$1.3 Million Mendelssohn Colt Lights Up OBS Ring

It was a battle to the end but on Wednesday, Mitsu Nakauchida was the last man standing when the hammer fell on a Mendelssohn colt for $1.3 million – the third highest price of the OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training so far.

Bred by Marcus Stables and sold for $235,000 as a yearling, in his third time through the ring he was consigned by Scanlon Training and Sales. The colt stopped the clock in :10.1 during the breeze show and comes through the ring as the fourth foal out of the Malibu Moon mare Grace Is Gone.

“He breezed really nicely. His action was very big and dynamic. Physically, he is strong and beautiful,” Nakauchida told Thoroughbred Daily News. “Hopefully, we will win a few races and, if we get lucky, hopefully you will see him in the international stakes.”

Grace is Gone is a half-sister to stakes-placed Retro and out of the Grade I-placed Grace Anatomy. The colt’s fourth dam is Grade I winner Plenty of Grace, who produced the dams of Grade II winners Diabolical and Chess Chief in addition to Grade III winner What a Name.

“The day before I was on another Mendelssohn because I really think the sire is going to be a hit, and we didn't get him,” David Scanlon told Thoroughbred Daily News about his purchase as a yearling. I thought this horse had a great demeanor and a beautiful frame.”

As to how he developed once he went into their training program, for Scanlon it went even better than expected.

“All year we saw something special in him. He matured the way he hoped and got better than we ever imagined,” he said.

The colt is headed to Japan to race under the care of his buyer while his dam foaled a Practical Joke half-sister to the juvenile in late January.

During the first day of the sale, Mendelssohn also had a $400,000 filly sell to Woodslane Farm and another sell for $280,000 to Dennis O’Neill. The Grace Is Gone colt was one of four for Mendelssohn to sell during the second session.