Headley Bell

Following a two-hour rain delay, the second session of the under-tack preview of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds got underway with the first two horses across the track skipping to matching :9 4/5 furlong bullet times. Through three sets on the day, 18 juveniles hit that mark, joining the 17 who shared that time during Monday's first session of the six-day preview. Randy Miles, who had three of the furlong bullet workers from Monday's session, exceeded that number Tuesday when five horses from his consignment worked...

"I think this filly's cheating on me." Well, if that was the opinion of a Hall of Fame trainer, who could argue? Least of all a woman, in the male-dominated Bluegrass of the mid-1970s. But Headley Bell remembers that when Frank Whiteley Jr. sent Nicosia (Gallant Romeo) home to Mill Ridge, his late mother Alice Chandler was not ready to give up. After all, this was a daughter of Nicoma (Nashua), whose previous foal had just won a Grade I; and Alice's husband, Dr. John Chandler, suggested that maybe the...

The 2025 early version of the Inglis Digital USA October sale finished its Wednesday auction with a 74 percent clearance rate and leading the way among the catalogue's offerings was the broodmare prospect Presha (Omaha Beach), who sold to Headley Bell for $95,000, according to a press release from the online auction site late on Wednesday. The stakes-placed 3-year-old filly comes from a deep international family, with names under the second dam including Bubble Rock (More Than Ready), a Grade II winner in the U.S. who was Group 1 placed...

Based at his Mill Ridge Farm, Headley Bell and his Nicoma Bloodstock have been helping clients mate their mares since 1979. With such notable successes as Trempolino, Suave Dancer, Keeper Hill, Barbaro, Street Sense, Havre de Grace, Oscar Performance, Bricks and Mortar, and the 2024 Preakness winner Seize the Grey, it's no wonder that many of the clients he discusses below have been with him for over 40 years. "It's such a gift to be able to assist our clients in this manner because it's something I'm passionate about," said...

Pop quiz: which North American third-crop sire leads his contemporaries by individual graded stakes winners in the Northern Hemisphere in 2024? It's not Justify, nor Good Magic, who are each tied with three and are the runaway leaders by 2024 progeny earnings. The correct answer is Mill Ridge Farm's Oscar Performance, who has four graded winners in 2024 and also leads the top third-crop sires by percentage of black-type winners to runners at 6.6%. In addition, Oscar Performance secured his first career Grade I winner as a sire Saturday with...

Headley Bell has run Nicoma Bloodstock for 40 years, planning matings for clients at his Mill Ridge Farm and beyond. "It's like being an artist," says Bell. "You're crafting, and planning matings is part of that whole creation." Bell said he uses various tools for his matings, including TDN's statistics on percentages of black type to foals, mare produce records, five-cross pedigrees, and examines patterns of broodmare sires with certain families. Finally, he takes physical traits of mares into consideration to determine, he said, "who that mare really is." He...

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to suefinley@thetdn.com My favorite '23 moment was watching Jena Antonucci and her team, 'vigorously' rooting home Arcangelo in the Belmont and then becoming the 'spokesperson extraordinaire' on behalf of our industry! --Headley Bell, Mill Ridge Farm

Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup with Living Legends It wasn't so long ago that the magnificent sire Gone West held court at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington. From 22 crops, all while at Mill Ridge, he netted a mouth-watering 9% black-type winners from starters, including Breeders' Cup winners Da Hoss (twice), Johar, and Speightstown, all back in the days when the Breeders' Cup was still a single day and there were far fewer races. The son of Mr. Prospector passed away in 2009, but his influence on the...

Longtime Kentucky breeder Audrey "Tolie" Otto passed away on Apr. 18 after a lengthy illness, longtime friend Headley Bell of Mill Ridge Farm announced. A native of St. Louis, Otto moved to Lexington in the late 1980s and bred and raced a number of top runners under the stable name Jamm Ltd., which stood for her four children--John, Audie, Michael and Matthew. Among the more notable names Otto either owned, bred or raced were MGISW Keeper Hill (Deputy Minister); and MGSW producers Hamba (Easy Goer), the dam of GI Blue...

Most of us, in this business, have experienced times when we would implore Jerry Amerman to leave that flier, promoting a horseracing syndicate, right where her husband John had thrown it--in the wastebasket. Happily, while they have sampled the full spectrum of the Turf's ups and downs in the 35 years since, their sense of fulfilment only continues to grow. And the sport has itself welcomed corresponding gains from their presence: John's judgement, seasoned by a stellar business career, has been drafted by numerous regulatory and benevolent bodies; Jerry's love...

Was it divine intervention? As the story goes, sometime in late 1923 or early 1924, a Kentucky pastor, Rev. Dr. Thomas Settle, convinced some state legislators in Frankfort not to end legalized gambling in Kentucky by repealing parimutuel wagering, much to the relief of the Kentucky Jockey Club and other concerned horsemen. Most ministers may have taken the opposite tack at the time, but not Dr. Settle, and this made him stand out. A well-travelled Englishman who'd found his way to a small congregation on Main St. and Bell Ct....

The 2022 class of first-crop yearling sires features a diverse batch of Kentucky-based young stallions including a pair of Breeders' Cup champions, two sons of reigning top sire Into Mischief, five graded stakes winners at two and five Grade I winners on turf. Throughout the course of the yearling sales season, we will feature a series of freshman sires as their first crop points toward the sales ring. Check out past editions of our series here.   Omaha Beach (War Front--Charming, by Seeking the Gold) set the bar high for this...