Taylor Made

Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup Can you imagine being a horse racing-crazy kid with a ringside seat to the creation of the Breeders' Cup? Mark Taylor can, because he was. Fast forward more than four decades and now he is president and CEO of the Central Kentucky farm that is believed to have raised and/or sold more Breeders' Cup winners than any other. There's also the matter of having stood the Breeders' Cup winner who currently holds the record for siring the most Breeders' Cup winners in turn....

No chance. I mean, you just had to take one look at the guy. The tattoos, the words tumbling nervously through gaps in his teeth, the sheer damage he's soaked up. You didn't have to look up his record. It was like he had an invisible ball and chain. So, no, thank you very much for asking, but we don't need any help right now. He could be someone else's problem. No chance? Not even one? That was all Chris Courtney wanted: a single opportunity to break the cycle, a...

A share in leading young sire Not This Time (Giant's Causeway) will be offered at Fasig-Tipton's upcoming Saratoga Sale. The share, consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, will be the first offering on Tuesday, Aug. 8. Online bidding and phone bidding on the Not This Time share will be available. Not This Time finished sixth in the general sire rankings in 2022, trailing only Into Mischief, Curlin, Gun Runner, Uncle Mo, and Tapit. "The Not This Time share is a very exciting addition to our Saratoga Sale this year," said...

  When Saint Ballado came to the farm, Duncan Taylor recalls Les Brinsfield telling him to try Mari's Book mares. "Mari's Book!" he exclaims now. "It's not like there were Mari's Book mares all around, out there in the population. But Les was a smart guy, very analytical." And it was easy to see the logic: Mari's Book was by Northern Dancer out of a Maribeau mare; and Maribeau, like Saint Ballado's sire Halo, was out of Cosmah--whose half-sister Natalma, of course, gave us the sire of Mari's Book. Plenty of...

For a sales company, selling the dam of a future Classic winner at your mixed sale is about as good a marketing tool as there is. Imagine selling two of them, three hips and 10 minutes apart, at the same sale. After the dust cleared from Derby weekend, a closer look at the results revealed just that: Pretty City Dancer, the dam of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous, sold as hip 122 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale; and Puca, the dam of the Kentucky Derby winner Mage, sold...

Officials at Keeneland have announced 18 supplemental entries to the April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale to be held Sunday, Apr. 30 at 4 p.m. ET. Among the newest additions to the catalog are: Commandperformance (c, 4, Union Rags), runner-up in the 2021 GI Champagne S. whose GII Cotillion S-winning third dam Snit (Fit to Fight) produced Grade III victress Blind Date (Not For Love), from Highgate Sales; 3-year-old filly Goodbye Kyle (Summer Front), a good-looking debut winner going six furlongs on dirt at the Fair Grounds Mar. 5....

There are American pedigrees galore that feature in the 73-strong catalogue for the Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale, which takes place Tuesday afternoon in the saddling enclosure at Meydan Racecourse. With the lowering of COVID-related travel restrictions in 2022, European-based resellers were a noted presence at this country's yearling auctions last summer and fall, and with the increased focus on dirt racing in the Gulf region--not only at the racetracks of the Emirates Racing Association, but also in Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, Qatar--it stands to reason that American-bred...

Edited Press Release Old Colony Insurance, a leading farm and equine Insurance Agency for over 50 years, welcomes John David Christman to its organization. With over 15 years' experience, Christman continues momentum as one of the top insurance producers in the equine industry. Christman was born and raised in Lexington, KY, and is a graduate of Transylvania University. He grew up working summers and sales for Taylor Made before beginning his career in the bloodstock insurance business with Equus/Standardbred Station, Inc. in 2008. "It is very exciting to begin this...

After a debut season at Taylor Made during which he covered a hefty book of better than 150 mares, Horse of the Year and five-time Grade I winner Knicks Go (Paynter) is champing at the bit to get back to work as breeding sheds open their doors across Central Kentucky. The Korea Racing Authority raced the gray to 10 victories over the course of four-plus seasons and earnings north of $9.2 million, and his first year at Taylor Made has led to even greater optimism for his second. The KRA's...

Bidding opens for the Jockey and Jeans Stallion Season Sale, benefitting the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, on Tuesday Jan. 10 at 9 am ET and ends Thursday, Jan. 12 at 9 pm ET with a preview beginning Jan. 9. The sale features over 70 stallions from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Texas and Oklahoma and has raised over $500,000 for the PDJF to date. "Big farm or small, we thank them all," said Jockeys and Jeans President Barry Pearl. "There are many other valuable seasons and one for every pocketbook....

Runaway leading third-crop sire Not This Time (Giant's Causeway) will stand for $135,000 S&N in 2023 as the headliner of the Taylor Made Stallions roster, the farm announced Monday. The leading freshman sire of 2020 by number of winners and black-type winners, and the leading second-crop sire of 2021 in all key statistical categories, Not This Time once again finds himself at the top of the heap this season. In 2022, he boasts a crop-best 12 stakes winners, 25 black-type horses, five graded stakes winners, a pair of Grade I...

Grade I winner Juju's Map (Liam's Map--Nagambie, by Flatter) has been consigned to Book 1 of Keeneland's November Breeding Stock sale and will sell Monday, Nov. 7. Catalogued as a racing or broodmare prospect, she will be consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency. Campaigned by Albaugh Family Stables and trained by Brad Cox, Juju's Map broke her maiden at second asking at two and proceeded to romp by 4 1/4 lengths in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland last October. Second to Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GI...