Hunter Valley Farm

Caravel, purchased for $500,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale, captured her second graded win for the new connections this year when she sauntered clear to the wire to win the GIII Franklin S. at Keeneland Sunday. Sent off the 2-1 favorite, the gray mare sat settled in a tracking third along the rail behind and opening quarter in :21.40. She charged up four wide into the lane and collared pacesetting second-choiceTwilight Gleaming (Ire) (National Defense {GB}) with a furlong to run before skipping clear late. "The mare ran a...

Three years ago David Fennelly of Mountmellick Farm partnered with Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm to purchase a trio of seven-figure mares with the intention of forming a high-end boutique commercial broodmare band. The partnership, which has already had success in the sales ring and on the racetrack, sends the first foal of its most expensive acquisition through the ring during Monday's first session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Consigned by Hunter Valley, hip 36 is a dark bay filly by Curlin out of multiple...

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA) and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) have elected new members of the Board of Directors who will serve three-year terms and are elected by the full membership of the organization. Online and paper ballots were managed, monitored, and tabulated by Dean Dorton Technology (Dean Dorton Allen Ford, PLLC).  Newly elected KTA/KTOB Board of Directors for 2022 are: Ned Toffey--General Manager, Spendthrift Farm; Michael Banahan--Director of Bloodstock, Godolphin USA; Fergus Galvin--Partner, Hunter Valley Farm & U.S. Racing Manager, Qatar Racing; Neil Pessin--Thoroughbred Trainer; Tommy Drury--Thoroughbred...

West Coast Stables' Tahoma (c, 2, Justify--Madera Dancer, by Rahy) became the first winner for his Triple Crown-winning sire with a two-length victory at Santa Anita Sunday. The chestnut colt, sent off the 4-5 favorite, tracked the pacesetters four wide through an opening quarter in :22.21. Still four wide, he rolled up to take a narrow advantage at the top of the lane, completed the half-mile in :47.01 and drew away inside the final sixteenth for a facile victory. Salta (Carpe Diem) was second and Eagles Landing (Competitive Edge) was...

The GII Edgewood S. on the Kentucky Oaks undercard became a milestone victory for owner Marc Detampel when his 'TDN Rising Star' New Year's Eve (Kitten's Joy) rallied from last to first in a competitive 10-horse field to claim the $500,000 turf contest. Detampel, who hails from Chicago, doesn't get the chance to see his racehorses on a regular basis, but when he visited New Year's Eve two weeks ago at Brendan Walsh's barn, his anticipation for the filly's next start grew. "I hadn't seen her in a while and...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale, swept away by the pandemic last summer, marks its 100th anniversary when bidding on the two-day boutique auction starts Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. "We are thrilled to be back," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said while overseeing action at the sales barns on a brilliantly sunny Sunday morning in upstate New York. "It's wonderful to be here and to feel the excitement and the energy on the sales grounds. And there is that same...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued two additional supplemental entries to its 2021 Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale; Maqboola (Tamayuz), a half-sister to last weekend's GIII Forward Gal S. winner Zaajel (Street Sense) and MGSP Gold Standard (Medaglia d'Oro). Catalogued as hip 670, the former is also a half-sister to Ajaaweed (Curlin), runner up in the GII Remsen S. at two, and the GIII Sam F. Davis S. at three. A multiple winner herself, Maqboola is offered in foal to Champion GOOD MAGIC by Hunter Valley Farm, agent. Gold Standard, offer as hip 671,...

As we approach the end of the calendar, we turn our attention to the incoming sire class of 2021. We asked several judges who their favorite incoming sire is for next year and if there are any other stallions, new or otherwise, that have caught their eye as under-the-radar picks ADRIAN REGAN, Hunter Valley Farm  War of Will (War Front), $25,000, Claiborne Farm I hate singling just one, but War of Will made a lot of sense for me. I was very impressed with his physical appearance when we went...

Keeneland kicks off the 2020 sales season with a five-day renewal of its January Horses of All Ages Sale in Lexington Monday, with bidding slated to begin at 10 a.m. Temperatures are expected to be unseasonably warm during sales week and Keeneland officials hope the action inside the pavilion matches the weather outside. "There haven't been a significant number of external changes," Keeneland Vice President of Racing and Sales Bob Elliston said of his expectations for the January sale. "The economy is still solid, purses continue to rise domestically, the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The two-day Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale couldn't match up to its record-setting 2018 renewal, but when the dust settled Monday evening at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, the auction had seen its fourth straight record-priced yearling. The record bid came from Larry Best, who said he had only seen the filly two hours before he spent $775,000 to acquire the daughter of Malibu Moon from the Winter Quarter Farm consignment. In all, 186 yearlings sold during the 2019 New York sale for a total of...