Boyd Browning

by Dan Ross and Jessica Martini CYPRESS, CA - With numbers predictably down against a backdrop of pandemic and economic uncertainties, a total of 166 yearlings grossed $3,735,700 during the Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings Sale held Monday at Los Alamitos Race Course. The average of $22,504 was down 15.9% from last year's inaugural Fasig California Yearling sale and the median dropped 30.0% to $10,000. "Statistically it was in line with what we've seen at the Kentucky sales and the Ocala sales," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said at the close of...

   Only a few years after first becoming involved in Thoroughbred ownership, Susan and Charles Chu watched their first Grade I winner also become a Breeders' Cup Champion when 'TDN Rising Star' Drefong (Gio Ponti) crossed the wire first in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Sprint under their Baoma Corporation banner. While they'd had several graded stakes contenders come along prior to Drefong's campaign, after the millionaire took his third Grade I in the Forego S. for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in 2017, Baoma Corporation went through a bit...

Mike Cline, who recently retired from his post as Lane's End Farm's farm manager since that important operation's inception in 1979, will join the Fasig-Tipton yearling inspection team for the company's 2021 selected yearlings sales. "The Thoroughbred industry has great confidence in the Fasig-Tipton process for our selected sales," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "We are thrilled to add an exceptional and respected horseman like Mike Cline to our inspection team. He will bring vast experience and an outstanding eye for quality horses."

Fasig-Tipton has released its catalogue for The November Sale, billed as the "Night of the Stars," to take place Sunday, Nov. 8, the day after the Breeders' Cup World Championships across town at Keeneland. The Sunday afternoon and evening sale, which is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET at Fasig-Tipton's Newtown Paddocks location near Lexington, features an exceptional group of broodmares, racing prospects, and weanlings among its 264 entries. The first 159 horses through the ring will be weanlings, with 105 mares following. A stellar group of mares has been assembled,...

Fasig-Tipton, which has been forced to shuffle its traditional calendar of yearling auctions due to the global pandemic, has released a catalogue of 662 head for its Selected Yearlings Showcase, which will be held Sept. 9 and 10 at its Newtown Paddocks in Lexington. Fasig-Tipton cancelled its three select sales--the July, Saratoga and New York-Bred Sales--and the showcase auction will be its only select sale of 2020. "We are thrilled with the overall quality of the catalogue, both in terms of the pedigree and the physical conformation of the horses,"...

Early action seemed tepid, but bidding picked up noticeably throughout leading to a lively day of business at the Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale in Lexington Monday. "There was lots of activity at all price ranges and a lot of horses got moved and found new opportunities with new buyers," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "The sale was well-attended. Veterinary activity, which is one of the things that I always look at to kind of evaluate pre-sale interest, was higher this year than last year. We have now...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, delayed two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, opened Monday with trepidation in the air, but the clouds of fear and doubt dissipated and, for two days at least, there was a feeling of a return to normalcy in the industry. The auction featured solid demand for horses at all levels and concluded with a remarkable 19.2% buy-back rate. "We had a terrific day Monday and I said I hoped and prayed that we could keep the momentum going and...

TIMONIUM, MD - The three-day under-tack preview ahead of next week's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded Friday under glorious blue skies and temperatures in rising steadily into the 80s through seven sets of workers. "It was a terrific under-tack show. All of the credit goes to [Maryland State Fairgrounds maintenance director Don] Chief Denmeyer," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. "We had challenging weather at the beginning of the week and this racetrack was as good, from beginning to end, as any under-tack show we've ever conducted. The...

The Breeders' Cup announced Tuesday that 19 individuals were elected to serve as Breeders' Cup Members. Voting for the 2020 Member election by Breeders' Cup 2019 foal and stallion nominators was concluded at 5:00 p.m. ET June 8. The following individuals, listed alphabetically, received the most votes of the Breeders' Cup nominators to fill 19 Member seats. Each Member will serve a four-year term: Conrad Bandoroff Barbara Banke Jimmy Bell Boyd Browning Doug Cauthen Craig Fravel Eric Gustavson Dr. Andreas Jacobs W. Gray Lyster IV Clem Murphy Maria Niarchos-Gouazé David...

Fasig-Tipton will conduct its July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, as scheduled, on Monday, July 13 at the company's Lexington, Kentucky facility. Nominations for the sale are now open. "We are pleased to announce that we will be conducting our popular July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale on its originally scheduled date," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "In 2020, this sale is as important as it has ever been, providing racing stables a much-needed venue to transact business ahead of the major summer race meets." "Our intent is...

by T.D. Thornton & Bill Finley Even before their stabling areas officially begin readmitting horses next week, Churchill Downs and Keeneland are already working in tandem to provide on-site COVID-19 testing of backstretch workers and licensed personnel who will be involved when racing resumes at Churchill May 16. A negative result will be required to gain access to both racetracks. The mandate of swab testing for all Kentucky racetrack personnel exceeds the scope of recommendations published May 7 by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA). Bob Elliston, Keeneland's vice president...

Fasig-Tipton Senior Account Executive Dennis Lynch, "some kind of special man" according to all who knew him, passed away Friday after long battle with cancer. He was 68. A notice confirming Lynch's death was posted Friday on a blog he had been writing. It read: "Husband, father, brother, uncle and friend he was this to all of us. He was also a man of deep faith in God. 'Let's roll from the quarter pole' is something Dennis said many times when he wanted to get everyone moving in the same...