Duncan Taylor

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale continued its brisk pace Wednesday, with figures tracking towards a record gross figure as the auction heads into its final session Thursday. "It was another excellent session of the October sale," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. "The sale continued to show strength and consistency in bidding activity from the beginning to the end of the session." Through three sessions, 839 yearlings have grossed $43,346,500 for an average of $51,664 and a median of $20,000. At the same point a year ago,...

Early Voting (Gun Runner), who got 120 mares in foal during his first season at stud last season before a rare condition led to his being removed from stud duties on the advice of veterinary experts, has been cured and will continue his stud career at Taylor Made Stallions in 2024. He covered his first book of mares in 2023 at Ashford Stud. Winner of the 2022 GI Preakness S. for Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown, Early Voting retired with three wins from six starts and earnings in excess of...

  When Saint Ballado came to the farm, Duncan Taylor recalls Les Brinsfield telling him to try Mari's Book mares. "Mari's Book!" he exclaims now. "It's not like there were Mari's Book mares all around, out there in the population. But Les was a smart guy, very analytical." And it was easy to see the logic: Mari's Book was by Northern Dancer out of a Maribeau mare; and Maribeau, like Saint Ballado's sire Halo, was out of Cosmah--whose half-sister Natalma, of course, gave us the sire of Mari's Book. Plenty of...

Mark Taylor, president and CEO of Taylor Made Farm, has been named to Keeneland's Advisory Board of Directors. Longtime Keeneland directors Louis Lee Haggin III, Charles Nuckols III and Duncan Taylor will move to emeritus roles on the Advisory Board. "We welcome Mark Taylor to the Keeneland Board, where his lifelong experience in the horse industry and his business acumen will be invaluable as we navigate future opportunities and challenges," Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. "We also thank Louis Haggin, Charlie Nuckols and Duncan Taylor for their decades-long...

Taylor had worked Saratoga one summer for the pioneering Lee Eaton and, as early as 1978, dipped a toe in the same water. A first seven-yearling consignment at Keeneland included a first stakes winner—since followed by 126 Grade I winners raised or sold, including 10 last year alone. "It was a natural extension of what we were already doing: a lot of customers you boarded for needed to sell," Taylor says. "And I thought, well, if Lee Eaton could sell a horse for $100,000 and make $5,000, that's more than...

He always says that had he been born in Detroit, he would have gone into the automobile trade. In other words, whatever kind of horseman he might allow us to credit him, first and foremost he came into the world a businessman. Now that Duncan Taylor is stepping down from the helm of one of its most remarkable family concerns, then, the Bluegrass can count itself fortunate that fate instead applied his flair to a more literal type of horsepower. True, the old school can't have been enamored by his...

Beginning his stud career at Taylor Made Stallions with a $10,000 initial fee, Tacitus (Tapit -Close Hatches, by First Defence) earned medalist status on Chris McGrath's 'Value Podium' of new stallions in 2022. Now, with the breeding shed door opening soon, the blue-blooded multi-millionaire has seen an enthusiastic response from breeders and has amassed a solid first book of mares. "He is booked to over 160 mares now," reported Taylor Made's Duncan Taylor. "We've been really satisfied with the reception from breeders. We're not taking every mare he gets offered....

Following his emphatic triumph in the 2021 GI Breeders' Classic, champion Knicks Go (Paynter -Kosmo's Buddy, by Outflanker) enjoyed a brief interlude from training as he spent about a week at Taylor Made Farm, where he will soon begin his stud career, before he returned to the Brad Cox barn at Churchill Downs. The colorbearer for the Korea Racing Authority cemented his status as the top older dirt male in the country with his gate-to-wire Classic victory. Now, the favorite for Horse of the Year honors is preparing for one...

NETFLIX, ANYONE?    In these days of self-isolation, the need to find your next great t.v. series is greater than ever. We asked some industry folks what they're watching these days, and for their top recommendations to last us until we can leave our homes again. Pull up a couch!  BECKY THOMAS I think at times like this we should all binge watch (if we weren't taking care of these horses we can't sell!) "Curb Your Enthusiasm." It is funny and lighthearted about ordinary every day activities. JEN ROYTZ, RETIRED...

The most high-profile stallion to retire to stud this year was North America's leading money-winner, California Chrome, the two-time Horse of the Year. As the breeding season gets underway at his new home, Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Kentucky, they are hopeful he will prove to be as great a sire as he was a racehorse. Taylor Made's president, Duncan Taylor, fills us in on all things Chrome and all the latest news from the family-run operation on this week's Thoroughbred Daily News podcast. Click here to listen.