Brad Weisbord

LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which produced gangbuster results in 2022, returns for its 2023 renewal Monday in Lexington. Perennially a bellwether of the industry's sales market, the 12-day auction opens with a pair of elite Book 1 sessions beginning at 1 p.m. and, with the Keeneland barns awash with activity Sunday, both sales officials and consignors were heading into the sale with plenty of optimism. "The traffic has been incredibly positive," said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. "There are quite a few buyers here....

Gladys Weisbord, the mother of former Thoroughbred Daily News publisher Barry Weisbord and grandmother of BSW Bloodstock and Elite Sales founder Brad Weisbord, passed away Monday evening. She was 94. Barry Weisbord, who founded Matchmaker Breeders Exchange in the 1980's and started the American Racing Championship Series in the 1990's, credited his mother's early support of his love of racing with launching, not just his career as an innovator in the sport, but also that of his son. "Unlike a lot of people in our industry, I was not introduced...

Elite Sales, the Thoroughbred consignment business of Liz Crow and Bradley Weisbord, will begin selling yearlings in 2023, adding to their existing business of breeding and racing stock, according to the pair. "Elite Sales launched in 2017 with the goal of being the number-one consignor of horses of racing age and broodmares/broodmare prospects," said Weisbord. "With six years under our belts, we have experienced a wide range of success including selling 21 off-the-track broodmare or racing prospects for $1 million or more." The addition of yearlings to their lineup is...

This week I attended World Series Games Three and Four in Philadelphia. Those that know me would not be surprised as I am a life-long devoted Phillies fan. This weekend my champion sports enjoyment continues with the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. I will relish both events with family and friends. This has been a favorite time of the year of late as these two great events have overlapped. My enthusiasm for this week got me thinking. I love sports. I always have. I love rooting in person, watching on TV,...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale might have taken a day off Friday, but the auction lost none of its momentum when bidding returned for the first of two Book 3 sessions Saturday in Lexington. A colt by Curlin paced another competitive session when selling for $900,000 to the BSW/Crow Colts partnership. For the session, 287 yearlings grossed $50,747,500. The session average was $176,821--up 5.69% from last year's corresponding session--and the median rose 3.7% to $140,000. Through five days, 956 head have sold for $287,737,500. The average is...

The seasonal foliage was about the only thing falling at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which concluded a wildly successful run in Lexington Friday afternoon. Over the course of 10 days of trade, sales officials reported gross receipts of $203,585,500 for 2470 horses sold, good for an average of $82,423. Further demonstrating the strength of middle market, the median price of $37,000 established a new November record, eclipsing the previous mark of $35,000 set on five previous occasions, but most recently in 2014. The buyback rate closed at a...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The two-session Book 2 of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale concluded with another day of competitive bidding and two additional seven-figure yearlings Thursday in Lexington, bringing the total number of lots to surpass the million-dollar mark to 15. "Excellent," Keeneland's vice president of sales Tony Lacy said when asked to gauge the day's activity. "The median was up 48% and the average was up 37% [for the session] and we've just passed the $200,000,000 mark for gross sales for the first...

A colt by Street Sense became the second of the day to sell for $1 million when bloodstock agent Liz Crow, sitting alongside Brad Weisbord and Spendthrift Farm's Ned Toffey, signed the ticket on hip 1022 late in the fourth session of the Keeneland September sale Thursday. Crow and Weisbord have been busy all week buying yearlings for their colts group partnership. Prior to their million-dollar purchase in partnership with Spendthrift, they had acquired 16 yearlings for $4,980,000. Bred and consigned by the Knelman family's Farfellow Farms, the yearling is...

By Christie DeBernardis & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, KY--There was plenty of buzz at Newtown Paddocks Monday with a lively day of trade for Fasig-Tipton's July Breeding Stock and Horses of Racing Age Sales. The popular Horses of Racing Age Sale was back for its ninth straight year and there was plenty of demand for promising or accomplished runners. Stakes winner Front Run the Fed (Fed Biz) topped the auction, selling to George Sharp for $440,000 off a third-place finish in the GIII Poker S. The second highest-priced horses was recent...

A trio of horses that visited the winner's circle over Fourth of July weekend will make their next appearances in the Fasig-Tipton auction ring Monday as part of the company's July Horses of Racing Age Sale. Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) (Hip 557) gave his resume a major boost last weekend with his first black-type win. On July 2, the sophomore gelding scored an emphatic victory beneath Jose Ortiz, taking the Iowa Derby by 4 1/2 lengths at odds of 16-1. The chestnut earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort....

The Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age--an amalgamation of live and digital auctions--will be conducted Monday, with bidding beginning at 1 p.m. The auction will be held with live auctioneers at the Keeneland sales pavilion and with horses presented for sale both physically at Keeneland and at off-site locations. Buyers have the option of attending the sale live or of bidding online. Elite Sales will offer 10 horses at the auction and all but one will be on-site Monday afternoon. The racing/broodmare prospect Mary's France (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) (hip 4)...

After Uni (GB) (More Than Ready)'s five-year-old campaign which concluded in the Champion Turf Female award, bloodstock advisors suggested to the partners in her ownership group that it might be time to retire and sell her. After all, the owners had probably already gotten more than they had bargained for: they  had campaigned her at 3, 4, and 5, and watched her win three Grade I stakes as well as Grade II, Grade III and Listed events. But, "Sol and I are and Bobby are racing guys," said Michael Dubb...