be trained by Bob Baffert,” Lanni added.  “There are plenty of professionals working here and I was just fortunate Mr Fletcher wanted the two best colts of the sale.”

During the final session, 196 horses grossed $6.92 million and the average was up 15% to $35,343.

Overall, the four day sale turnover of $25.89 million eclipsed the previous record of $24.56 million set in 2006.  The average price was $31,505 which was a 12% increase from a year ago.  The clearance rate improved two points to 76%.  The 2011 sale included 52 horses that sold for $100,000 compared with 32 last year.