Ciaran Dunne

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale returned to its traditional May spot on the calendar with an ebullient session topped by a $1.5-million son of Quality Road at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Monday. The seven-figure purchase was the co-highest priced colt ever sold at the Timonium auction, tying the price of a Curlin colt sold in 2017. "It was unbelievable," Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett said at the close of business Monday. "The activity in the barn area over the weekend was strong and all of...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which was pushed back to late June in 2020 due to the pandemic, returns to its traditional mid-May spot on the calendar with bidding at the first of two sessions getting underway at 11 a.m. Monday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. "We are very optimistic about the sale," Fasig Midlantic Sales Director Paget Bennett said at the sales barns Sunday morning. "We have a great group of horses here and there is a lot of interest. We were very busy...

TIMONIUM, MD - The second of three under-tack sessions ahead of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale got underway minutes after 8 a.m. with chilly temperatures in the mid-40s and a tailwind which remained fairly steady throughout the day's seven sessions at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Wednesday. Five of the day's six fastest times came during the session's first 20 minutes, with a filly by Union Rags equaling Tuesday's quarter-mile bullet time of :21 2/5 and four horses sharing the co-bullet furlong time of :10 flat. It wasn't until the day's...

By Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis OCALA, FL - A pair of million-dollar juveniles punctuated a day of lively trade in Central Florida as the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds reached its midway point with a second session Wednesday. "We certainly picked up where we left off yesterday and the action was just as good, if not better, and we hope it continues to move forward into the next two days," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "We came into the sale with some expectations given...

The under-tack show ahead of next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training reached its halfway point with its third session Wednesday and a filly by Cupid (hip 576) became the second juvenile of the week to work a quarter-mile in :20 2/5. Out of Callipepla (Yes It's True), the bay filly is consigned by Jenn and Quincy Adams's Q Bar J Thoroughbreds. "That was a 'wow' work," Quincy Adams said Wednesday afternoon. "She galloped out strong. She's so classy. She is just a princess. She...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis The Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale returned from its one-year hiatus with plenty of fireworks at the top of the market as a diverse buying bench competed with enthusiasm for the upper-end offerings in the track's paddock Wednesday afternoon. A colt by Nyquist, who had breezed the bullet furlong in :9 4/5 during Monday's under-tack preview, brought the boutique auction's top price when selling for $2.6 million to Coolmore. The Irish operation returned to secure a colt by Nyquist's sire Uncle Mo for $1.3 million. Both...

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL - After a year's absence, 2-year-olds were once again breezing at Gulfstream Park Monday ahead of Wednesday's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale. The auction's under-tack show began at 9 a.m. with sunny South Florida skies and temperatures in the upper 70s. It continued past 3 p.m. as the thermometer reached the mid-80's, and the winds picked up throughout the day, with a noticeable headwind in the later grouping of five sets. The bullet times for both the furlong and quarter-mile works were both recorded during the day's first set,...

A colt from the first crop of former 'TDN Rising Star' Unified (Candy Ride {Arg}) breezed a quarter-mile in a slick :20 2/5 to post the fastest work at the distance at Thursday's first of three under-tack sessions ahead of next week's OBS March Sale in Ocala. The February foal is being consigned to the March sale by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stable Inc., agent, and is out of the stakes-winning Promise Me a Cat (D'wildcat). Hip 163 is bred by Gatewood Bell, who paid $35,000 for the colt's dam carrying...

With the 2-year-old sales right around the corner, the TDN reached out to consignors with juveniles heading to the sales rings at the Mar. 16 and 17 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and the Mar. 31 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale to discuss which of their offerings by first-crop sires have impressed them. This is the second installment of the series (click here to view the first section which was published in Tuesday's TDN). CIARAN DUNNE (Wavertree Stables) Among the 26 juveniles Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables has...

The journey from Missouri to Hallandale Beach proved to be more than worth it for owners Robert and Lawana Low when they watched their speedy gray colt Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) flash past the wire to win the $1-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf. While Robert Low said they were confident going into the Pegasus, they were unconvinced that the newly-turned 4-year-old had to win by a landslide in order to be considered a top contender in his division. "I think it was a really nice field," he noted. "There...

LEXINGTON, KY - While Into Mischief secured the top lots during Monday's first session of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, it was Quality Road in charge during Tuesday's second session as Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners went to a session-topping $560,000 to secure a son of the Lane's End stallion. The day kicked off with a daughter of Quality Road bringing what was ultimately the session's co-second-highest price of $230,000. Through two sessions, Fasig-Tipton has sold 489 yearlings for a gross of $16,390,500. The two-day average is $33,518, down 12.7% from...

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...