Join now & win money today! Get Started

$410k Early Voting Colt Leads Strong OBS June Opener

---

OCALA, FL – With a colt by Early Voting topping the day’s results, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its first of three sessions Tuesday with an average and median ahead of last year’s record-setting figures.

During Tuesday’s session, 163 horses sold through the ring for a gross of $9,066,000. The average was $55,620–up 26.5% from last year’s opening session–and the median of $30,000 was up 15.4% from the corresponding 2025 figure.

The cumulative average from last year’s two-day June sale was $51,107 and the median was $25,000, both highwater marks for the auction.

From 327 catalogued juveniles, 239 went through the ring with 76 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 31.8%. It was 25.5% during the first session a year ago and the 2025 two-day cumulative figure was 17.1%.

A colt from the first crop of GI Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting topped the session when selling for $410,000 to trainer Greg Compton on behalf of MAG Racing Stables. The juvenile was consigned by Julie Davies, whose past June consignments have included multiple Grade I winner Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) and multiple stakes winner Solitude Dude (Yaupon).

“I think if you bring the right horse here, if you bring a good horse, then there are plenty of people here to buy them,” Davies said.

Greg Compton | Coady Media

Donato Lanni acquired the session’s top-priced filly, going to $370,000 on behalf of Frank Fletcher for a daughter of Mo Donegal from the Envision Equine consignment.

“We’ve been very lucky at June,” Lanni, who purchased Adare Manor for $375,000 in 2021, said. “A lot of these horses were given the time to come here. But I do like June. It’s a fun sale.”

Bloodstock agent Sean Perl, who purchased a colt by Yaupon destined for the barn of trainer Mike Maker for $270,000 early in Tuesday’s session, said he saw plenty of upside in shopping at the June sale.

“I love the June sale,” Perl said. “It’s my favorite sale. It’s all value. You never know which runner is going to be the one to step up to the plate. Usually the sellers are motivated to sell and we are here to buy.”

The OBS June sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Early Voting Colt To Compton’s String

A colt by Early Voting (hip 168) will be joining Greg Compton’s Delaware Park-based string after the trainer bid $410,000 to acquire the juvenile on behalf of MAG Racing Stables Tuesday at OBS.

“He’s a good-looking individual and he had a great breeze,” Compton said of the colt. “And the stud is off to a great start.”

Consigned by Julie Davies, the dark bay colt is out of Cara Dura (War Front) and from the family of Exchange Rate. He worked a furlong in :10 flat at last week’s under-tack preview.

“I stable at Delaware Park, so he will go up there,” Compton said. “We race at Oaklawn over the winter, so he may get a little break for 30 days and then we’ll get him back going again.”

Of the colt’s price tag, Compton added, “It was a little more than we thought, but he’s a nice individual. It’s been competitive and if you want a nice horse, you’re going to have to pay for him. Things didn’t work out for us in April or at Timonium, so we came to try to buy a few here.”

Early Voting | Sara Gordon

MAG Racing is the racing partnership of Gregg Massanelli and Margaret Molleston. Massanelli is an orthopedic surgeon in El Dorado, Arkansas. Molleston is an executive with GeoSouthern Energy Partners, a petroleum and natural gas production company headquartered in suburban Houston.

Compton purchased G.W.’s Girl (Munnings) on behalf of MAG Racing for $130,000 at the 2024 OBS March sale. The filly won last year’s Mockingbird Stakes and Dixie Belle Stakes.

Davies purchased the Early Voting colt for $52,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton October sale.

“He was just very athletic and he had a great walk,” Davies said of the colt’s appeal last fall.

Early Voting, winner of the 2022 GI Preakness Stakes, has gotten off to a fast start with his first horses to hit the track this year. The stallion has already been represented by four winners from seven starters and three of those winners earned the ‘TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard’ moniker.

“I have been a fan of Early Voting since the yearling sales and I’ve been harping on about him all year,” Davies said. “I am sure [his fast start at stud] helped [Tuesday’s result], but this was a nice horse on his own. And he was fast.”

Davies added hip 168 was always targeted at the June sale.

“He was because I had three Early Voting colts and I didn’t want to put them all in the same sale.”

$370k Mo Donegal Filly To Frank Fletcher

A filly from the first crop of GI Belmont Stakes victor Mo Donegal (hip 93) topped early returns during the opening session of the OBS June sale Tuesday when bringing a final bid of $370,000 from bloodstock agent Donato Lanni. Lanni was bidding on behalf of longtime owner Frank Fletcher and the filly will be trained by Bob Baffert.

Mo Donegal filly (Hip 93) | OBS/VidHorse Photo

“We wanted to buy a filly for Frank,” Lanni said. “He and Bob are really good friends. They have a huge amount of respect for each other. So he wants to send this one to Bob. Bob is coming to Churchill and Oaklawn and Frank’s an Oaklawn guy and he likes Churchill. We are going to look at running her there.”

