Gary Broad, owner of recent Californian Stakes (gr. II) winner Buzzards Bay, purchased the Aldabbagh Ranch at auction June 7 for $7.7 million. The 83-acre property in Murrieta, Calif., sold by owner, breeder, and trainer Sam Aldabbagh of Las Vegas, includes a 40-stall barn, five-furlong training track, and indoor breeding facility.
Ron Ellis, Broad’s trainer, said Broad initially plans to use the ranch as a lay-up facility. “He’ll start small and build it up after that,” Ellis said. “It’s a good set-up with a very nice five-eighths training track.”
Broad is putting together a racing stable primarily by purchasing yearlings and 2-year-olds. He bought Buzzards Bay for $725,000 as a 3-year-old at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale when the colt was offered as part of a dispersal to dissolve the Fog City Stable partnership of Bill Bianco and David Shimmon.
The now 5-year-old horse had won the 2005 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) prior to the dispersal. Since Broad bought him, Buzzards Bay has captured the 2006 Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II) and All American Handicap (gr. III) in addition to the Californian for total earnings of $1,325,507. Ellis said he and Broad are pointing the horse for the June 30 Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I).
Aldabbagh put the ranch on the market when he reportedly decided to consolidate his businesses in Las Vegas. Aldabbagh had owned the property since 1996. The J.P. King Auction Company of Gadsden, Ala., conducted the sale, which attracted nine bidders.
“I always felt that the location was a key to our success,” Aldabbagh said in a release, “because we were close enough to four major tracks to train the horses in a quiet, relaxed atmosphere.”
Murrieta is located southeast of Santa Anita Park, Hollywood Park, and Fairplex Park, and northeast of Del Mar.