Tom McCrocklin

By any measure, Steve and Denise Smith's Mesingw Farm, which celebrated just its fifth anniversary in December, had a banner year in 2025. From the sales ring, where the operation sold its first seven-figure yearling, to the racetrack where it had a graded-stakes placed juvenile at Saratoga in August and a Breeders' Cup starter in November, Mesingw was hitting on all cylinders. The momentum has carried into the new year with the Mesingw-bred Explora (Blame) a leading choice for the GI Kentucky Oaks following her win in the GIII Honeybee...

LEXINGTON, KY - The four-day Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale reached its halfway point in Lexington Tuesday and continued to produce figures significantly ahead of its record-setting 2024 edition. Through two sessions, 540 yearlings have grossed $33,091,000 for an average of $61,280 and a median of $30,000. At the same point last year, 544 horses had grossed $28,753,000 for an average of $52,855 and a median of $20,000. The 2024 auction concluded with a cumulative record gross of $58,575,500 and a record average of $52,206. "The second session of the...

OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, condensed to two days this year, opened with a day of steady trade Tuesday in Central Florida. A colt by Yaupon, consigned by Julie Davies, brought the session's top price when selling for $300,000 to trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. The session topper was one of six to sell for $200,000 or more on the day, matching the figure from the opening day of last year's three-day auction. "Good solid day," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski....

TIMONIUM, MD - After a week of rainy days, it was a picture- perfect morning and the buyers were out in force at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Monday, a day ahead of the reshuffled Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The auction had originally been scheduled over two sessions, but has been condensed into one day after several postponements to the under-tack preview. "Today I am really positive about the action," consignor David Scanlon said from his barn Monday morning. "I do think people will be in a little...

Amr Zedan, who bid an OBS record $3 million to acquire a colt by Gun Runner at the company's March sale last month, went to $1.15 million to secure a son of GI Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law (hip 508) during Wednesday's second session of the OBS Spring Sale. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, the chestnut is out of Taboo (Forestry) and is a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Let My People Go (Pioneerof the Nile). He worked a quarter last week in :20 3/5. McCrocklin, who topped the 2024...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, the bellwether auction of the juvenile sales season, begins its four-day run Tuesday and continues through Friday with bidding beginning each day at 10:30 a.m. "We are hoping to capitalize on the momentum that we had at our March sale," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "There are an awful lot of good horses on the grounds. There is a lot of activity on the grounds right now. We are looking forward to a good sale." The 2024...

A colt from the first crop of Independence Hall (hip 619) tied the time for the fastest quarter-mile of the week so far in Ocala when he worked the distance in :20 2/5 at the fourth session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Wednesday. Consigned by Wavertree Stables, the juvenile is out of Waltzing (Candy Ride {Arg}), a half-sister to graded winner Dancing Solo (Giant's Causeway) and to Grade I-placed Dancing (Bernardini). He was purchased by Ron Fein's Superfine for...

Among the some 170 catalogued horses expected to breeze during Wednesday's fourth session of the under-tack preview for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, one colt stands out on paper thanks to his famous grandmother. Shuggy (Twirling Candy) (hip 668) is the first foal out of champion Zenyatta's unraced daughter Zellda (Medaglia d'Oro). Mayberry Farm is consigning the bay colt on behalf of Ann Holbrook Moss, who campaigned Zenyatta with her ex-husband, the late Jerry Moss. "Everything Zenyatta is hers," April Mayberry said of Holbrook....

While eight horses tied for the fastest furlong of :9 4/5, a filly from the first crop of Grade I winner Yaupon (hip 181) distinguished herself with a bullet quarter-mile breeze in :20 2/5 during the second session of the under-tack preview ahead of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Monday in Central Florida. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, hip 181 is out of Moon Over Mag Bay (Malibu Moon), a daughter of stakes winner Believe in Charlie (Indian Charlie). "She's just naturally fast," McCrocklin said...

Friday's second of three under-tack previews ahead of next week's OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training witnessed no fewer than two dozen horses that broke the 10-second threshold among those who worked an eighth of a mile over the synthetic track. But it was hip 446, a filly by young Crestwood Farm stallion Caracaro (Uncle Mo) from the draft of On The Run Sales, agent, who was the fleetest of them all when stopping the clock in a slick :9 3/5 about three hours into the session. A Feb....

"Boy Trapped in Refrigerator Eats Own Foot." Well, that got your attention, didn't it? Devotees of a certain spoof disaster movie may recall the spinning front-page story--but few will be aware that it may yet, in a roundabout way, lead to genuine headlines at the Breeders' Cup. Bret Jones of Airdrie Stud was at a dinner a few years ago when someone passing behind his seat overheard him saying how much he enjoyed Airplane! "I was in that movie," said Billy Koch. On the face of it, it seemed unlikely....

OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training continued its steady course Thursday, with figures through two of the auction's three sessions in line with its 2023 statistics. During two sessions, 384 juveniles have sold for $14,402,900, with the average of $37,508 ticking up 3.1% from a year ago and the median remaining steady at $20,000. With 125 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 24.6%. Through two sessions a year ago, 410 juveniles had grossed $14,922,600 for an average of $36,397. The...