Zayat Stables

Drew Mollica started his career in racing as a jockey agent, but had an epiphany at the age of 47: he was miserable. While keeping his day job, Mollica enrolled in law school, and today, is the most popular and affable lawyer on the New York Racing circuit. Mollica joins Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, Brian DiDonato and Jon Green to talk about Ahmed Zayat and other legal issues in this edition of the Writers' Room.

Ahmed Zayat has filed a motion asking the same court that appointed a receiver to oversee the assets of his Zayat Stables to dissolve that order and instead allow the stable to resolve its dispute with MGG Investment Group in some other matter. The filing came five days after a Fayette County (Ky) Circuit Court judge ordered Zayat's assets into receivership, a response to a $23-million civil lawsuit lodged by the investment firm, MGG Investment Group, LP. MGG had alleged that Zayat had defaulted on his loans and had improperly...

Additional reporting by Lucas Marquardt When the assets of Zayat Stables, LLC, were ordered into receivership by a Fayette Circuit Court judge in Kentucky on Wednesday as part of a $23 million lawsuit by a lender alleging fraud and loan defaults, the judgment caused reverberations within the Thoroughbred bloodstock and racing world beyond those felt by Ahmed Zayat and his family. (Click here to read the TDN story.) Specifically, questions began to swirl about what would happen to the Zayat horses either at farms or currently in training in New...

A Fayette County, Kentucky judge granted a motion at an emergency hearing Wednesday to put Zayat Stables and its horses into receivership, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader. The ruling follows a lawsuit filed by New York-based MGG Investment Group alleging that owner Ahmed Zayat had sold shares in Triple Crown-winning stallion American Pharoah that were being used as collateral against loans made by MGG to Zayat. MGG's lawsuit alleges that Zayat defaulted on his loans in September, and seeks at least $23 million from Zayat. According to the Herald-Leader, Zayat sent...

The morning after ending the 37-year Triple Crown drought, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) was in fine form, according to trainer Bob Baffert. "Looking at the horse today, he looked pretty darn good for a horse that just ran a mile and a half," Baffert said outside of Barn 1 in Elmont. "He's a tough horse. Today he looked like he could run back in three weeks." Baffert allowed members of the media to pet American Pharoah outside of the barn to demonstrate the colt's demeanor. "I just wanted to...