Equine Spectrum Announces Plans, Hires New Executive Director

Equine Spectrum, the online Thoroughbred auction company based in Central Kentucky, has a new executive director, Dan Kelliher, and plans to conduct up to five sales this year. The first will be an auction of stallion seasons that is scheduled for Feb. 6. Another sale will be held in April that will feature horses and stallion interests with connections to Triple Crown contenders. Additional auctions in 2002 will include one with tie-ins to the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships.

"The other two sales have yet to be defined," Kelliher said. "There might be a yearling event of some variety. We're trying to take an approach that puts some uniqueness into what we're doing. What we don't want to do is just duplicate in the electronic realm what is already being done in the physical realm. The technology allows you to be more flexible than that in regards to the changing events of the industry."

Kelliher, 37, has a background in both horses and technology. A former groom for Hall-of-Fame trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Charlie Whittingham, he has been involved in stallion marketing for four years, promoting such Midwest studs as Alaskan Frost, Charlie Barley, and Cutlass Fax. He is leaving his posts as vice president of sales and chairman of the business development committee for Paragon Development Systems, a Wisconsin-based firm that advises various companies about their technology needs.

Kelliher said he expects to have a "defined" sales calendar for 2002 ready within a month. He also is working on a business plan for Equine Spectrum, which will soon launch an advertising campaign based on the theme "Capture the Moment."

Equine Spectrum (www.equinespectrum.com) was founded in 2000 by five prominent Central Kentucky Thoroughbred farms and sales agencies: Coolmore's Ashford Stud, Eaton Sales, Lane's End Farm, Taylor Made Farm, and Three Chimneys Farm. The company conducted a sale of stallion interests in December of 2000 and a sale of fillies, mares, and stallion seasons in March of 2001. Keeneland became a partner in Equine Spectrum last year.

Kelliher expects to offer approximately 25 stallion seasons during this year's Feb. 6 auction. Stallions that will be represented include Gulch, Maria's Mon, Gone West, Hennessy, Dynaformer, Mt. Livermore, War Chant, Lemon Drop Kid, and Rahy.