Hip 93, consigned by Envision Equine, is out of multiple stakes-placed Bakken Baby (Valid Expectations) and she shared the bullet furlong of :9 4/5 at last week’s under-tack preview.

The filly, bred by Forever Spring Farm, was purchased for $30,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale and sold for $200,000 at the OBS March sale earlier this year.

“She has changed a lot,” Lanni said when asked about the filly’s progress from March to June. “She’s gotten bigger and stronger.”

The post $410k Early Voting Colt Leads Strong OBS June Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Letter To The Editor: Responsible Transitions From Racing Can Happen Digitally

---

A recent article in the TDN, “He Thought His Horse Had Been Retired, So Why Did It Show Up at Chippewa Downs?” has attracted a lot of attention. It should. It’s an unfortunate situation: an older Thoroughbred, sold for breeding purposes and believed by its owner to have been retired from racing ultimately returns to racing under new connections, raising understandable concerns about welfare and accountability.

Scenarios like this are preventable and can be addressed through an existing protocol.

Transferred as Retired from Racing (TRR)–a process available to all owners–should be viewed not as optional, but as a best practice. When properly recorded through The Jockey Club, a horse’s Certificate of Foal Registration is clearly marked to prevent a return to racing and to notify racetracks accordingly.

The process is straightforward, can be completed digitally, and provides clarity for all parties involved–the seller, the buyer, downstream aftercare organizations, and racing offices. Most importantly, it helps ensure that horses retiring due to injury, age, or lack of competitiveness are not cycled back into racing.

At the same time, the designation does not limit a horse’s future beyond the track. Horses with breeding potential can still transition into stud or broodmare careers, preserving both their breeding value and their welfare while eliminating the risk of an unintended return to competition.

As an industry, we must continue to emphasize responsible transitions from racing into second careers and new ownership. Wider adoption of the Transferred as Retired from Racing feature is a simple, practical step that meaningfully advances those goals and helps prevent exactly the kind of situation that happened to Nepal Up.

More information, including frequently asked questions, about the Transferred as Retired from Racing process, is available here.

Michael McMahon

McMahon and Hill Bloodstock
Bourbon Lane Stable
President, Thoroughbred Charities of America

The post Letter To The Editor: Responsible Transitions From Racing Can Happen Digitally appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

$410k Early Voting Colt Leads Strong OBS June Opener

---

OCALA, FL – With a colt by Early Voting topping the day’s results, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its first of three sessions Tuesday with an average and median ahead of last year’s record-setting figures.

During Tuesday’s session, 163 horses sold through the ring for a gross of $9,066,000. The average was $55,620–up 26.5% from last year’s opening session–and the median of $30,000 was up 15.4% from the corresponding 2025 figure.

The cumulative average from last year’s two-day June sale was $51,107 and the median was $25,000, both highwater marks for the auction.

From 327 catalogued juveniles, 239 went through the ring with 76 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 31.8%. It was 25.5% during the first session a year ago and the 2025 two-day cumulative figure was 17.1%.

A colt from the first crop of GI Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting topped the session when selling for $410,000 to trainer Greg Compton on behalf of MAG Racing Stables. The juvenile was consigned by Julie Davies, whose past June consignments have included multiple Grade I winner Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) and multiple stakes winner Solitude Dude (Yaupon).

“I think if you bring the right horse here, if you bring a good horse, then there are plenty of people here to buy them,” Davies said.

Greg Compton | Coady Media

Donato Lanni acquired the session’s top-priced filly, going to $370,000 on behalf of Frank Fletcher for a daughter of Mo Donegal from the Envision Equine consignment.

“We’ve been very lucky at June,” Lanni, who purchased Adare Manor for $375,000 in 2021, said. “A lot of these horses were given the time to come here. But I do like June. It’s a fun sale.”

Bloodstock agent Sean Perl, who purchased a colt by Yaupon destined for the barn of trainer Mike Maker for $270,000 early in Tuesday’s session, said he saw plenty of upside in shopping at the June sale.

“I love the June sale,” Perl said. “It’s my favorite sale. It’s all value. You never know which runner is going to be the one to step up to the plate. Usually the sellers are motivated to sell and we are here to buy.”

The OBS June sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Early Voting Colt To Compton’s String

A colt by Early Voting (hip 168) will be joining Greg Compton’s Delaware Park-based string after the trainer bid $410,000 to acquire the juvenile on behalf of MAG Racing Stables Tuesday at OBS.

“He’s a good-looking individual and he had a great breeze,” Compton said of the colt. “And the stud is off to a great start.”

Consigned by Julie Davies, the dark bay colt is out of Cara Dura (War Front) and from the family of Exchange Rate. He worked a furlong in :10 flat at last week’s under-tack preview.

