Ciaran Dunne

   Justify, City of Light, Mendelssohn, Good Magic and Bolt d'Oro all received glowing reviews by various consignors in parts one and two of our 'Thoughts from Ocala' series. Logically enough, this select group of freshman sires holds the top five stud fees amongst their stallion crop in the U.S., each standing for $20,000 or more in 2022. While 'value' and 'freshman sires' are two terms rarely used in the same sentence in this industry, as buyers can surely attest, we asked consignors to point out a few first-crop sires...

With the start of the 2-year-old in training sales just around the corner, a visit to Ocala proved to be informative as we checked in with consignors who are going through the fine-tuning process with their sales horses. Leading up to the OBS March Sale, we will release a series of video features covering the topics everyone is talking about as the sales season approaches. Watch our first episode on first-season sires with Eddie Woods, Nick de Meric and Susan Montanye here. In this edition, we spoke with Niall Brennan,...

A colt by Ransom the Moon (Hip 442) topped the day's trade at the OBS October Open Yearling Sale Wednesday, bringing $170,000 from Redwings, a pinhooking group led by Ciaran Dunne and Paul Reddam. Redwings was the top buyer by gross with their single purchase and Grassroots Training & Sales LLC was next with six yearlings bought for a total of $135,000. Bred by Calumet Farm, which stands Ransom the Moon, hip 442 was offered by Lisa McGreevy's Abbie Road Farm, which also consigned Tuesday's Selected Yearling portion topper, a...

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, launched last week with a Bluegrass band, mimosas, and a boutique Book 1 section, continued its momentum straight through to the end of its 11th session, concluding with a sales record average, median and buy-back rate. The gross, which was over $300,000,000 for three straight years before falling to $248,978,700 during the pre-vaccination pandemic in 2020, rebounded to $352,823,000 by the time the last hip went through the ring Friday evening. It was the auction's sixth highest gross in history. "The hope was that we...

OCALA, FL - Steady trade continued through the second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company June Sale of 2-Year-Olds Thursday in Central Florida, with a filly by Nyquist bringing the day's top bid when selling for $420,000 to Gary Hartunian's Rockingham Ranch. The session-topping juvenile was consigned by Eddie Woods. "It was another good day," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said at the close of business Thursday. "We carried a lot of the momentum that we had yesterday into today and I think it will carry on through...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale returned to its traditional May spot on the calendar with an ebullient session topped by a $1.5-million son of Quality Road at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Monday. The seven-figure purchase was the co-highest priced colt ever sold at the Timonium auction, tying the price of a Curlin colt sold in 2017. "It was unbelievable," Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett said at the close of business Monday. "The activity in the barn area over the weekend was strong and all of...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which was pushed back to late June in 2020 due to the pandemic, returns to its traditional mid-May spot on the calendar with bidding at the first of two sessions getting underway at 11 a.m. Monday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. "We are very optimistic about the sale," Fasig Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett said at the sales barns Sunday morning. "We have a great group of horses here and there is a lot of interest. We were very busy...

TIMONIUM, MD - The second of three under-tack sessions ahead of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale got underway minutes after 8 a.m. with chilly temperatures in the mid-40s and a tailwind which remained fairly steady throughout the day's seven sessions at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Wednesday. Five of the day's six fastest times came during the session's first 20 minutes, with a filly by Union Rags equaling Tuesday's quarter-mile bullet time of :21 2/5 and four horses sharing the co-bullet furlong time of :10 flat. It wasn't until the day's...

By Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis OCALA, FL - A pair of million-dollar juveniles punctuated a day of lively trade in Central Florida as the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds reached its midway point with a second session Wednesday. "We certainly picked up where we left off yesterday and the action was just as good, if not better, and we hope it continues to move forward into the next two days," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "We came into the sale with some expectations given...

The under-tack show ahead of next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training reached its halfway point with its third session Wednesday and a filly by Cupid (hip 576) became the second juvenile of the week to work a quarter-mile in :20 2/5. Out of Callipepla (Yes It's True), the bay filly is consigned by Jenn and Quincy Adams's Q Bar J Thoroughbreds. "That was a 'wow' work," Quincy Adams said Wednesday afternoon. "She galloped out strong. She's so classy. She is just a princess. She...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis The Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale returned from its one-year hiatus with plenty of fireworks at the top of the market as a diverse buying bench competed with enthusiasm for the upper-end offerings in the track's paddock Wednesday afternoon. A colt by Nyquist, who had breezed the bullet furlong in :9 4/5 during Monday's under-tack preview, brought the boutique auction's top price when selling for $2.6 million to Coolmore. The Irish operation returned to secure a colt by Nyquist's sire Uncle Mo for $1.3 million. Both...

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL - After a year's absence, 2-year-olds were once again breezing at Gulfstream Park Monday ahead of Wednesday's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale. The auction's under-tack show began at 9 a.m. with sunny South Florida skies and temperatures in the upper 70s. It continued past 3 p.m. as the thermometer reached the mid-80's, and the winds picked up throughout the day, with a noticeable headwind in the later grouping of five sets. The bullet times for both the furlong and quarter-mile works were both recorded during the day's first set,...