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‘Absolutely Thrilled’: Records Across The Board As Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale Concludes

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TIMONIUM, MD – The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, conducted for the first time after an untimed under-tack preview, produced its highest ever gross, average and median when it concluded Tuesday evening in Timonium. Over two days, 382 horses sold for $52,835,500 for an average of $138,313 and a median of $70,000. Those figures improved on records set just last year when 327 horses sold for $44,317,500, an average of $135,528 and a median of $60,000.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the results of the 2026 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning, Jr. “We hit the superfecta. The gross is way up, the average is up, the median is up and the RNA rate is down. And that’s coming off of a dramatic increase from 2024 to 2025. The gross sales from this sale have increased 60% from 2024 to 2026. That’s a pretty remarkable increase in terms of overall results.”

From a catalogue of 619 head, 457 horses went through the ring with 79 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 17.2%. It was 24.2% a year ago.

“More important to us is the acceptance of a change of format and the acceptance of a change in the way of doing business for us,” Browning said. “We made a conscious decision to do the right thing by the horse and the right thing for our customers. It was met with mixed reviews, but we believed, and after the experience of the last 10 days, we still believe. We had tremendous support from a lot of consignors and a lot of buyers over the last two weeks And that’s very gratifying.”

The new format gave buyers the chance to broaden their list of potential horses, according to Browning.

“If you don’t have a time to kind of create your list from, you spend more time in the barn area and you look at more horses and you broaden that net a little bit,” Browning said. “And it gives a buyer the ability to look at more horses and say, ‘I really like that horse’ and talk to the consignor. So it increases the communication and it broadens the initial net, which hopefully broadens the transaction.”

Boyd Browning | Fasig-Tipton

Browning said he hopes that the new format will lead to better results for the sales graduates going on to the racetrack.

“I genuinely hope and believe that we are going to see very positive results on the racetrack from this group of sales graduates this year in terms of soundness and in terms of their number of starts,” he said. “Time will tell, but I believe it. That’s kind of what we said from the outset. We wanted to produce a horse that we thought was more suited to going on to the racetrack.”

Bloodstock agent Pedro Lanz, bidding on behalf of KAS Stable made the highest purchase on both days of the auction. He went to $2.1 million to acquire the sale-topping son of Flightline during Monday’s opening session and returned Tuesday to take home a daughter of Gun Runner for $1.375 million. Both juveniles were consigned by Sequel on behalf of breeder Chester Broman.

The auction had its third million-dollar juvenile when Lee Ackerley purchased a colt by Corniche for $1 million. The juvenile was consigned by De Meric Sales.

“It’s been a very good sale,” Tristan De Meric said of the activity in Timonium this week. “It’s been a good market. There were a few that missed the mark, but that’s going to be any sale where we have numbers. Not every one of them can jump through all the hoops. But we are very happy with the way the better horses in our consignment were received.”

Lanz, KAS Strike Again for $1.375-Million Gun Runner Filly

Bloodstock agent Pedro Lanz, who purchased a $2.1-million colt by Flightline on behalf of KAS Stable during Monday’s opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, came back Tuesday to acquire a filly by Gun Runner (hip 357) for $1.375 million for the same operation. Both juveniles were consigned by Sequel on behalf of their breeder, Chester Broman.

“We needed a filly and she was my favorite,” Lanz explained. “I told them, if you want the best filly, in my opinion, she is the one. She’s a beautiful filly. She’s a May foal and she still has more chance to develop into a bigger and stronger filly. She’s out of a beautiful mare by Uncle Mo. So this filly has everything that you could ask for.”

The filly is out of Modest Maven (Uncle Mo), a mare Broman purchased as a 2-year-old at this same sale in 2016 for $1 million. While Modest Maven didn’t make it to the races, she has produced multiple graded-placed Arctic Arrogance (Frosted) and has a yearling filly by Flightline.

While the $2.1-million Flightline colt will be heading west to the barn of trainer John Sadler, the $1.375-million filly will be trained by Brad Cox, Lanz confirmed Tuesday.

