Ciaran Dunne

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Brooke Hubbard remembers the 2018 Keeneland September Sale almost as if it happened yesterday. A little past the midway point of the sixth day of bidding in Lexington, hip 1683--a colt from the first crop of Tonalist and offered by Dermot and Emma Quinn's Garrencasey Sales--walked into the back ring and immediately caught Hubbard's attention. A few minutes and $60,000 later, the May 11 foal was hers. "I bid twice and I was looking around thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, I must have missed something that...

When Jack Goldthorpe and Ciaran Dunne came up with the Dew Sweepers partnership, the plan was always to buy yearlings, try and get them to Royal Ascot, and then sell them all in the Fasig-Tipton July Horses of All Ages Sale. On Monday, the final step of their plan will go into action when seven juveniles go through the ring in a complete dispersal through the Grovendale Sales consignment. "Ciaran went to Royal Ascot last year and said, 'Goldie, this was some sort of fun. We've got to do it.'...

Agent Jamie McCalmont, bidding on behalf of Coolmore's MV Magnier, went to $1.1 million to land a regally bred son of Triple Crown winner Justify Wednesday afternoon at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale. Out of GISW juvenile Appealing Zophie (Successful Appeal), hip 84 is half to three stakes horses (and two more producers), including fellow GI Belmont S. winner and freshman sire Tapwrit (Tapit). The Apr. 20 foal was a $290,000 Fasig Saratoga buyback bred by Barronstown Stud. He was consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables and breezed in :10 flat....

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL - The under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale of Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training was held under picture-perfect blue skies and temperatures in the 70s Monday in South Florida. "I thought the under-tack show went exceptionally well," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said at the conclusion of Monday's fourth and final set of works. "The conditions were very consistent for all the horses, from start to finish. There were some very impressive works, both visually and time-wise. It looked like the horses were moving very well over the...

By Christie DeBernardis & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL--The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's grounds continued to buzz with activity during a second straight day of very strong trade as the March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded Wednesday. Bidding was fast and furious right from the start with the top horse of the day--and the sale as a whole--coming in the second juvenile through the ring, Hip 318, a colt by More Than Ready, who summoned $1.2 million from Kaleem Shah. A daughter of American Pharoah (Hip 532) also achieved seven figures...

The under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, twice delayed by weather, concluded Sunday in Central Florida with six juveniles sharing the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5 and three equaling the day's fastest quarter-mile time of :20 4/5. The under-tack show opened as scheduled last Thursday morning, but the day's final set was pushed back by severe thunder storms in the area. The show's final session had been set for Saturday, but more bad weather caused sales officials to push the session...

As the OBS March 2-Year-Old in Training Sale's breeze show concludes on Sunday and with just a few weeks until the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, we looked at a few promising 2-year-olds that were given high praise from their consignors and have high-class pedigrees. Could these youngsters be future stars in the making? EDDIE WOODS 2020 c. Gun Runner - Sacre Coeur, by Saint Ballado. Hip 93 at OBS March. Watch :21 3/5 work here. This colt is a half-brother to MGISW Lady Eli (Divine Park) with a fabulous pedigree. He's...

   Justify, City of Light, Mendelssohn, Good Magic and Bolt d'Oro all received glowing reviews by various consignors in parts one and two of our 'Thoughts from Ocala' series. Logically enough, this select group of freshman sires holds the top five stud fees amongst their stallion crop in the U.S., each standing for $20,000 or more in 2022. While 'value' and 'freshman sires' are two terms rarely used in the same sentence in this industry, as buyers can surely attest, we asked consignors to point out a few first-crop sires...

With the start of the 2-year-old in training sales just around the corner, a visit to Ocala proved to be informative as we checked in with consignors who are going through the fine-tuning process with their sales horses. Leading up to the OBS March Sale, we will release a series of video features covering the topics everyone is talking about as the sales season approaches. Watch our first episode on first-season sires with Eddie Woods, Nick de Meric and Susan Montanye here. In this edition, we spoke with Niall Brennan,...

A colt by Ransom the Moon (Hip 442) topped the day's trade at the OBS October Open Yearling Sale Wednesday, bringing $170,000 from Redwings, a pinhooking group led by Ciaran Dunne and Paul Reddam. Redwings was the top buyer by gross with their single purchase and Grassroots Training & Sales LLC was next with six yearlings bought for a total of $135,000. Bred by Calumet Farm, which stands Ransom the Moon, hip 442 was offered by Lisa McGreevy's Abbie Road Farm, which also consigned Tuesday's Selected Yearling portion topper, a...

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, launched last week with a Bluegrass band, mimosas, and a boutique Book 1 section, continued its momentum straight through to the end of its 11th session, concluding with a sales record average, median and buy-back rate. The gross, which was over $300,000,000 for three straight years before falling to $248,978,700 during the pre-vaccination pandemic in 2020, rebounded to $352,823,000 by the time the last hip went through the ring Friday evening. It was the auction's sixth highest gross in history. "The hope was that we...

OCALA, FL - Steady trade continued through the second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company June Sale of 2-Year-Olds Thursday in Central Florida, with a filly by Nyquist bringing the day's top bid when selling for $420,000 to Gary Hartunian's Rockingham Ranch. The session-topping juvenile was consigned by Eddie Woods. "It was another good day," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said at the close of business Thursday. "We carried a lot of the momentum that we had yesterday into today and I think it will carry on through...