“I stable at Delaware Park, so he will go up there,” Compton said. “We race at Oaklawn over the winter, so he may get a little break for 30 days and then we’ll get him back going again.”

Of the colt’s price tag, Compton added, “It was a little more than we thought, but he’s a nice individual. It’s been competitive and if you want a nice horse, you’re going to have to pay for him. Things didn’t work out for us in April or at Timonium, so we came to try to buy a few here.”

Early Voting | Sara Gordon

MAG Racing is the racing partnership of Gregg Massanelli and Margaret Molleston. Massanelli is an orthopedic surgeon in El Dorado, Arkansas. Molleston is an executive with GeoSouthern Energy Partners, a petroleum and natural gas production company headquartered in suburban Houston.

Compton purchased G.W.’s Girl (Munnings) on behalf of MAG Racing for $130,000 at the 2024 OBS March sale. The filly won last year’s Mockingbird Stakes and Dixie Belle Stakes.

Davies purchased the Early Voting colt for $52,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton October sale.

“He was just very athletic and he had a great walk,” Davies said of the colt’s appeal last fall.

Early Voting, winner of the 2022 GI Preakness Stakes, has gotten off to a fast start with his first horses to hit the track this year. The stallion has already been represented by four winners from seven starters and three of those winners earned the ‘TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard’ moniker.

“I have been a fan of Early Voting since the yearling sales and I’ve been harping on about him all year,” Davies said. “I am sure [his fast start at stud] helped [Tuesday’s result], but this was a nice horse on his own. And he was fast.”

Davies added hip 168 was always targeted at the June sale.

“He was because I had three Early Voting colts and I didn’t want to put them all in the same sale.”

$370k Mo Donegal Filly To Frank Fletcher

A filly from the first crop of GI Belmont Stakes victor Mo Donegal (hip 93) topped early returns during the opening session of the OBS June sale Tuesday when bringing a final bid of $370,000 from bloodstock agent Donato Lanni. Lanni was bidding on behalf of longtime owner Frank Fletcher and the filly will be trained by Bob Baffert.

Mo Donegal filly (Hip 93) | OBS/VidHorse Photo

“We wanted to buy a filly for Frank,” Lanni said. “He and Bob are really good friends. They have a huge amount of respect for each other. So he wants to send this one to Bob. Bob is coming to Churchill and Oaklawn and Frank’s an Oaklawn guy and he likes Churchill. We are going to look at running her there.”

Hip 93, consigned by Envision Equine, is out of multiple stakes-placed Bakken Baby (Valid Expectations) and she shared the bullet furlong of :9 4/5 at last week’s under-tack preview.

The filly, bred by Forever Spring Farm, was purchased for $30,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale and sold for $200,000 at the OBS March sale earlier this year.

“She has changed a lot,” Lanni said when asked about the filly’s progress from March to June. “She’s gotten bigger and stronger.”

The post $410k Early Voting Colt Leads Strong OBS June Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Letter To The Editor: Responsible Transitions From Racing Can Happen Digitally

---

A recent article in the TDN, “He Thought His Horse Had Been Retired, So Why Did It Show Up at Chippewa Downs?” has attracted a lot of attention. It should. It’s an unfortunate situation: an older Thoroughbred, sold for breeding purposes and believed by its owner to have been retired from racing ultimately returns to racing under new connections, raising understandable concerns about welfare and accountability.

Scenarios like this are preventable and can be addressed through an existing protocol.

Transferred as Retired from Racing (TRR)–a process available to all owners–should be viewed not as optional, but as a best practice. When properly recorded through The Jockey Club, a horse’s Certificate of Foal Registration is clearly marked to prevent a return to racing and to notify racetracks accordingly.

The process is straightforward, can be completed digitally, and provides clarity for all parties involved–the seller, the buyer, downstream aftercare organizations, and racing offices. Most importantly, it helps ensure that horses retiring due to injury, age, or lack of competitiveness are not cycled back into racing.

At the same time, the designation does not limit a horse’s future beyond the track. Horses with breeding potential can still transition into stud or broodmare careers, preserving both their breeding value and their welfare while eliminating the risk of an unintended return to competition.

As an industry, we must continue to emphasize responsible transitions from racing into second careers and new ownership. Wider adoption of the Transferred as Retired from Racing feature is a simple, practical step that meaningfully advances those goals and helps prevent exactly the kind of situation that happened to Nepal Up.

More information, including frequently asked questions, about the Transferred as Retired from Racing process, is available here.

Michael McMahon

McMahon and Hill Bloodstock
Bourbon Lane Stable
President, Thoroughbred Charities of America

The post Letter To The Editor: Responsible Transitions From Racing Can Happen Digitally appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.