In addition to the two seven-figure juveniles, through the Sequel consignment Broman sold five horses at the Midlantic May sale for a gross of $4.215 million

Buyer Pedro Lanz, consignor, Becky Thomas, with manager Carlos Manresa | Fasig-Tipton

“They are amazing breeders,” Lanz said of Broman’s breeding program. “They always have the best horses. When you see Sequel Bloodstock consigning these horses, you know it’s a serious consignment.”

$1-Million Corniche Colt to Ackerley

A son of Corniche (hip 473) became the third juvenile to reach seven figures at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale when Susan Montanye signed the ticket at $1 million to acquire the colt on behalf of Lee Ackerley Tuesday. The juvenile will be trained by Steve Asmussen.

“Steve Asmussen was here and he watched the breeze and picked this horse out for Mr. Ackerley,” Montanye said. “He went back to the track today and called and asked if I would bid on the horse on behalf of them.”

The bay colt is out of stakes-placed Secret Union (Dixie Union). He was consigned to Tuesday’s sale by De Meric Sales, which purchased him for $270,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. He had originally been expected to sell at the OBS March sale.

“He has always trained really, really well, but he didn’t have his best day in the breeze show at OBS,” consignor Tristan De Meric said. “He stayed on his left lead and worked in :10 1/5. He had a bit of attention at the sale, but we thought he deserved another shot. He’s a May foal and we thought this was an obvious place to bring him. I am thrilled with the way he was received and the way he has blossomed in the last 60 days.”

The De Merics bought into Corniche as a yearling before selling him for $1.5 million at the 2021 OBS April sale.

“We are very proud of the way Corniche has started off his stallion career,” De Meric said. “We sought out a few Corniches to buy last year. Many of them made the list. They all moved very well and they have really handled the training.”

Tuesday’s result was Corniche‘s second million-dollar result of the spring. Legion Bloodstock purchased a colt by the Coolmore stallion for $1.35 million at the OBS March sale. And his 2-year-olds are off to a fast start on the track, with two winners from two starters, including ‘TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard’ Fanshell Beach.

“They are unbelievably level-headed, classy horses to be around,” De Meric said of Corniche‘s first 2-year-olds. “We had seven in the barn this year and they all thrived the more pressure you put on them. They just handle it all so easily. I am excited to see what the next few years look like for Corniche.”

Clay Stays Busy in Timonium

Bloodstock agent Case Clay found plenty to like at the two-day Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, walking away with 12 horses for a total of $5,545,000.

“It’s been a great sale,” Clay said as he was heading out the door Tuesday to catch a flight home. “I do love the new format. There were a lot of nice horses here and some good pedigrees here as well.”

Clay said he liked the challenge of the new format of untimed works at the auction’s under-tack preview.

“It’s not necessarily one preference over the other, but it does change the process a little bit because you’re judging it more on the athleticism of the horse going on the dirt,” he said. “I like the other 2-year-old sales as well, but it was more enjoyable to sift through the horses and find what we think might be athletic type horses.”

Hip 581, a colt by Jackie’s Warrior | Fasig-Tipton

A majority of the juveniles were purchased on behalf of Wathnan Racing, including Clay’s two highest-priced acquisitions. Late in Tuesday’s session, Clay purchased a colt by Jackie’s Warrior (hip 581) for $750,000 from the Camelot Acres Racing and Sales consignment.

“I just loved this colt,” Clay said. “He was a beautiful colt. There are some very nice-looking Jackie’s Warrior around and we tried on others. We are happy to get this one.”

Two hips later, Clay struck for an Into Mischief colt (hip 583) from Lucan Bloodstock for the same price. The juvenile was from a seller Clay knows well. He was purchased by Grandview Equine for $275,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November sale.

“I let Wathnan know the horse was owned by Grandview, a partnership run by my father,” Clay said with a smile. “So everybody knew what was going on. From the very beginning we’ve done it that way. In fact, I was the underbidder on a colt in Saratoga that Grandview was also bidding on and I had no idea. I was staying in my parents’ basement and we had no idea we were both bidding on the same horse until the end.”

