Gary Young

Leading GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender Arcangelo (Arrogate), winner of this summer's GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S., had his first work at Santa Anita Thursday, breezing five furlongs in 1:02.20 under exercise rider Robert Mallari. "We're just getting him used to the track," trainer Jena Antonucci said. "There's plenty of time go fast." Antonucci was on hand in California for the work from her stable in New York. She will be back in New York Friday morning, but will return to Santa Anita later this month and remain...

Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}) gave another vote of confidence to the bargain shoppers when the $25,000 yearling made a splash on the Derby trail last weekend in the GII Rebel S. The week before, Angel of Empire (Classic Empire)--a $70,000 Keeneland September buy--proved best in the GII Risen Star S. This weekend there is potential for another big win by the underdog in the GII San Felipe S., but there is also the likely possibility that the owner of one of those sensational seven-figure purchases will be rewarded. The...

TIMONIUM, MD - With a $3.55-million son of Bernardini providing the auction's biggest fireworks, the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded another record-setting renewal in Timonium Tuesday. At the conclusion of business, 391 horses had sold for a gross of $37,297,700--bettering the sale's previous high mark of $33,692,000 set just last year. The average of $95,391 was another record, bettering the mark of $94,375 set last year. The median dipped to $47,000, just 6% off the 2020 record of $50,000. "Last year was such a wow year and, when...

A colt by Bernardini (hip 385), who advertised himself with a :9 4/5 work last week, ignited a bidding duel between West Point Thoroughbreds and bloodstock agent Gary Young in the Midlantic sale ring Tuesday. Young, doing his bidding out back while standing alongside advisor Charlie Boden and trainer Bob Baffert and on the phone with Saudi businessman Amr Zedan, answered every bid from the West Point team doing its bidding at the back of the pavilion to ultimately secure the colt for a sales-record $3.55 million. "Obviously we thought...

A colt by Coolmore super sire Uncle Mo (Hip 206) inspired a furious round of bidding during the opening session of the OBS Spring Sale Tuesday, hammering for $2.3 million to bloodstock agent Gary Young, who was acting on behalf of Amr Zedan. Young did his bidding alongside Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who will train the colt at the conclusion of his suspension. Coolmore was the underbidder on the bay colt. Consigned by Jimbo & Torie Gladwell's Top Line Sales, the :9 4/5 breezer, who is out of Borealis...

Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit (Protonico) drilled six furlongs in 1:13 (2/7) on a foggy Friday morning at Santa Anita as he prepares for his next start in the $6-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 6. The Florida-bred was put through his paces by former jockey Juan Ochoa. "I got :59 and four," said bloodstock agent Gary Young, who recommended the purchase of Medina Spirit to owner Amr Zedan. "You can see fine now [8:15 a.m.], but you couldn't see him when he worked. It was...

OCALA, FL - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds continued the trend of strong results at this spring's juvenile sales with a day of competitive bidding Wednesday in Central Florida. Gary Young made the session's highest bid, going to $425,000 to acquire a filly by Practical Joke on behalf of owner Amr Zedan. A total of 176 horses sold Wednesday for a gross of $7,268,400. The average was $41,298 and the median was $20,000. All figures were up from, not just the pandemic-delayed 2020 June sale, but...

Three of the first four finishers in the Gl Kentucky Derby were owned by Middle Eastern entities. The beaten favorite in fourth, Essential Quality (Tapit), races for the global Godolphin operation of UAE's Sheikh Mohammed, whose recently deceased brother Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell had won the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks a day earlier with Malathaat (Curlin). The Derby runner-up, Mandaloun (Into Mischief), flies the famous green and pink silks of Juddmonte, whose longtime owner, Saudi businessman Prince Khalid Abdullah, passed away earlier this year but whose future rests with his eldest...

As consignor Christy Whitman remembers, it was deathly quiet when Medina Spirit (Protonico) entered the ring as a yearling at the 2019 OBS Winter Mixed sale. She seemed to be the only one paying any attention to him "I knew he wasn't going to bring much because no one was looking at him," she said. A few minutes later, Medina Spirit would be hers, forever remembered as the GI Kentucky Derby winner who sold for $1,000 as a yearling. It's the umpteenth reminder about how beautifully unpredictable this sport can...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, which was delayed until June in 2020 due to the pandemic, returns to its traditional spot on the calendar when it begins its four-day run in Central Florida Tuesday. "It feels good to have April back in its normal slot," agreed OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. OBS opened the 2021 juvenile sales season with a competitive renewal of its March sale last month which featured frenetic bidding through a wide swath of the market. "We certainly would like...

The team at Three Chimneys could hardly have asked for a better start at stud for champion Gun Runner. The most expensive horse to retire to stud for the 2018 season, he filled a 171-mare book his first year, was the leading first-crop weanling sire the following year with an average exceeding $275,000, and again topped his class with his yearlings in 2020. By most accounts, the son of Candy Ride (Arg) has not done a thing wrong in his early stud career and yet, as his first crop was...

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...