February, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Duncan Taylor Steps Back As President, CEO Of Taylor Made Farm

Duncan Taylor, who founded Taylor Made Farm in 1976 and developed it into an industry-leading consigning, boarding, and stallion operation, stepped back as the farm's president and CEO in January, BloodHorse reports.

Under the company's new structure, Mark Taylor, previously Taylor Made's vice president of marketing and public sales operations and the youngest of the four brothers in the operation, has taken Duncan's spot as president and CEO. Frank Taylor, previously vice president of boarding operations, is now vice president of sales. Ben Taylor, previously vice president of stallions, is now president of Taylor Made Stallions.

Duncan Taylor will remain with the company as senior Thoroughbred consultant.

The next generation of the Taylor family will also be taking new positions within the organization.

Katie Taylor, daughter of Frank, is now vice president of operations. Logan Payne, the son of Taylor Made partner and Thoroughbred advisor Pat Payne, will take over as vice president of boarding and general manager of the farm.

Duncan Taylor founded Taylor Made with business partner Mike Shannon in 1976, starting as a boarding operation, and moving into sales consignment two years later, developing into a perennial leading seller at North America's biggest sales by volume, gross, and racetrack success. The operation began standing stallions in 1997, highlighted by leading commercial and racetrack sire Unbridled's Song.

Thoughts from Ocala Part 1: Freshman Sires

With the start of the 2-year-old in training sales just around the corner, a visit to Ocala proved to be informative as we checked in with consignors who are starting the fine-tuning process with their sales horses. In the weeks leading up to the OBS March Sale, which starts March 15, we will release a series of video features covering the topics everyone is talking about as the sales season approaches: Who might be this year's top freshman sire? Which freshman sires could be flying under the radar? What horses are these consignors most looking forward to presenting to the market? And speaking of the market, what are consignors' thoughts on the overall health of the 2-year-old market in 2022?

In this first episode, we spoke with Eddie Woods, Nick de Meric and Susan Montanye about the freshman sires whose 2-year-olds have impressed them most throughout the breaking and training process, and we asked them to show us a few of those sires' most promising progeny that we will see at the sales in the coming weeks.

EDDIE WOODS

This year's freshman sires are a good group overall, probably better than average.

The Justifys are way more precocious than I thought they would be. We have a Justify colt out of Runway Doll (Majestic Warrior) who is a lovely colt going to OBS March [Hip 89]. He's all quality and is built like a tank

The Good Magics are very nice horses. They're laid-back, kind of Curlin-y type horses. We have a Good Magic colt out of Jane Says (Tale of Ekati) going to OBS March [Hip 520]. He's a beautiful-looking horse and we're really happy with him. We have several other Good Magic 2-year-olds who are going to the races that are quite nice.

The City of Lights are beautiful, big, strong, strapping horses. We have a City of Light colt out of Forest Gamble (Forest Wildcat) that is going to OBS March [Hip 439] and is a magnificent-looking horse, so we are looking forward to offering him.

The Mendelssohns also have a lot of quality. They look like they might just take a little bit of time. The Accelerates are looking good as well.

NICK DE MERIC

We have a reasonable cross-section of first-year sires this year. I'd say the ones that have impressed me at this point in the game would include Good Magic, for sure, Bolt d'Oro and West Coast. We have a couple of really nice West Coasts. Mendelssohn is another that has really got my attention. I only have one Justify, but she's a lovely filly and I'm hearing good things from other people about the Justifys, so he would definitely be on the list as well. Some of the horses we have by these first-year sires are going to sales and some of them are going straight to the races.

I have two Good Magic colts and they're kind of different types physically. One is a big, husky individual and the other is a little on the smaller, more nimble side, but they're both taking a little bit of added pressure really well. They're eating the bottom out of their feed tubs, they're light on their feet and everything that we've done with them they've done well within themselves with plenty in reserve. We haven't really squeezed on them yet, but we're just getting to a point where we're asking a little bit more from them and they seem to be handling everything so easily.