Clay also signed for a colt by Nyquist (hip 162) from the Margaux Farm consignment for $700,000 and a pair of Constitution fillies–one from De Meric Sales (hip 132) for $575,000 and one from Caliente Thoroughbreds (hip 605) for $500,000.

“The prices seemed fair,” Clay said of the sale. “I thought it was a fair market.”

Fennell, Garcia Score with Speaker’s Corner Colt

Consignor Luis Garcia gave all the credit for picking out a colt by Speaker’s Corner for $50,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton February sale to Gina Fennell. Returned to the sales ring in Timonium Tuesday with Garcia’s L.G. consignment, the juvenile (hip 531) rewarded the decision when selling for $425,000 to the bid of trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

“Gina went to that sale for herself,” Garcia said after watching the colt sell. “I have to give her the credit. I don’t go to that sale because I’m always at the farm training horses at that time of year.”

Fennell did keep Garcia in the loop before buying the colt.

“She liked his body and she said he looked fast,” Garcia recalled. “She sent me a photo and I liked him, too.”

Garcia added, “I trained him. He’s not a big horse, but I can see he is going to grow.”

Speaker’s Corner, who stands at Darley for $10,000, has been well-received in the sales ring this spring. His eight juveniles to bring six figures at the OBS Spring sale were led by colts who sold for $875,000 and $500,000. The stallion had a colt sell for $650,000 during Monday’s first session of the Midlantic May sale.

“I saw one yesterday that looked really good and I’ve seen a couple at the sales and I like the way they look,” Garcia said of the stallion’s first 2-year-olds.

Garcia agreed Tuesday’s result exceeded expectations.

“I just wanted to get it done, so I didn’t put a high reserve on him,” Garcia said. “I knew he was going to bring a little bit of money, but to be honest, I thought it would be $200,000 or $300,000.”

The post ‘Absolutely Thrilled’: Records Across The Board As Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale Concludes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

As Parx Takes Entries, Trainers Told To Move Horses To Other Barns

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The fallout from Parx Racing’s decision to deny nine trainers stalls at the track for no apparent reason continued to play out in confusing fashion Tuesday when the track’s racing office accepted entries for next Monday.

Trainer Mary Pattershall, one of the trainers told last month they would be denied stalls at the Pennsylvania track, said she made an entry Tuesday morning for Kevin’s Strike, a four-year-old gelding whose last seven starts have been for the trainer.

“They said, ‘if anything changes, we’ll call you immediately,’” Pattershall recalls, of the racing office’s initial response to the entry.

According to Pattershall, the racing office subsequently alerted her that she would be unable to run the horse under her name as the trainer. The horse, instead, has been transferred to the stable of trainer Ronald Dandy, and is entered in Race six next Monday at Parx.

“He’s agreed to take on the training duties of these horses,” Pattershall said of Dandy, for five horses in total.

The TDN texted and called David Osojnak, Parx director of racing, Tuesday. He did not respond before deadline.

Pattershall, 65, is one of nine trainers denied stalls at the track. They’ve never been given a reason for the decision, although some of them have been vocally critical of track management in recent months.

Pattershall suspects her situation might be due to critical comments she has made of Parx’s management of the track and barn area during a recent cold snap this winter via her role on a horseman’s advisory group.

The other eight trainers denied stalls at include Brenda Wilson, Michael Catalano Jr., Josue Arce, Patrick Ashton, Herold Whylie, and Daniel Velazquez.

Catalano and Velazquez have already moved their stables to Delaware. But Pattershall and at least three other trainers have remained at the track.

In Pattershall’s case, she said she could move her horses to Delaware Park, but that would mean she would have to abandon the vanning business she has built up over the years around Parx.

The TDN spoke Tuesday morning with Whylie, Ashton and one other trainer involved, all of whom described being told by track management to transfer their horses to other trainers, leaving them in a strange limbo–they’re permitted access to the track, but not permitted to enter horses under their name as trainers.

