John Stewart

Stewart's Resolute Racing Buys Into Pegasus F&M Turf Winner Didia

John Stewart's Resolute Racing has purchased this year's GII Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf Invitational S. winner Didia (Arg) (Orpen), he told the TDN in a text message. He will race her in partnership with her owners, John Moores's and Charles Noell's Merriebelle Stable. Didia is entered in this Saturday's GI Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland. "I have a ranking system I use and she was at the top," said Stewart. "I have been trying to buy her for four months. The agreement is for me to buy her. I pay...

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Debbie Kepitis Secures Winx Filly for Record-Breaking Price

by TTR Aus/NZ Drama. Emotion. History. Arguably the most highly anticipated offering ever seen at public auction delivered all that and more as the Pierro (Aus) filly out of wondermare Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) brought a jaw-dropping AU$10-million (US$6.6-million) in front of a packed Inglis auditorium. There had been much speculation about how much the blue-blooded, Coolmore-consigned youngster would make, and an opening bid of $2-million duly foretold an utterly unprecedented price. The bid board struggled to keep pace with the scale and speed with which the increases came...

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Stewart's Resolute Racing And MiddleGround Capital To Sponsor April Keeneland Stakes, Goodnight Olive To Appear

John Stewart, who owns Resolute Racing and founded MiddleGround Capital, will sponsor two Keeneland dirt sprint stakes which will be run opening weekend of the Spring Meet, the track said in a release on Thursday. Resolute Racing will add its name to the $600,000 GI Madison S. which will run on Saturday, Apr. 6, while MiddleGround Capital will sponsor the $400,000 GII Beaumont S. on Sunday, April 7. "My partner Scot Duncan and I have always enjoyed taking our family, friends, co-workers and investors to the races at Keeneland," Stewart...

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At Home With John Stewart and the Team at Resolute Farm

Statements don't come much bigger than that made by John Stewart in the second half of 2023 when he spent over $25 million at public auction in less than 10 weeks, suddenly announcing himself as an emerging force in racing and bloodstock. Stewart's most costly recruits included the second-top lot at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, an Uncle Mo half-sister to the multiple Grade I winner Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) who sold for $2.5 million. He then rolled into the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale where a pair of Breeders' Cup winners headlined...

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$1.8M Win Win Win Filly Leads the Way as Top of the Market Drives Strong March Sale

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - With a $1-million Authentic colt early in the session and a $1.8-million Win Win Win filly late in the day, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds matched its 2023 number of five seven-figure juveniles and the auction concluded its three-day run Thursday with another strong renewal. "Overall, it was a terrific sale and we are looking forward to April," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. Through three sessions, 446 horses sold for $66,437,600. The average of $148,963...

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Resolute Racing Acquires 'TDN Rising Star' Sweet Rebecca

Resolute Racing has finalized a deal to acquire 'TDN Rising Star' Sweet Rebecca (American Pharoah), the operation's owner John Stewart said on X late Wednesday evening. The filly will now be trained by Chad Brown. Sweet Rebecca is bred by Greg Goodman's Mt. Brilliant Farm & Ranch, who purchased the filly's stakes-winning and Grade II-placed dam Sweet N Discreet (Discreet Cat) for $1.6 million in foal to Liam's Map at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Herself a $250,000 Keeneland September purchase by Cobble View Farm, Sweet Rebecca is a full-sister...

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$1-Million Authentic Colt to Resolute at OBS

A colt from the first crop of champion Authentic sold for $1 million to an online bid from John Stewart's Resolute Bloodstock. Consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds, the chestnut colt worked a furlong last week in :9 4/5. He is out of stakes-placed Ruby Trust (Smart Strike), a daughter of graded winner Queen of the Catsle (Tale of the Cat). Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo purchased the colt for $260,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

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Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift: Resolute Bloodstock

As the 2024 breeding season is now underway, the TDN staff is sitting down with breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. Here we catch up with Chelsey Stone, the Director of Breeding for John Stewart's Resolute Bloodstock. Stewart made a huge splash at the yearling and breeding stock sales in 2023 and he purchased the former Shadwell Stud property in Midway, Kentucky to launch Resolute Farm. "We have such an awesome fleet of mares, but we are always looking to add to...

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Resolute Bloodstock Purchases Caravel, To Visit Frankel in 2024

John Stewart's Resolute Bloodstock has purchased 2022 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint champion Caravel (Mizzen Mast) in a private sale conducted early in 2024. Resolute's breeding director Chelsey Stone said the 7-year-old mare will visit Juddmonte's champion sire Frankel (GB) in 2024. Bred and initially campaigned and trained by Elizabeth Merryman, Caravel earned nearly $2 million and amassed 15 career victories. In addition to her Breeders' Cup score, she earned a second Grade I win in the 2023 Jaipur S. In her final career start at the 2023 Breeders' Cup, the...

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Goodnight Olive Retires, To Be Bred to Not This Time

Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper--Salty Strike, by Smart Strike), the Eclipse Award-winning Champion Female Sprinter of 2022 and 2023, who sold for $6 million at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, will be retired and bred to Not This Time, according to a press release from John Stewart's Resolute Farm. Goodnight Olive earned $2.196 million on the racetrack, winning nine of 12 races while never finishing out of the money. She won back-to-back editions of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Following her Breeders' Cup win, Goodnight Olive returned to Payson Park...

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$700,000 Sebago Lake Charges Keeneland January Tuesday

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm LEXINGTON, KY - During a session dominated for much of the day by the short yearlings, the supplemented broodmare Sebago Lake (Tapit) jumped to the lead in the final hips when selling for $700,000 to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm. Overall, through two days of the four-day auction, 430 head have grossed $31,596,700 for an average of $73,481 and a median of $30,500. With continued strength at the top of the market, the Book 1 average dipped just 3.39% from a year ago, but...

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John Stewart Joins the TDN Writers' Room Podcast

Prior to this year's Keeneland September Sale, John Stewart was largely unknown in racing circles. That changed when Stewart, the founder and managing partner of MiddleGround Capital, a private equity firm, spent $8.425 million on 13 horses. He was just getting started. Stewart returned to the fall breeding stock sales at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland where he once again opened his check book, purchasing 11 mares and weanlings for a total of $17.35 million. The list included the two-time GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper). Stewart...

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