Ciaran Dunne

Bella Rodrigues will be offering just her second consignment during next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and the 22-year-old consignor had her first bullet worker when a filly by Rogueish (hip 418) shared the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5 during the third session of the auction's under-tack preview Thursday. The filly was one of three to hit that mark during the session. "I started with the show jumpers and that's how I got into the horses," Rodrigues told OBS's Alicia Hughes. Rodrigues, originally from...

TIMONIUM, MD - The under-tack preview of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its two-day stint at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Wednesday under increasing winds and threatening skies, but dodged the rain that was expected to hit the Timonium area later in the evening. Buyers and consignors alike continued to make adjustments to the preview's new format, which limits use of the whip and for which no workout times are provided by the sales company. "It's very strange," admitted consignor Ciaran Dunne of Wavertree Stables. "It's probably...

A colt from the first crop of Epicenter brought $1.95 million from bloodstock agent Justin Casse on behalf of Amo Racing and partners to lead the way at Tuesday's first session of the OBS Spring 2-Year-Old in Training sale. Hip 289 breezed in a bullet :9 4/5 at the under-tack show and was consigned by Wavertree Stables, Inc. (Ciaran Dunne), Agent IV. "His performance was exceptional," said Casse, who signed the ticket as McElroy & Casse / AMO. "We could look back through the years of being here and you'd...

On a day where the rain gave way to cloudy skies and swirling winds in Ocala, Florida, two more 2-year-olds put up a sharp :9 3/5 time during Thursday's fourth under-tack preview show at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. First of the pair was a New York-bred colt (hip 805) by Mind Control from the consignment of Grassroots Training & Sales. "He's an athletic, nice moving horse," said David McKathan of Grassroots Training & Sales, which he co-owns along with Jody Mihalic. "We were...

With 17 juveniles sharing the fastest furlong breeze of :9 4/5, a filly by Omaha Beach (hip 74) separated herself from the pack with a nifty pedigree update and a bullet quarter-mile work in :20 4/5 during Monday's first under-tack preview session for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Hip 74 is consigned by Tom McCrocklin, who signed the ticket to acquire the filly for $400,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale. "She's a very nice filly, always has been," McCrocklin said Monday. "She's a big,...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - With one more million-dollar juvenile bringing its three-day total to a record-tying seven, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training concluded Thursday with its highest-ever gross and increases in both average and median from a year ago. "Gratified, pleased and happy for the consignors," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said of the auction's record-setting results. The consignors bring the horses and the quality of the horses that they bring is what brings the prices. So I...

A filly by Nyquist (hip 372), who stopped the clock for a furlong in :9 3/5, hammered down at an even $2-million to Boyd Racing during Wednesday's OBS March Sale. "She was just an absolute queen the whole week," said Hannah Jennings, who signed the ticket. "She was super professional. Obviously her stride was fantastic on the track and physically she's everything we could want. Nyquist is one of our favorites. He can get you a really elite horse and Ciaran Dunne sold two Grade I-winning Nyquist fillies out of...

A filly by Nyquist and colt by Yaupon realized the co-fastest eighth in :9 3/5 on Day 2 of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-year-old in Training Sale's under-tack show on Thursday. Offered as Hip 391, the day's fastest-working colt is out of unraced Stand Back (Giant's Causeway), the dam of Grade II winner Step Forward (Speightstown). The Florida-bred hails from the family of Grade I winners Cavorting (Bernardini) and Clairiere (Curlin). He is consigned by Raul and Martha Reyes' Kings Equine. "I expected something good, but we never...

Oh, for a daughter to take the legacy forward! That was the late Marty Wygod's thought, year after year, when his dual Grade I winner Tranquility Lake (Rahy) persisted in stubbornly producing colts. True, her Storm Cats had served his program well: After Market and Courageous Cat both won Grade Is, while their brother Jalil made $9.7 million as a yearling. But then, finally, the mare delivered a filly--her very last foal, by Smart Strike. Emily Bushnell, his daughter, recalls ecstatically calling Wygod at 5 a.m. when the foetal test...

One of the first horses on track in the penultimate breeze show ahead of next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, a colt by Nyquist (hip 634) wasted no time setting a new high-water mark of :9 3/5, the fastest time of the sale thus far. Consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, the colt is a homebred for Cypress Creek Equine out of Paquita Coqueta (Chi) (Scat Daddy), a Chilean champion female sprinter purchased by Cypress Creek for $170,000 at Keeneland November in 2021 in foal...

April Mayberry, bidding on behalf of an undisclosed partnership, went to $1 million to secure a colt by Nyquist (hip 79) early in Tuesday's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The chestnut colt, who worked a furlong last week in :10 2/5, is out of Deja Vu (Giant's Causeway) and is a half-brother to stakes winner and Grade I placed Crystal Ball (Malibu Moon). He was consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables and was purchased as part of Dunne and Paul Reddam's Red Wings pinhooking partnership for $200,000...

TIMONIUM, MD - The under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, delayed a day and an hour by rain storms, opened under gray skies and an intermittent drizzle Wednesday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds as seven juveniles splashed down the lane in co-fastest :10 1/5 furlong breezes. First to hit the :10 1/5 time was a colt by Tiz the Law (hip 189), who worked early in the second of the day's seven sets. Consigned by Wavertree Stables, the bay is out of stakes-placed Janis's Joy...