According to Whylie, 70, he has been stabled at Parx since 1988 and has long maintained a sizeable string until more recently, when he downsized.

Whylie said that earlier this year, he temporarily lost coverage under his prior workers’ compensation plan, but after a period of a few weeks found alternate coverage under a new plan. He paid for a year’s coverage up front, he said.

“I was back training. I ran a horse and won, okay? But a week later I was told I would get no stalls,” said Whylie. “The racing office told me I could put the horses in somebody [else’s] name, and [they would] downgrade my license to an assistant trainer’s license.”

Whylie said that he transferred the four horses he also owns to trainer Pedro Mercedes. Tuesday morning, he added, the Parx racing office contacted him multiple times, asking him to enter one of his horses in an “extra” on next week’s card.

“They called me from the racing office at least four times, trying to get me to help them fill a race,” said Whylie.

According to multiple sources, Parx has as many as 200 empty stalls across its backstretch.

Ashton, 71, said that he applied for five stalls before being denied them, and that he planned on purchasing several more this year from the ongoing Timonium sale and from his contacts in Florida.

“This has crippled us,” said Ashton, who explained how he and some of his fellow targeted trainers have lost access to a health insurance plan available to trainers who maintain a certain number of starts a year at the track. “It’s emotional stress.”

This story also raises question marks over the role of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (PTHA), the organization tasked with defending the state’s industry stakeholders in matters like this, but which some trainers say has done too little to defend their rights.

In the background of this issue is a horsemen’s association riven by internal strife, due to allegations of financial mismanagement among certain members of the board over recent years. The PTHA board ordered an audit of this alleged financial impropriety. That audit is complete but it has not yet been made public.

Alan Pincus, an attorney representing seven of the trainers, and Bob Hutt, an owner-breeder who sits on the PTHA board of directors, recently outlined a sequence of events that put the trainers in a tight legal bind.

According to Hutt, Velazquez, a PTHA board member, and PTHA president Kate DeMasi initially met with Joe Wilson, Parx COO, for a brief meeting that yielded no meaningful resolution.

Hutt said Jan Budman, the recently hired legal counsel for the PTHA, more recently spoke with Joe Stathius, Parx Racing’s assistant general counsel, when Budman raised the idea of a formal merits hearing as outlined in the live racing agreement with Parx.

According to Hutt, Budman reported that Parx counsel disagreed with that position under the live race agreement, stating that the trainers were not ejected nor excluded from Parx premises, and that their state licenses would still permit them access to the Parx backstretch to tend to their horses.

Hutt said that Budman then recommended instead that the trainers petition for an arbitration hearing under section 15 of the PTHA’s stall application.

This section of the stall application outlines an arbitration process that requires the trainers to file separately rather than as a group.

According to Pincus, he petitioned Parx for an arbitration hearing under the stall agreement, which he describes as being “completely and utterly one-sided” in favor of the track. Track management, Pincus said, denied this request.

Last week during a PTHA board meeting, Hutt then made a motion for the PTHA to challenge Parx to enforce the live race agreement (in other words, to allow the trainers a full merits hearing), he said.

The PTHA board voted that motion down, on advice from the PTHA counsel saying that such a legal move might jeopardize their tax-exempt status, said Hutt.

“This board is hiding behind violating the PTHA’s ‘tax exempt status’ as an excuse not to help,” said Hutt, over the weekend. “I feel like the board is violating the mission of the PTHA which is to help our horsemen, for which we were duly elected.”

According to Pincus, he has petitioned Parx once again “for any due process available to us.”

Reached by phone over the weekend, DeMasi pushed back on the argument her organization has failed to fully support its members during this situation.

When pressed about the advice of counsel about the tax-status of the organization if it supported the trainers during their legal efforts, DeMasi said “there’s just concern over that. But, we have actually had counsel communicate with Parx and everything. So, we’ve been here for the horsemen, and we’ve been advised and we have supported our horsemen throughout this process.”

When asked via text for a copy of the audit into alleged financial mismanagement by the board, DeMasi wrote back that the report is confidential.

