Machmer Hall

Tom Mullikin, who runs Mullikin Farm with his wife Michelle, admits he doesn't have the assets to compete at the highest level of the breeding business. "I'm the son of a Washington DC deputy fire chief and Michelle is the daughter of a retired air force pilot," Mullikin said. "We are not working off a trust fund. We're mom and pop. We do everything ourselves, from foaling mares to mucking stalls. A lot of the mares we get are handed down or gifted to us." That's not the easiest way...

Champion and dual Hall of Famer Tepin (Bernstein--Life Happened, by Stravinsky), best known for winning the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, died at the age of 12. The news was confirmed by trainer Aidan O'Brien after the mare's daughter Grateful (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) won the G1 Qatar Prix de Royallieu at ParisLongchamp on Saturday. Bred by Machmer Hall in Kentucky, the bay was purchased by Robert Masterson for $140,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. She would go on to be trained by Mark...

Brook Smith and Carrie Brogden have been appointed to the board of directors of Thoroughbred Charities of America, the organization announced Wednesday. Current directors Marette Farrell and Marshall Gramm were named secretary and treasurer, respectively. Smith is a resident of Louisville, Kentucky. After graduating from Clemson University with a degree in finance, he returned to Kentucky and launched a career in the insurance industry, as a broker with his agency Smith Manus (now Acrisure) and as a partner in Lexon Insurance Group. He is a serial entrepreneur and big supporter...

Siena Farm, site of a boutique breeding operation which includes 262 acres located at 1651 Winchester Road outside of Lexington, Kentucky, is available for purchase according to a Thursday post on the Biederman Real Estate's website. As for Siena's racing partnerships, COO Ryan Smith confirmed that those will remain intact. Founded by Anthony Manganaro with Nacho Patino and David Pope, Siena was named after the commercial real estate business in the Baltimore-Washington area which Manganaro built. The founder, who purchased what would become Siena Farm in 2007, passed away last...

Special Me has been the gift that keeps on giving for breeders Carrie and Craig Brogden and Dr. Sandra Fubini of Machmer Hall. Now that the outstanding broodmare is 18 years old, you'd think that her best days are behind her. But with a Grade I winner competing at the top level of the filly and mare turf division this year and an impressive fleet of well-bred, unraced progeny in the pipeline, the mare's fairytale story just keeps getting better. Carrie Brogden famously purchased Special Me, a Maryland-bred daughter of...

So I think this kind of sums up our industry, this attached photo. This weekend my daughter and I went to show her warmblood at WEC Ohio. It was a very successful weekend and we were lucky enough to stay at an Air BnB on a horse farm. They had a book there with the check-in instructions and the history of the horse farm. I was reading the history of it, and I just wanted to share what to them is insignificant as just facts, but to me, it just...

8th-FG, $57K, Msw, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 4:30 p.m. ET. Bred by Machmer Hall, SHIRE'S END (Into Mischief) takes to the turf in New Orleans under the guidance of trainer Brendan Walsh. A $450,000 buy at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, the colt is a full-brother to MGSW/GISP Three Witches, who went to RIFA Mustang Europe for $1.7 million at last year's Keeneland November Sale, then won the GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita a week ago. Dam Layreebelle (Tale of the Cat) is also responsible for GII...

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Machmer Hall's Carrie Brogden. Becca's Rocket, 6, (Orb-Idoitmyway, by Unbridled's Song). To be bred to Elite Power. Becca's Rocket is currently in foal to Jackie's Warrior. We bred this Orb filly and after the untimely death of her Unbridled's Song dam in a paddock accident, I vowed to buy this beautiful stakes mare back after her racing career. When she was born, I had such high hopes for her because she was just a...

The first foal of Grade I-winning sprinter Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music-Manki, by Arch) arrived Wednesday, Jan. 17 at Machmer Hall in Lexington, Kentucky. The colt is out of the mare, Egyptian Bride, a half-sister to Grade I-placed Generous Tipper. Drain the Clock stands for $10,000 at Gainesway. "Very pretty boy born of a maiden mare. Good bone and such a sweet expression!" said breeders Carrie and Craig Brogden. A debut winner at Gulfstream at two, Drain the Clock returned the following season to add wins in the GIII Swale...

Today we reach quite a crossroads in the market, between $20,000 and $29,999. It takes a degree of affluence to roll the dice at this level, but you'd do so hoping to reach blood of genuine elite potential. As usual, we've sieved out the new sires, having given them a separate treatment at the outset. Instructively, however, it's a tier dominated by stallions still in the early stages of their careers. And there is an auspicious flux here. One or two, if building on a promising start on the track,...

A weanling colt by Ghostzapper (hip 29) brought the top price of the Fasig-Tipton December Mixed Sale Tuesday in Timonium when selling for $82,000 to Machmer Hall. The bay colt, bred in Maryland by Owen Kiernan and consigned by Northview Stallion Station, is the first foal out of the unraced Dance All Day (Exaggerator). The mare is a half-sister to 2021 Queen's Plate winner Safe Conduct (Bodemeister) and to stakes winner Dancing Duchess (Munnings). She RNA'd for $21,000 with this foal in utero at the 2023 Keeneland January sale. The...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued 145 entries for its October Digital Sale, which may be viewed at digital.fasigtipton.com. Bidding is now open and closes Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 2 p.m. ET. The catalogue includes horses of racing age, breeding stock, and a stallion. Among those catalogued are 11 offerings from the Partial Stock Reduction of Machmer Hall, which will sell without reserve. "We have another strong group of entries for the October Digital Sale, particularly among the horses of racing age," said Leif Aaron, Fasig-Tipton Director of Digital Sales. "We are pleased...