David Hanley
WinStar Farm's David Hanley has been named 2025 Ted Bates Farm Manager of the Year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club (KTFMC). The award honors individuals 'who exemplify excellence in farm management and service to the community." Appointed to the role of farm manager at WinStar in 2013, Hanley has played a key role in the farm's acquisition of new fewer than 11 Grade I winners who have amassed a total of 23 elite-level victories, including Justify, Life Is Good, Improbable, Mullikin and Patch Adams. "I am honored and...
He has a name as American as apple pie. How fitting then that Constitution has had a big week (and month) leading up to the Independence Day holiday. The WinStar Farm stallion's 'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe won his second Grade I of the year--one of just five horses to do so--in Saturday's GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs over a star-studded field while notching a 105 Beyer Speed Figure. Less than 24 hours later, Constitution's Pin Up Betty added the Anchorage Overnight Stakes in Louisville after also winning the...
WinStar will launch four new stallions with first two-year-olds in 2024: Global Campaign, Improbable, Promises Fulfilled, and Tom's d'Etat, and it's Improbable who has come out swinging first at the sales. At OBS March, four of his colts brought six figures, selling for $475,000, $400,000, $300,000, and $250,000 and a first-crop filly fetched $140,000. The $400,000 colt, out of Libby's Tail, who breezed in 9.4 for Eddie Woods-one of three Improbables to hit that mark--was purchased in partnership by David Hanley, the Senior Vice President of Bloodstock Services at WinStar...
Some horses never seem to set a foot wrong. Speightstown is one of those. From $2-million Keeneland July yearling to Breeders' Cup winner to champion to influential sire, he's not only done it all, but done it all extremely well. When WinStar's David Hanley was asked if he had a few words to say about the remarkable 25-year-old, he said with a laugh: "I've more than a few words. He's a wonderful horse. I've been very lucky and fortunate to be around him for the past 10 years. He's a...
WinStar's David Hanley will transition to Senior Bloodstock Consultant along with several other key personnel moves by the end of the year, the farm said in a press release Thursday morning. Dr. Natanya Nieman will take on the role of General Manager while she continues her duties as Resident Vet. "I am excited for Natanya to expand her opportunities here at WinStar. She is a very good horsewoman and having David as a mentor for the foreseeable future will give her the expertise needed to continue to grow here at...
With just around 100 homebred yearlings every year, WinStar Farm puts a particular importance on the Keeneland September Sale, this year selling four-fifths of their annual crop over 12 days starting on Monday, September 11. That importance could be about to pay off, as by all accounts the 80-strong WinStar-breds entered in the sale are a particularly strong group this year. "For us, it's the most important sale," concedes WinStar's general manager David Hanley. "It's the sale that really represents the market for yearlings. You've got the biggest amount of...
Chase Chamberlin scrutinized the numbers. It was a Dickensian moment to be sure. The bank account didn't lie, he did in fact have a $120 balance. There wasn't any way around it, he was broke. Well, nearly broke. It was just a couple years prior that he had received one heck of a proposal though and it wasn't something he could pass up. So going all-in, as they say, was the plan. Not to put too fine a point on it, when opportunity knocks or in this case, arrives via...
KILLENARD, Ireland--The trick to living a mostly happy life is to spend as much time as possible doing what you love. Simple, right? That's not to say that people in the bloodstock industry don't work incredibly hard. There is no real let-up in the work either, with almost wall-to-wall sales these days, foals on the way, mares to be covered, mud to be scraped off almost everything and, some mornings, ice to be broken on water troughs and buckets. But it's a wonderful life nonetheless, and every now and then...
Bill Betz won't forget the first day he worked on the farm he now calls home. Dr. McGee's son never even got out of his car, just told the college kid to start out front and work his way up. "Back then they had those weed-eaters with a motor you strapped onto your back," Betz recalls. "Weighed about 40lbs. So 7:00 a.m., I started weeding down the front of the farm. Get to 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., I don't see anybody. I'm thinking, 'Boy, people really...
The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association will be hosting a Breeding Clinic on June 3-4 in Lexington, Kentucky. Attendees will learn about a variety of topics pertaining to the breeding side of the Thoroughbred industry while visiting five central Kentucky farms and hearing from experts in the field. The clinic will include tours of Godolphin's Stonerside Farm, Spendthrift Farm, WinStar Farm, Mt. Brilliant Farm, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, and Summerwind Farm. Topics and speakers at the Breeding Clinic include: Breeding For the Athletic Thoroughbred and Conformation in Foals, presented by...
TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale got off to a strong start Monday in Timonium as it looks to follow up on a record-setting 2021 renewal. "It was a very solid opening session to the sale," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "There was diverse bidding activity literally from buyers all around the world participating today. This has become a really solid marketplace where you can sell a quality horse, you can sell a state-bred horse. There was lots of activity at really all price ranges." A...
The buzz started around this time last year. The first crop of 2-year-olds from Sequel New York's Laoban were fast. In a TDN series last spring polling various juvenile consignors and buyers, the son of Uncle Mo was on several shrewd observers' lists as a predicted under-the-radar stallion. "Laoban is a sneaky one that I'm not sure if a lot of people will notice," Brandon Rice had said last March. "I can see that there's guaranteed speed, and I could see him having a break out year...They all have a...