The post As Parx Takes Entries, Trainers Told To Move Horses To Other Barns appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

‘Absolutely Thrilled’: Records Across The Board As Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale Concludes

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TIMONIUM, MD – The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, conducted for the first time after an untimed under-tack preview, produced its highest ever gross, average and median when it concluded Tuesday evening in Timonium. Over two days, 382 horses sold for $52,835,500 for an average of $138,313 and a median of $70,000. Those figures improved on records set just last year when 327 horses sold for $44,317,500, an average of $135,528 and a median of $60,000.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the results of the 2026 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning, Jr. “We hit the superfecta. The gross is way up, the average is up, the median is up and the RNA rate is down. And that’s coming off of a dramatic increase from 2024 to 2025. The gross sales from this sale have increased 60% from 2024 to 2026. That’s a pretty remarkable increase in terms of overall results.”

From a catalogue of 619 head, 457 horses went through the ring with 79 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 17.2%. It was 24.2% a year ago.

“More important to us is the acceptance of a change of format and the acceptance of a change in the way of doing business for us,” Browning said. “We made a conscious decision to do the right thing by the horse and the right thing for our customers. It was met with mixed reviews, but we believed, and after the experience of the last 10 days, we still believe. We had tremendous support from a lot of consignors and a lot of buyers over the last two weeks And that’s very gratifying.”

The new format gave buyers the chance to broaden their list of potential horses, according to Browning.

“If you don’t have a time to kind of create your list from, you spend more time in the barn area and you look at more horses and you broaden that net a little bit,” Browning said. “And it gives a buyer the ability to look at more horses and say, ‘I really like that horse’ and talk to the consignor. So it increases the communication and it broadens the initial net, which hopefully broadens the transaction.”

Boyd Browning | Fasig-Tipton

Browning said he hopes that the new format will lead to better results for the sales graduates going on to the racetrack.

“I genuinely hope and believe that we are going to see very positive results on the racetrack from this group of sales graduates this year in terms of soundness and in terms of their number of starts,” he said. “Time will tell, but I believe it. That’s kind of what we said from the outset. We wanted to produce a horse that we thought was more suited to going on to the racetrack.”

Bloodstock agent Pedro Lanz, bidding on behalf of KAS Stable made the highest purchase on both days of the auction. He went to $2.1 million to acquire the sale-topping son of Flightline during Monday’s opening session and returned Tuesday to take home a daughter of Gun Runner for $1.375 million. Both juveniles were consigned by Sequel on behalf of breeder Chester Broman.

The auction had its third million-dollar juvenile when Lee Ackerley purchased a colt by Corniche for $1 million. The juvenile was consigned by De Meric Sales.

“It’s been a very good sale,” Tristan De Meric said of the activity in Timonium this week. “It’s been a good market. There were a few that missed the mark, but that’s going to be any sale where we have numbers. Not every one of them can jump through all the hoops. But we are very happy with the way the better horses in our consignment were received.”

Lanz, KAS Strike Again for $1.375-Million Gun Runner Filly

Bloodstock agent Pedro Lanz, who purchased a $2.1-million colt by Flightline on behalf of KAS Stable during Monday’s opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, came back Tuesday to acquire a filly by Gun Runner (hip 357) for $1.375 million for the same operation. Both juveniles were consigned by Sequel on behalf of their breeder, Chester Broman.

“We needed a filly and she was my favorite,” Lanz explained. “I told them, if you want the best filly, in my opinion, she is the one. She’s a beautiful filly. She’s a May foal and she still has more chance to develop into a bigger and stronger filly. She’s out of a beautiful mare by Uncle Mo. So this filly has everything that you could ask for.”

The filly is out of Modest Maven (Uncle Mo), a mare Broman purchased as a 2-year-old at this same sale in 2016 for $1 million. While Modest Maven didn’t make it to the races, she has produced multiple graded-placed Arctic Arrogance (Frosted) and has a yearling filly by Flightline.

While the $2.1-million Flightline colt will be heading west to the barn of trainer John Sadler, the $1.375-million filly will be trained by Brad Cox, Lanz confirmed Tuesday.

