Ciaran Dunne

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...

A colt by Quality Road (hip 1018) rang the bell earlier in the day on Friday at OBS Spring when selling to Kaleem Shah's son Arman for $1.25 million. The Shah family's bloodstock advisor Ben McElroy signed the ticket. A $240,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling buy, the half-brother to MSW and MGISP Standard Deviation (Curlin) breezed in :20 3/5 last week and was consigned to the sale by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, Inc. Kaleem Shah has done well with 2-year-old in training buys by Quality Road in the past--he purchased MGISW...

Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables was on fire Friday at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training breeze show. The Irishman sent out one of two :20 2/5 bullet breezers, as well as four juveniles who worked in :20 3/5. "It was a great day," Dunne said. "I don't want to say it was unexpected because it wasn't, but it is very rare that everything goes exactly as you hoped. We felt we were loaded coming into today. We had some nice horses throughout the week, but...

The juvenile sales season, on pause since March due to the global pandemic, began its return to action with the first of seven under-tack sessions for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's delayed Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in Central Florida Sunday. A New York-bred filly by Into Mischief (hip 1240) recorded the day's fastest furlong breeze when covering the distance in :9 4/5. Consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds and part of the sale's supplemental catalogue, the filly is out of Miss Vigilance (War Pass), a half-sister to Grade I winner...

Devil Made Me Doit (Daredevil) put on a show with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance in the lid lifter on Santa Anita's opening day program back on Dec. 28--feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it--but where has he been since? "He came out of his race with a little P1 [ankle chip]," said Ciaran Dunne, who campaigns the 3-year-old colt in partnership with Reddam Racing. "We took it out and he went to Ocean Breeze-Mr. Reddam's farm in California--to recuperate. We gave him a little extra time because all that...

by Brian DiDonato & Steve Sherack Under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic and a sharp stock market reaction, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale kicked off Tuesday with mixed results for sellers--as expected--but probably with better trade than some may have feared. At the end of selling Tuesday, 134 head had changed hands for a combined $12,550,500 at an average of $93,660 and median of $50,000. Those stats are expected to change as buyers continue to shop the RNA list and subsequent post-sale transactions are...

Hip 237, the only quarter-mile breezer to stop the clock in :20 2/5 during last week's under-tack previews, brought a current sale-leading bid of $650,000 during Tuesday's opening session of the OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The bay filly was purchased by Japan's Katsumi Yoshida, who also scooped up a $420,000 Medaglia d'Oro colt (hip 65) earlier in the session. Hip 237, a $70,000 KEENOV weanling and $165,000 KEESEP yearling, was consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, Inc.

by Brian DiDonato & Steve Sherack The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company will hold its two-day March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale Tuesday and Wednesday amid unprecedented circumstances as the nation and world grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused most major events to be canceled or postponed and racing conducted without spectators, if at all. Add to that a plummeting stock market--circuit breakers were again triggered as trade opened Monday despite the Federal Reserve announcing Sunday evening that it would slash interest rates to 0% and launch a $700-billion quantitative...

A Daredevil colt (Hip 640) breezed the fastest quarter at the third and final day of the OBS March Breeze show Saturday, covering the distance in :20 3/5. Two others tied for the fastest furlong at :9 4/5. Hip 640 is consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, which also sent out Friday's fastest quarter-mile worker in Hip 237, a daughter of American Pharoah, who went in :20 2/5. Dunne purchased the Daredevil colt for $30,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale. The fastest furlong workers were Hip 477 (video) and...

A colt by The Factor (hip 129) and a son of Dialed In (hip 141) breezed the quickest eighth and quarter, respectively, during Thursday's first of three breeze shows for next Tuesday and Wednesday's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Consigned by GOP Racing Stable Corp., hip 129 covered a furlong in :9 4/5 despite starting his breeze well out into the track and finishing it close to the fence. A $22,000 KEENOV weanling RNA and $17,000 OBSOCT yearling, the Maryland-bred is out of SW and GSP...