Oussama Aboughazale

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis The Keeneland September Yearling Sale opened with a packed pavilion and plenty of bidding from a diverse buying bench ultimately producing eight seven-figure sales led by a $2.3-million daughter of Into Mischief. At the end of the session, numbers were largely in line with the figures from the opening session of last year's record-breaking auction. "We were all biting our nails a little bit thinking about being measured up to last year's sale which was so phenomenal," said Keeneland President Shannon Arvin. "But the...

Oussama Aboughazale's Sumaya Stable, now into its seventh year based in Kentucky, is hoping to make a big impact at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, starting with seven standout offerings in the auction's boutique Book 1 section next Monday and Tuesday. "We have a very strong group this year, physically, and we've got some good sire power behind us," Aboughazale's bloodstock manager Frances Relihan said. "The vets have been kind to us as well. We are looking forward to the sale next week. We had a good start to the...

A filly by Gun Runner out of the Grade II-placed Divine Dawn (Divine Park) was hammered down to Lauren Carlisle, acting as agent, for $850,000 to lead the early returns during the first of two sessions of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale Monday evening. Bred by Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holding and consigned to the sale by Gainesway, the Feb. 28 foal is out of a full-sister to Grade II winner Divine Miss Grey and is the year-younger half-sister to Top Connor (Twirling Candy), a $200,000 Keeneland September yearling who...

A filly by War Front (hip 276) zipped a quarter-mile in a bullet :20 1/5, while a daughter of Street Boss (hip 346) claimed the fastest furlong work of :9 3/5 during the second session of the under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Monday in Central Florida. Hip 276 is consigned by Eddie Woods on behalf of her breeder, Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holding. "We were expecting her to be quick, but we didn't know she was that quick," International Equities...

LEXINGTON, KY - When Oussama Aboughazale purchased the former Belvedere Farm in Paris, Kentucky four years ago, he immediately began building a broodmare band for the 235-acre property. Those initial investments are now finding success both in the sales ring--where the operation was represented by its first $1-million yearling in 2019--and on the racetrack where Princess Noor (Not This Time), bred by Aboughazale's International Equities Holding, recently won the GI Del Mar Debutante. "I loved Kentucky from the first time I came here more than 20 years ago," Aboughazale, born...