In addition to the two seven-figure juveniles, through the Sequel consignment Broman sold five horses at the Midlantic May sale for a gross of $4.215 million

Buyer Pedro Lanz, consignor, Becky Thomas, with manager Carlos Manresa | Fasig-Tipton

“They are amazing breeders,” Lanz said of Broman’s breeding program. “They always have the best horses. When you see Sequel Bloodstock consigning these horses, you know it’s a serious consignment.”

$1-Million Corniche Colt to Ackerley

A son of Corniche (hip 473) became the third juvenile to reach seven figures at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale when Susan Montanye signed the ticket at $1 million to acquire the colt on behalf of Lee Ackerley Tuesday. The juvenile will be trained by Steve Asmussen.

“Steve Asmussen was here and he watched the breeze and picked this horse out for Mr. Ackerley,” Montanye said. “He went back to the track today and called and asked if I would bid on the horse on behalf of them.”

The bay colt is out of stakes-placed Secret Union (Dixie Union). He was consigned to Tuesday’s sale by De Meric Sales, which purchased him for $270,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. He had originally been expected to sell at the OBS March sale.

“He has always trained really, really well, but he didn’t have his best day in the breeze show at OBS,” consignor Tristan De Meric said. “He stayed on his left lead and worked in :10 1/5. He had a bit of attention at the sale, but we thought he deserved another shot. He’s a May foal and we thought this was an obvious place to bring him. I am thrilled with the way he was received and the way he has blossomed in the last 60 days.”

The De Merics bought into Corniche as a yearling before selling him for $1.5 million at the 2021 OBS April sale.

“We are very proud of the way Corniche has started off his stallion career,” De Meric said. “We sought out a few Corniches to buy last year. Many of them made the list. They all moved very well and they have really handled the training.”

Tuesday’s result was Corniche‘s second million-dollar result of the spring. Legion Bloodstock purchased a colt by the Coolmore stallion for $1.35 million at the OBS March sale. And his 2-year-olds are off to a fast start on the track, with two winners from two starters, including ‘TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard’ Fanshell Beach.

“They are unbelievably level-headed, classy horses to be around,” De Meric said of Corniche‘s first 2-year-olds. “We had seven in the barn this year and they all thrived the more pressure you put on them. They just handle it all so easily. I am excited to see what the next few years look like for Corniche.”

Clay Stays Busy in Timonium

Bloodstock agent Case Clay found plenty to like at the two-day Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, walking away with 12 horses for a total of $5,545,000.

“It’s been a great sale,” Clay said as he was heading out the door Tuesday to catch a flight home. “I do love the new format. There were a lot of nice horses here and some good pedigrees here as well.”

Clay said he liked the challenge of the new format of untimed works at the auction’s under-tack preview.

“It’s not necessarily one preference over the other, but it does change the process a little bit because you’re judging it more on the athleticism of the horse going on the dirt,” he said. “I like the other 2-year-old sales as well, but it was more enjoyable to sift through the horses and find what we think might be athletic type horses.”

Hip 581, a colt by Jackie’s Warrior | Fasig-Tipton

A majority of the juveniles were purchased on behalf of Wathnan Racing, including Clay’s two highest-priced acquisitions. Late in Tuesday’s session, Clay purchased a colt by Jackie’s Warrior (hip 581) for $750,000 from the Camelot Acres Racing and Sales consignment.

“I just loved this colt,” Clay said. “He was a beautiful colt. There are some very nice-looking Jackie’s Warrior around and we tried on others. We are happy to get this one.”

Two hips later, Clay struck for an Into Mischief colt (hip 583) from Lucan Bloodstock for the same price. The juvenile was from a seller Clay knows well. He was purchased by Grandview Equine for $275,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November sale.

“I let Wathnan know the horse was owned by Grandview, a partnership run by my father,” Clay said with a smile. “So everybody knew what was going on. From the very beginning we’ve done it that way. In fact, I was the underbidder on a colt in Saratoga that Grandview was also bidding on and I had no idea. I was staying in my parents’ basement and we had no idea we were both bidding on the same horse until the end.”

