Street Cry's status as a top international stallion took on new meaning when his son Shocking captured one of the world's greatest races, the Emirates Melbourne Cup (Aust-I).
3 days ago
Darley America has announced that Fabricio Buffolo is to join its nominations team.
4 days ago
Cherokee Run, a champion sprinter who went on to become a successful stallion, has been pensioned from stallion duty at Sheikh Mohammed's Darley near Lexington because of fertility problems and lameness issues.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Tattersalls autumn horses in training sale finished its four-day run in England Oct. 29 with a median price that was up 12.5% from 2008. The gross revenue declined 11.3% while the average price fell 8.2%. The clearance rate rose from 78.8% last year to 84.9% this year.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Agent John Ferguson, accompanied by client Sheikh Mohammed, went to $700,000 to purchase Hip No. 39, a Speightstown colt consigned by Dromoland Farm, at the first session of the Keeneland September yearling sale Sept. 14.
Monday, September 14, 2009
One day prior to the Sept. 14 start of the Keeneland September yearling sale in Lexington, there was a lot of uncertainty about how the market would perform at a time when the economy was continuing to struggle. There also were some questions about what was going on around the sale grounds. Here they are, and here are their answers.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Onaga, dam of grade I winner Aragorn and this year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected sale-topping yearling, was found dead Aug. 14 in Ireland.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A Pivotal filly topped the second session of Arqana's Deauville August yearling sale, bringing 300,000 euros ($427,722) Aug. 15 in France. Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock manager, John Ferguson, purchased the filly from Capucines.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock manager, John Ferugson, who was the biggest spender at the recent Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling auction, was busy again Aug. 14 during the opening session of the Arqana's Deauville August yearling sale in France. He bought the session-topping Storm Cat colt for 900,000 Euros ($1,282,860 in U.S. funds) from Etreham.
Friday, August 14, 2009
A Storm Cat colt, hip 204, commanded the highest price so far, $2.8 million, at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Boosted by the Sheikh Mohammed stimulus package, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale got off to a sizzling start Aug. 10 in New York at a time when the struggling economy is causing prices to fall at other Thoroughbred auctions. The gross revenue for the 76 horses that sold was $25,470,000, which was a whopping 40.3% increase from the opening session a year ago. The average price grew 10.7% to $335,132, and the median price increased 6.4% to $250,000.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A muscular bay son of first-crop sire and champion Bernardini became the first horse to command seven figures Aug. 10 during the opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling auction, bringing $1.2 million from Sheikh Mohammed.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sheikh Mohammed, the world's biggest Thoroughbred auction spender, inspected yearlings consigned to the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale the morning of Aug. 10, just hours before the 6 p.m. (EDT) start of the New York auction. As a light rain fell, the ruler of Dubai looked at some horses while standing under the cover of the new walking ring. He previously had visited the Fasig-Tipton sale grounds early in the evening on Aug. 9.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Buyers and consignors were upbeat as they prepared for the Aug. 10 start of the two-night Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale in New York. They praised the quality of the auction's catalog, the new walking ring and other improvements to the sale grounds, and the effort by Fasig-Tipton officials to attract more European shoppers.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
A sore foot could keep Atomic Rain from taking on BlackBerry Preakness (gr. I) winner Rachel Alexandra and Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Summer Bird in the Aug. 2 Haskell Invitational (gr. I) at Monmouth Park.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin Stable, the new owner of Atomic Rain, has officially decided to take on Preakness Stakes (gr. I)-winning filly Rachel Alexandra and Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Summer Bird in the Haskell Invitational (gr. I) at Monmouth Park Aug. 2.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Fasig-Tipton's July select yearling sale ended with a bang instead of a whimper in Lexington, getting a boost from the progeny of the hot stallion Medaglia d'Oro. Even though the key business figures were down from the previous year, the final day produced the auction's highest price and results that were stronger than the opening day's statistics.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
An offspring of Medaglia d'Oro commanded the highest price thus far at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale July 21 when Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock agent John Ferguson went to $425,000 for a bay filly.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The declines were in line with expectations during the opening session of the Fasig-Tipton July select yearling sale. Buyers and consignors had predicted the market would be down significantly, and there were no surprises July 20 in Lexington.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Cavalryman capped off a tremendous day for Andre Fabre and Sheikh Mohammed when he powered to a 1 1/2-length victory in the Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris (Fr-I) July 14.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Time Machine, a 3-year-old Halling gelding, was the most expensive horse sold on the second day of the Tattersalls July mixed sale in England, bringing 95,000 guineas. Irish trainer Robbie Hennessy purchased Time Machine on July 8 from trainer John Gosden's Clarehaven Stables.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Jade Hunter, whose daughter Azeri ranks as North America's leading money-earning distaffer, has been pensioned from stallion duty.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Snow Bride, an Epsom Oaks (Eng-I) winner and the dam of unbeaten champion Lammtarra, was euthanized June 10 because of complications from the infirmities of old age.