I've got a Bolt d'Oro filly out of Scorpio Queen (Aus) (Choisir {Aus}) who has been breezing really well. She's another one that is doing, if anything, a little more than she's being asked for. She's going to OBS April. She's a big, rugged filly. She seemed to be all head and no body when she first arrived here, but as she's grown and filled out and her musculature has improved, she's starting to look really balanced and I really like the way she's been breezing. She's looking like she could be a good one. We've had several others Bolt d'Oros as yearlings and we've been noting at the sales that he's consistently getting good individuals, so that's also a good indicator.

Susan Montanye and her OBS March-bound Bolt d'Oro colt out of Queen of May | Katie Petrunyak

SUSAN MONTANYE: SBM Training and Sales

I've been really impressed so far with the Bolt d'Oros. I actually have several of them, one going to the OBS March Sale, one going to the Miami sale, one possibly going to the OBS April Sale and a couple that are going to the races. They've all been light on their feet, very precocious and they love to train. I think it's going to be a big year for Bolt.

My Bolt d'Oro colt going to the OBS March Sale is out of Queen of May (Bernardini) [Hip 51]. If I were rich, he wouldn't be for sale. I just absolutely love him. He is all business. He looks like he'll be fast and want to stretch. There really isn't anything to knock on him. I can't wait to see who ends up getting him and then root him on in his career because I think he's going to be special.

The other colt out of Platinum Song (My Golden Song) is actually a May foal, but he's a big boy. We are taking him down to the Miami sale [Hip 44]. He's a little bit different that the Queen of May colt. I think he's going to be maybe just a tad bit of a later bloomer than Queen of May, but he's going to be a phenomenal individual on the racetrack.

I also have a couple City of Lights. I have a filly out of Edith Court (Pomeroy) going to the OBS March Sale [Hip 405]. She's super fun and classy. I think she's going to be really fast early, more of a sprinter type.

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Country Grammer, Midnight Bourbon Move On To Dubai World Cup; Mandaloun Coming Home

The two-three finishers in Saturday's $20 million Saudi Cup, Country Grammer and Midnight Bourbon, will be staying in the Middle East to pursue bids in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup on March 26, according to the Daily Racing Form.

Country Grammer, a 5-year-old son of Tonalist trained by Bob Baffert, earned $3.5 million for his runner-up finish in Riyadh. Owned by WinStar Farm, Amr Zedan, and Commonwealth Racing Stables, the horse had won the G1 Hollywood Gold Cup in his most recent start before the Saudi Cup, and ran second off a layoff of over 250 days.

Co-owner Elliott Walden (WinStar) told DRF that Country Grammer “came out of the race in good shape” and was likely to join the WinStar and China Horse Club-owned Life is Good in Dubai.

Midnight Bourbon, the 4-year-old son of Tiznow conditioned by Steve Asmussen, ran very well to finish third and add just over $2 million to his career earnings. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Midnight Bourbon was beaten 1 1/2 lengths in Saudi Arabia and will also head on to Dubai.

In his most recent start prior to the Saudi Cup, Midnight Bourbon was just defeated by Juddmonte's Mandaloun. The Brad Cox-trained runner was favored in pari-mutuel pools for the Saudi Cup, but faded to finish ninth and will head back to the United States.

“Mandaloun will come home next week and regroup,” Juddmonte's Garrett O'Rourke told DRF. “No obvious excuse, but not enough confidence to move forward as we know he's much better than that.”

American-trained Art Collector, who ran 12th in the Saudi Cup, will also head back to the States. Meanwhile, his Bill Mott-trained stablemate Casa Creed will proceed to Dubai's Al Quoz Sprint after a big second-place effort in the 1351 Sprint.

Locally-trained hero Emblem Road won the Saudi Cup by a half-length, and could also be considered for the Dubai contest, according to post-race comments from connections. Also known to be pointing for the Dubai World Cup is the American-trained Hot Rod Charlie, who won a prep race in Dubai on Feb. 4.

Najd Stud’s Aims Of Going Global

In recent years the name of Najd Stud has appeared with increasing frequency on the list of sales returns in Britain and Ireland, and the bloodstock industry globally can expect to hear plenty more about the growing Saudi Arabian breeding empire of its owner, HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdulaziz.