Clay also signed for a colt by Nyquist (hip 162) from the Margaux Farm consignment for $700,000 and a pair of Constitution fillies–one from De Meric Sales (hip 132) for $575,000 and one from Caliente Thoroughbreds (hip 605) for $500,000.

“The prices seemed fair,” Clay said of the sale. “I thought it was a fair market.”

Fennell, Garcia Score with Speaker’s Corner Colt

Consignor Luis Garcia gave all the credit for picking out a colt by Speaker’s Corner for $50,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton February sale to Gina Fennell. Returned to the sales ring in Timonium Tuesday with Garcia’s L.G. consignment, the juvenile (hip 531) rewarded the decision when selling for $425,000 to the bid of trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

“Gina went to that sale for herself,” Garcia said after watching the colt sell. “I have to give her the credit. I don’t go to that sale because I’m always at the farm training horses at that time of year.”

Fennell did keep Garcia in the loop before buying the colt.

“She liked his body and she said he looked fast,” Garcia recalled. “She sent me a photo and I liked him, too.”

Garcia added, “I trained him. He’s not a big horse, but I can see he is going to grow.”

Speaker’s Corner, who stands at Darley for $10,000, has been well-received in the sales ring this spring. His eight juveniles to bring six figures at the OBS Spring sale were led by colts who sold for $875,000 and $500,000. The stallion had a colt sell for $650,000 during Monday’s first session of the Midlantic May sale.

“I saw one yesterday that looked really good and I’ve seen a couple at the sales and I like the way they look,” Garcia said of the stallion’s first 2-year-olds.

Garcia agreed Tuesday’s result exceeded expectations.

“I just wanted to get it done, so I didn’t put a high reserve on him,” Garcia said. “I knew he was going to bring a little bit of money, but to be honest, I thought it would be $200,000 or $300,000.”

The post ‘Absolutely Thrilled’: Records Across The Board As Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale Concludes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

As Parx Takes Entries, Trainers Told To Move Horses To Other Barns

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The fallout from Parx Racing’s decision to deny nine trainers stalls at the track for no apparent reason continued to play out in confusing fashion Tuesday when the track’s racing office accepted entries for next Monday.

Trainer Mary Pattershall, one of the trainers told last month they would be denied stalls at the Pennsylvania track, said she made an entry Tuesday morning for Kevin’s Strike, a four-year-old gelding whose last seven starts have been for the trainer.

“They said, ‘if anything changes, we’ll call you immediately,’” Pattershall recalls, of the racing office’s initial response to the entry.

According to Pattershall, the racing office subsequently alerted her that she would be unable to run the horse under her name as the trainer. The horse, instead, has been transferred to the stable of trainer Ronald Dandy, and is entered in Race six next Monday at Parx.

“He’s agreed to take on the training duties of these horses,” Pattershall said of Dandy, for five horses in total.

The TDN texted and called David Osojnak, Parx director of racing, Tuesday. He did not respond before deadline.

Pattershall, 65, is one of nine trainers denied stalls at the track. They’ve never been given a reason for the decision, although some of them have been vocally critical of track management in recent months.

Pattershall suspects her situation might be due to critical comments she has made of Parx’s management of the track and barn area during a recent cold snap this winter via her role on a horseman’s advisory group.

The other eight trainers denied stalls at include Brenda Wilson, Michael Catalano Jr., Josue Arce, Patrick Ashton, Herold Whylie, and Daniel Velazquez.

Catalano and Velazquez have already moved their stables to Delaware. But Pattershall and at least three other trainers have remained at the track.

In Pattershall’s case, she said she could move her horses to Delaware Park, but that would mean she would have to abandon the vanning business she has built up over the years around Parx.

The TDN spoke Tuesday morning with Whylie, Ashton and one other trainer involved, all of whom described being told by track management to transfer their horses to other trainers, leaving them in a strange limbo–they’re permitted access to the track, but not permitted to enter horses under their name as trainers.

