David Lanigan

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis & Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY - Following another day of competitive bidding, the two-session Book 1 section of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale concluded Tuesday with double-digit increases over its 2023 counterpart. A colt by Curlin brought the section's top price when selling for $5 million to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm. The sale topper was one of four by the Hill 'n' Dale stallion to bring $1 million or more on the day and, with a further 16 yearlings bringing seven figures Tuesday, Book...

A filly by Into Mischief (hip 210) was the second to break the seven-figure mark early in Tuesday's second session of the Keeneland September sale when bringing a final bid of $1.5 million from bloodstock agent David Lanigan, acting on behalf of Scott Heider. Out of GI Breeders' Cup F/M Turf winner Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect), the bay is a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Sharing (Speightstown). She was bred and consigned by Gainesway, which purchased Shared Account, with Sharing in utero, for $625,000 at the...

A share in Airdrie Stud's hugely successful first-crop sire Complexity (Maclean's Music) was the first lot on offer during Tuesday's second session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale, and was hammered down to David Lanigan, bidding on behalf of Scott Heider, for $510,000. Representing a 2.5% interest, the share is not subject to syndicate clearance, according to a pre-sale announcement from Fasig-Tipton's Grant Williamson before the bidding began. "We bought a Nyquist filly off Airdrie last year, so there is a connection to the family and the farm," Lanigan...

Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup John Henry famously didn't make it to the Breeders' Cup. Da Hoss famously did, after a two-year layoff with a mere allowance prep. In this industry, where geldings at the elite levels are the exception and not the norm, those geldings tend to become beloved fan favorites. Perhaps it's because they often have longer race careers than their compatriots whose breeding careers must be considered. Right up there in the lexicon of the special 31 geldings to have won a Breeders' Cup are...

by Jessica Martini and Christina Bossinakis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - With bids ricocheting from all directions both inside and outside the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of Selected Yearlings opened with a strong session topped by a pair of million-dollar babies Monday night in upstate New York. "I thought it was a tremendous start to the 2023 Saratoga Yearling Sale," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said at the close of business Monday. "The numbers are essentially on par with last year's opening session, which was a remarkable,...

A Denali Stud-consigned Curlin filly became the second horse to cross the million-dollar threshold Monday at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga when agent David Lanigan paid $1.05 million on behalf of Heider Family Stable. A Jan. 12 foal, the chestnut is the first foal from Lady T N T (Justin Phillip), a $335,000 purchase by Scott and Evan Dilworth out of the 2018 OBS March Sale. A second-out maiden winner at Saratoga for the Dilworths and trainer Joe Sharp, Lady T N T recorded the biggest victory of her career when upsetting the...

The 2-year-old Commissioner Dan (Commissioner) (hip 120), who captured his debut Wednesday and was supplemented to the sale on Thursday, topped the Keeneland April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale Sunday in Lexington with a final bid of $500,000 from Pedro Lanz, bidding on behalf of the Saudi Arabia-based KAS Stable. Keeneland sold 67 horses Sunday for $6,743,000.  The average of $100,642 rose 9.13% over last year's $92,224, while the median jumped 40% from $50,000 to $70,000. In 2022, 58 horses sold for $5,349,000. "Today was very positive. This is...

David Lanigan has recently joined Four Star Sales as bloodstock advisor, emphasizing on the private purchase of horses in-training and racing management. Lanigan closed his Newmarket training operation this spring to prepare for his family's planned return to Lexington. Training under Sir Henry Cecil for five years before going out on his own 13 years ago, he retired from training with over 200 winners including top stakes horses, Main Sequence, Meeznah, Interception and Worth Waiting. Prior to working for Cecil, he worked with Four Star Sales' Kerry Cauthen at John...

The daily reality check comes via the evening news. Coronavirus by numbers: new infections and, brutally, the death toll. Otherwise, for people working day-to-day with racehorses and breeding stock, not an awful lot has changed. Yes, we take care not to get too close to other people, wash our hands more, wear latex gloves to the supermarket. But the horses still need to be fed, exercised, mucked out and to be prepared, as much as we all can be, for a return to some sort of normality. In our old...

David Lanigan has announced that he will be closing his training operation in Newmarket at the end of April and relocating to Kentucky. Lanigan and his American wife Amy, a much respected equine photographer, will live in Lexington with their two daughters. "Moving back to Kentucky has been something that we have thinking about for a while and the timing is right for us now to make the move," said Lanigan, who added that the decision is not as a result of the current coronavirus pandemic, which has brought a...