On the Saudi Cup undercard, Prince Faisal was represented by a number of runners, including Grocer Jack (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}) who was just over two lengths behind Authority (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) when fifth in the G3 Neom Turf Cup, and Alnaader (KSA) (Teletext), who was the same distance off the winner Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) in the G3 Saudi Derby.

Grocer Jack, a Group 2 winner in his native Germany, had made headlines last October when topping the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale at 700,000gns. In the last year alone, Najd Stud has signed for 26 horses in Newmarket for just shy of 4 million gns. The horses in training have mostly headed to Saudi, though Grocer Jack remained in Europe and is trained in Newmarket by William Haggas, who also has three 2-year-olds for the prince this year. Najd Stud also boards three mares in England and was active during the yearling section of the recent Goffs February Sale, buying eight youngsters, as well as Kadinnka (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a 3-year-old filly from the Aga Khan Studs.

In just four years, Najd Stud in Riyadh has grown to an operation which consists of 120 broodmares and five stallions. Alnaader's good run in the Saudi Derby will doubtless have brought pride to his owner/breeder as he represents the first crop of one of the resident stallions, Teletext. The Juddmonte-bred son of Empire Maker was third in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and beaten a neck by Ectot (Ire) when runner-up in the G2 Prix Niel before concluding his racing career in Saudi, where he won a local Group 1 in Prince Faisal Bin Khaled's colours.

Speaking ahead of Alnaader's run on Saturday, Najd Stud's representative Saud Al Qahtani, now a familiar face at the European sales, said of the homebred, “We hope he will show everybody that a Saudi horse can be a good horse and he might go to the UAE Derby.”

He would certainly be entitled to take up that engagement now, and it may not be long before more of the Najd Stud homebreds are seen in action around the globe.

“We have a new foundation in Europe,” said Al Qahtani on Friday. “We have three broodmares and some yearlings we bought from Goffs and Tattersalls, so we hope to have some good horses to run in England and France and to make Najd Stud a global brand.”

The mares, all in England, include the G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Under The Stars (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who was bought in foal to Frankel (GB) last December from Godolphin for 300,000gns, and Serene Oasis (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}), who is in foal to Almanzor (Fr) and will visit Pinatubo (Ire) this year. The latter, a four-time winner and daughter of Round Hill Stud's Princess Serena (Unbridled's Song), now looks to have been a shrewd purchase 10 years ago for 30,000gns. Still only 13, her pedigree has received several significant updates in recent years thanks to her Group-winning half-siblings Zabeel Prince (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Puissance De Lune (Ire) (Shamardal) and Queen Power (Ire) (Shamardal).

“To buy a very good horse is very difficult, beach no-one wants to sell them,” said Al Qahtani. “So we started to do this to try to breed good horses to be competitive all around the world.”

While the mares are currently boarding at studs in England, there are plans afoot for Prince Faisal Bin Khaled to acquire his own stud in the country before too long.

His advisor added, “We will try to produce good horses from them and if they are good enough to stay in Europe then that's great, otherwise they will come here [to Saudi Arabia]. It is our hope to have our own farm in England in the next three or four years. We would like to start in England because Juddmonte started there and all the best breeders are there.”

The influence of Saudi Arabian breeders in the world of Thoroughbred breeding has been immense, not least through the late Prince Khalid Abdullah's hugely successful Juddmonte Farms, but also through the boutique operation of Prince AA Faisal, which has given the stallion scene Kodiac (GB) and Invincible Spirit (Ire) and is currently represented on the track by Mishriff (Ire), a Group 1 winner in three countries. His sire Make Believe (GB) also raced in the same colours but was bought by Prince AA Faisal as a foal.

It would seem that through Najd Stud, Prince Faisal Bin Khaled aims to follow his compatriots' example, and in the meantime those behind racing in his home country have their own aims of significant growth through the addition of new racecourses and expansion of the Saudi race programme.

Al Qahtani noted that he has been heartened by the response to the country's flagship Saudi Cup meeting in the last three years, which, as the most valuable in the world, could hardly have failed to make an impression.

He said, “If you compare the horses from last year to those who came this year from all around the world you will see it's even more competitive. We have the best horses coming from America and from Europe and Japan.”

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