Adrian Gonzalez

Tom Clark is the owner and manager of Rancho San Miguel, where more than 400 horses currently roam a sprawling 250-acres in California's San Luis Obispo County. He owns and manages the farm with his wife, Nancy. They have run it since 2000. The farm is a lynchpin of the state's breeding industry, housing as it does such workhorses of the California breeding shed as Sir Prancealot (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Danzing Candy (Twirling Candy) and Mo Forza (Uncle Mo). But Clark harbors a grim prediction for the future of the...

Edited Press Release EquiRing, in conjunction with Adrian Gonzalez of Checkmate Thoroughbreds, will join forces to create a sales venue for the California market. The first sale, which will be held in April, will have a focus on 2-year-olds, horses in training, and proven horses with notable updates. The sale will also be open to breeding stock. "California is a vibrant market with great owners and breeders," said Adrian Gonzalez. "We are hungry for a consistent and efficient way to trade horses. We have worked with EquiRing and enjoyed success...

Halladay (War Front--Hightap, by Tapit), winner of the 2020 GI Fourstardave H., has been retired from racing and will stand the 2022 breeding season at Harris Farms in California as the property of a syndicate led by Adrian Gonzalez of Checkmate Thoroughbreds. He will stand for an introductory fee of $7,500, live foal stand and nurse guarantee, with shares available. Racing for Harrell Ventures and trainer Todd Pletcher, Halladay also won the 2019 Tropical Park Derby and 2020 Sunshine Forever S. On the board in 12 of 17 starts, the...

Bidding returns to the Fairplex Sales Pavilion in Pomona Tuesday for the one-session Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings and Horses of All Ages Sale. The action begins at noon, with 251 catalogued yearlings, and--for the first time--21 weanlings and broodmare/broodmare prospects in a section of horses of all ages. "The catalogue is very strong," said Fasig-Tipton's California representative Mike Machowsky. "There are some good-pedigreed horses and some good stallions on top of that, with Kentucky-sired Cal-breds, as well as our local sires." Shoppers were out in force on the sales grounds...

Adrian Gonzalez was possibly just humoring his wife Erin when he trudged up the hill through the snow at Keeneland on the last day of the November sale in 2017, but the hike proved fruitful when the couple came home with Expo Gold (Johannesburg) for just $13,000. The mare was in foal to Daredevil and the filly she had already produced that year by that same sire would go on to become Grade I winner Swiss Skydiver. While Expo Gold has changed hands three times since the November sale, the...

As we all know, especially right now, life will sometimes present challenges so terrible that the racetrack can be made to seem a pretty frivolous place. Yet there are also times when only a horse can kindle consolation from the embers of disaster. Clay Murdock was 58 when he died in his sleep last September. The general manager of Rancho San Miguel in California had just sealed a deal for the Northern Hemisphere breeding rights to Sir Prancealot (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), and was buzzing for the future. His loss, out...