Melnyk Dispersal Has Something for Everyone

by Jessica Martini 
    When Canadian businessman Eugene Melnyk announced last month that he was dispersing his racing stock at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, it created a unique opportunity for buyers to find ready-to-run horses at all levels of the racing spectrum. 
    “It’s a little bit of everything,” said Mark Taylor, whose family’s Taylor Made Sales will handle the dispersal. “Every demographic of buyer has a reason to be there.” 
During his two decades in the racing game, Melnyk campaigned champion sprinter Speightstown and multiple Canadian champion Sealy Hill, as well as Grade I winners Flower Alley, Tweedside, Harmony Lodge, Marley Vale and Pool Land. He earned the Sovereign Award as Canada’s outstanding breeder in 2009 and was twice named the country’s top owner. 
    The July dispersal includes three weanlings, five yearlings, 10 broodmares and 53 horses of racing age. 
Among the most intriguing offerings, according to Taylor, are the dispersal’s 22 juveniles, most of whom are unraced and have been training at Melnyk’s Winding Oaks Farm in Ocala. 
    “There was a lot of talk among the 2-year-old consignors this year about trying to slow down the breeze times and they were complaining that they wanted to bring these horses along more like they would a typical racehorse,” Taylor commented. “It just so happened that’s exactly what we’re dealing with with the Melnyk dispersal. [Winding Oaks manager] Phil Hronec has been a huge part of Mr. Melnyk’s success and he’s got a great program down there. He’s a really good horseman and he brings horses along at their own pace. He didn’t realize that this dispersal was going to happen until 30 days ago, so all these horses are on the normal schedule they would have been on if they were going to race in the Melnyk silks. So it’s a really unique opportunity to get nice horses, 2-year-olds with good pedigree who have been brought along and now they are basically at a normal time of year where they are really ready to start picking it up and going longer distances and getting ready to run.” 
    Not all of the 2-year-olds are unraced however. Bedford Land (Speightstown), a daughter of Melnyk’s 2006 GI Ruffian H. winner Pool Land (Silver Deputy), debuted with a 3 1/4-length victory at Churchill Downs June 22 (video). The filly sells next Monday as hip 414. 
    “We saw Bedford Land when we were down in Ocala in April,” Taylor said. “Phil told us this was a really, really special filly. He said, ‘We’ll probably run her before the sale.’ I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if I’d run her before the sale–what if she doesn’t run well?’–because she was going to bring a nice chunk of money just on paper and on conformation. But he said, ‘I’m not worried about her getting beat. She’s that kind.’ He turned out to be prophetic about that and she did it in-hand first-time out. She did it easy.” 
    Bedford Land’s 3-year-old full-brother Speightsland, bred by Melnyk and now owned by John Oxley, finished second in the July 5 Charlie Barley S. at Woodbine. 
The Melnyk dispersal also features a pair of fillies out of Canadian Horse of the Year Sealy Hill (Point Given), both coming off back-to-back wins at Woodbine. The 4-year-old Hillaby (Distorted Humor) (hip 304) broke her maiden by 5 3/4 lengths at Woodbine May 17 and returned with a grassy allowance victory June 7. 
    “Hillaby is going to be a really popular horse, I think,” Taylor said. “She’s just one of those horses that looks like she can go right into stakes company and be very successful. Whenever somebody can buy a horse and feel like they can have instant action at the stakes level, that’s just a rare situation to go into. She’s won two in a row and got an 88 Beyer last time and is from a nice family, out of a mare that could really run. And she’s shown she obviously has some talent. She is a horse that we’re pretty excited about.” 
    Hillaby’s 3-year-old half-sister Paradise Alley (Flower Alley) sells as hip 327. The dark bay broke her maiden at Woodbine May 11 before adding a June 14 optional claimer. 
    “She looks like a filly who is just hitting her best stride as a 3-year-old and she has won her last two, both going 1 1/16 miles at Woodbine,” Taylor said of Paradise Alley. “She looks like she could be a stakes horse; she’s just a quality horse.” 
    The dispersal isn’t just for buyers looking for stakes horses, though. 
    “There are horses all through the claiming levels in there,” Taylor added. “Which is a unique situation in that you’re getting a horse and you don’t have to do it through the claiming box. You can do all your due diligence with the vet work and feel comfortable about it.” 
    He continued, “There are also a lot of well-bred horses in there for people who want an instant, proven stakes horse, and horses for somebody who wants a 2-year-old with a lot of blue sky with pedigree and they can see video of them training, and for people that are in a regional market that just want horses that can run for a tag successfully. And there are some nice mares and some weanlings, too.” 
    While handling the dispersal will present its own challenges, Team Taylor Made is ready for mobilization. 
    “We’ve got such a vast amount of experience on our team, so it’s just a matter of us reshuffling our people a little bit,” Taylor explained. “We’re going to have Jeff Hayslett, who has always been Melnyk’s representative in our camp, over with the Melnyk horses, along with Frank and Duncan, and then I will be over with all the yearlings and broodmares. So it is just divide and conquer. Thankfully, there are enough Taylors.” 
    The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale begins at 10 a.m. Monday and will be followed immediately by the Horses of Racing Age Sale.