Kaleem Shah

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, an auction most people seemed happy could even be held following all of the uncertainties of the global pandemic, concluded its four-day run in Central Florida with a pair of seven-figure transactions book-ending the session. Early in the day, Kaleem Shah purchased a son of Quality Road for $1.25 million from the Wavertree Stables consignment and, with only a handful of lots left to offer, Larry Best secured a colt by Speighster for...

A colt by Quality Road (hip 1018) rang the bell earlier in the day on Friday at OBS Spring when selling to Kaleem Shah's son Arman for $1.25 million. The Shah family's bloodstock advisor Ben McElroy signed the ticket. A $240,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling buy, the half-brother to MSW and MGISP Standard Deviation (Curlin) breezed in :20 3/5 last week and was consigned to the sale by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, Inc. Kaleem Shah has done well with 2-year-old in training buys by Quality Road in the past--he purchased MGISW...

Action returned to the sales ring Tuesday for the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and consignors and buyers tiptoed carefully through the first auction since the coronavirus pandemic halted the industry across the globe. At the conclusion of the session, numbers were down slightly from 2019 figures, but by and large participants seemed content simply to have made a new beginning. "Given everything that everyone has had to go through, I think it was a solid start," said OBS Director of...

A co-quickest (:9 4/5) colt by Ghostzapper provided an exclamation point at the end of the opening session of the OBS Spring Sale Tuesday when bringing a winning bid of $750,000 from Ben McElroy, agent for Arman Shah, son of prominent owner Kaleem Shah. Consigned by Becky Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock, Agent VII as hip 1250, he was originally entered in the cancelled Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale. A $250,000 KEESEP yearling purchase by Wyoming native and oil and gas industry executive Joey Platts, the Mar. 30 foal is out of a Smart...

Three-time GISW Bellafina (Quality Road) will look to snap a six-race losing streak in Sunday's GIII Desert Stormer S. at Santa Anita. The $800,000 FTFMAR breezer, winless since posting a dominating score in last term's GI Santa Anita Oaks, sports a record of 6-4-2-0 at the Great Race Place, including a very strong second in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 2. After closing out her 3-year-old campaign with a runner-up finish as the 3-5 chalk in the GI La Brea S. Dec. 28, nothing went right...

Super talented 'TDN Rising Star' Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo) kicked off her potential trip to the GI Kentucky Oaks with a truly dominant romp in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. at Santa Anita Sunday. The 1-5 favorite, freshened since a runner-up effort in the GI Starlet S. last December, was away awkwardly and forced to bide her time toward the back of the field early. She eventually settled into a more comfortable rhythm while saving ground and creeping up down the backside, and appeared absolutely loaded while traveling in third...

Flashy 'TDN Rising Star' Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo) makes her sophomore debut in Sunday's GIII Santa Ysabel S. in Arcadia. The $800,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream grad crushed her competition by 9 1/4 lengths first out sprinting here Sept. 28, and her connections immediately tested deeper waters in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 1. Favored in that track-and-trip event, she was a neck second to eventual champion British Idiom (Flashback), and one slot ahead of Bast (Uncle Mo), who came back to upset Donna Veloce in the GI Starlet S....

Four of the seven runners slated to contest Saturday's GII Best Pal S. graduated at first asking, including morning-line choice Schrodinger (Justin Phllip), trained by Simon Callaghan and owned by Kaleem Shah. Heavy favorite in his Los Alamitos debut June 30, he came from just off the pace to score by 1 1/4 lengths under Flavian Prat. The French-born rider gets back aboard this time. Also likely to garner plenty of support at the windows, Fore Left (Twirling Candy) just got up for a narrow score subsequent GIII Bashford Manor...