According to Whylie, 70, he has been stabled at Parx since 1988 and has long maintained a sizeable string until more recently, when he downsized.

Whylie said that earlier this year, he temporarily lost coverage under his prior workers’ compensation plan, but after a period of a few weeks found alternate coverage under a new plan. He paid for a year’s coverage up front, he said.

“I was back training. I ran a horse and won, okay? But a week later I was told I would get no stalls,” said Whylie. “The racing office told me I could put the horses in somebody [else’s] name, and [they would] downgrade my license to an assistant trainer’s license.”

Whylie said that he transferred the four horses he also owns to trainer Pedro Mercedes. Tuesday morning, he added, the Parx racing office contacted him multiple times, asking him to enter one of his horses in an “extra” on next week’s card.

“They called me from the racing office at least four times, trying to get me to help them fill a race,” said Whylie.

According to multiple sources, Parx has as many as 200 empty stalls across its backstretch.

Ashton, 71, said that he applied for five stalls before being denied them, and that he planned on purchasing several more this year from the ongoing Timonium sale and from his contacts in Florida.

“This has crippled us,” said Ashton, who explained how he and some of his fellow targeted trainers have lost access to a health insurance plan available to trainers who maintain a certain number of starts a year at the track. “It’s emotional stress.”

This story also raises question marks over the role of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (PTHA), the organization tasked with defending the state’s industry stakeholders in matters like this, but which some trainers say has done too little to defend their rights.

In the background of this issue is a horsemen’s association riven by internal strife, due to allegations of financial mismanagement among certain members of the board over recent years. The PTHA board ordered an audit of this alleged financial impropriety. That audit is complete but it has not yet been made public.

Alan Pincus, an attorney representing seven of the trainers, and Bob Hutt, an owner-breeder who sits on the PTHA board of directors, recently outlined a sequence of events that put the trainers in a tight legal bind.

According to Hutt, Velazquez, a PTHA board member, and PTHA president Kate DeMasi initially met with Joe Wilson, Parx COO, for a brief meeting that yielded no meaningful resolution.

Hutt said Jan Budman, the recently hired legal counsel for the PTHA, more recently spoke with Joe Stathius, Parx Racing’s assistant general counsel, when Budman raised the idea of a formal merits hearing as outlined in the live racing agreement with Parx.

According to Hutt, Budman reported that Parx counsel disagreed with that position under the live race agreement, stating that the trainers were not ejected nor excluded from Parx premises, and that their state licenses would still permit them access to the Parx backstretch to tend to their horses.

Hutt said that Budman then recommended instead that the trainers petition for an arbitration hearing under section 15 of the PTHA’s stall application.

This section of the stall application outlines an arbitration process that requires the trainers to file separately rather than as a group.

According to Pincus, he petitioned Parx for an arbitration hearing under the stall agreement, which he describes as being “completely and utterly one-sided” in favor of the track. Track management, Pincus said, denied this request.

Last week during a PTHA board meeting, Hutt then made a motion for the PTHA to challenge Parx to enforce the live race agreement (in other words, to allow the trainers a full merits hearing), he said.

The PTHA board voted that motion down, on advice from the PTHA counsel saying that such a legal move might jeopardize their tax-exempt status, said Hutt.

“This board is hiding behind violating the PTHA’s ‘tax exempt status’ as an excuse not to help,” said Hutt, over the weekend. “I feel like the board is violating the mission of the PTHA which is to help our horsemen, for which we were duly elected.”

According to Pincus, he has petitioned Parx once again “for any due process available to us.”

Reached by phone over the weekend, DeMasi pushed back on the argument her organization has failed to fully support its members during this situation.

When pressed about the advice of counsel about the tax-status of the organization if it supported the trainers during their legal efforts, DeMasi said “there’s just concern over that. But, we have actually had counsel communicate with Parx and everything. So, we’ve been here for the horsemen, and we’ve been advised and we have supported our horsemen throughout this process.”

When asked via text for a copy of the audit into alleged financial mismanagement by the board, DeMasi wrote back that the report is confidential.

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