Friday, June 19, 2009
The team from Darley Australia purchased the most expensive horse June 5 during the second session of the Magic Millions broodmare sale on Australia's Gold Coast. John Sunderland signed the Aust$500,000 (approximately $400,905 in U.S. funds) sale ticket for Belcentra, a stakes-winning Bel Esprit mare that is in foal to Exceed and Excel.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Barathea, the 1994 Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) winner, was euthanized May 14 at Liam Cashman's Rathbarry Stud in Fermoy, Ireland, because of complications from laminitis.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Mackie, who sold for big prices at auction, was euthanized March 18 because of foaling complications while delivering an offspring by Any Given Saturday.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Frankie Dettori guided Godolphin's Mastery to a comfortable 1 1/2-length win in the Derby Italiano Better (Ity-II) at Rome's Capannelle racecourse May 9, setting up a possible return in the Investec Derby (Eng-I) next month.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Desert Party, who finished 14th in the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), will have surgery to remove a bone chip in his left front ankle
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Desert Party and Dunkirk were sale ring superstars and now they've both got a shot May 2 at winning what many consider to be the world's most famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby Presented By Yum! Brands (gr. I).
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sheikh Mohammed, represented by John Ferguson Bloodstock, bought the session-topping horse for the second day in a row at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training. Dubai's ruler picked up a Snow Ridge filly for $180,000 April 21 after acquiring a $675,000 A.P. Indy colt during the auction's opening session.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
A strapping A.P. Indy colt became one of the most expensive horses ever sold at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training when he brought $675,000 April 20. Jimmy Bell, the president of Sheikh Mohammed's Darley America operation, signed the sale ticket in the name of John Ferguson Bloodstock as the auction began its four-day run in Central Florida with increases in the number of horses sold, gross revenue, and average price.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tackling the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, Fasig-Tipton's Florida select sale of 2-year-olds in training suffered some bumps and bruises, but also scored a couple of minor victories. The number of horses sold rose from a year ago while the buy-back rate declined. Meanwhile, the gross revenue fell 25.5% and the average price dropped 31.5%. The median price was down 34.8%.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Cup o' Joe, a handsome Medaglia d'Oro colt, became the highest priced horse sold so far at the Fasig-Tipton Florida select sale of 2-year-olds in training when he brought $1.6 million from Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock manager John Ferguson.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Country Star, the second-best 2-year-old filly of 2007, has been retired from racing to become a broodmare.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Markey Cancer Foundation has received a $2 million gift from Darley Stud Management, LLC. the global Thoroughbred-breeding operation of Sheikh Mohammed.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Storm Cat has been a titan among North America's commercial sires, and he added to his considerable reputation in 2008, leading all stallions based on the average price of their yearlings sold at public auction for the sixth time in his breeding career. He returned to the top following a two-year break during which he fell to second behind Danzig in 2006 and ranked third behind A.P. Indy and Kingmambo in 2007.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Sheikh Mohammed's Darley will relocate nearly all of its Australian stallion roster to the operation's purpose-built stallion farms near Aberdeen, New South Wales, and Seymour, Victoria, for the 2009 Southern Hemisphere season.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Construction is under way on a new office building at Fasig-Tipton's Newtown Paddocks property near Lexington. The structure, which will be located in front of the sale pavilion, will have three levels (two above ground and a basement). A walkway will connect the second above ground level of the office building with the second story of the sale pavilion.
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Maktoum family left the racing world in no doubt about how much terrestrial television coverage should be valued following Tuesday's annual Gimcrack Dinner at York.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Alix Road, a 5-year-old daughter of Linamix, brought the top price of 310,000 euros to top the opening session of the Arqana December breeding stock sale in France. Xaviar Bozo's Intercontinental Bloodstock purchased her from Hara des Capucines Dec. 6.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Sheikh Mohammed topped trade at the Tattersalls December breeding stock sale for a third consecutive day, paying 1.8 million guineas for Lady Marian (by Nayef), winner of this year's Prix de l'Opera (Fr-I), Dec. 3 in England.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock manager, John Ferguson, bought the most expensive horse at the Tattersalls December breeding stock sale for the second day in a row. He spent 1.7 million guineas for French listed winner Princesse Dansante (by King's Best) Dec. 2 in England.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Trainer Jim Bolger's dual group I-winning Saoirse Abu was the star of the opening session of the Tattersalls December breeding stock auction in England, selling for 1.95 million guineas (about $3.1 million) to Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock manager, John Ferguson. The 3-year-old daughter of Mr. Greeley scored in the Independent Waterford Wedgwood Phoenix (Ire-I) and Moyglare Stud (Ire-I) Stakes in 2007.
Monday, December 01, 2008
The five European Breeders' Cup winners missed out on trophies at the Cartier Racing Awards, Europe's equivalent of the Eclipse Awards, which were presented in London Nov. 17.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Everyone knows by now that Sheikh Mohammed wants to win the Kentucky Derby, as evidenced by the amounts of money he's spending for ready-made Derby horses. But that's not entirely correct. He wants to win the Kentucky Derby with a horse trained in Dubai.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Representing Sheikh Mohammed, John Ferguson went to $2.3 million to acquire grade I winner Shadow Cast during the afternoon portion of the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale Nov. 3 at the Central Kentucky auction house.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Representing Sheikh Mohammed, John Ferguson went to $2.3 million to acquire grade I winner Shadow Cast during the afternoon portion of the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale Nov. 3 at the Central Kentucky auction house.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Vineyard Haven, winner of the grade I Champagne and Hopeful Stakes, has been sold to Godolphin for an undisclosed price by Bobby Frankel, who was majority owner of the colt, in partnership with Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre and Louis Lazzinnaro.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
New Approach, this year's Vodafone Epsom Derby (Eng-I) and last year's Cartier Award winning 2-year-old male, has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Sheikh Mohammed's Dalham Hall Stud near Newmarket, England.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
They came from Europe, New Zealand, and Australia to contest what was universally described as one of the best BMW Caulfield Cups in years at Caulfield Oct. 18.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
