It has been another banner season for Not This Time, the sire of five Grade I winners from his first three crops, including this year's Resorts World Casino Manhattan S. hero Up To the Mark. His Grade I winners on the dirt include sales-topping 'TDN Rising Star' Princess Noor, G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen hero Sibelius and GI Madison S. victress Just One Time. The leading fourth-crop sire of 2023, he is also responsible for Cogburn, who won the GIII Troy S. sprinting over the turf at Saratoga Aug. 5.

The share in Not This Time includes all the projected income from the just-concluded breeding season. Shareholders are entitled to one nomination annually plus the proportionate share of the excess book.

Not This Time is governed by a 50-share syndicate.

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Not This Time is the sire of five Grade I winners from three crops to race, and is the leading fourth-crop sire of 2023.

The share includes all projected income from the 2023 breeding season. Shareholders receive one nomination annually, plus their proportional share of the excess book. (See complete details here.)

Not This Time is governed by a 50-share syndicate. “It's a very tightly held syndicate,” said Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales. “The Albaugh family has retained almost half of the shares in Not This Time. Taylor Made owns a chunk of shares, Coolmore owns a chunk of shares, and there are a few other single-share owners. The opportunity to buy these doesn't come along very often because none of those people who own blocks of shares are sellers. This is a unique opportunity.”

Though a fourth-crop sire, Not This Time is just nine years old, having started his breeding career at three.

“For a horse to have already accomplished what he's accomplished at nine is really rare,” said Taylor. “I mean, a lot of these good stallions didn't retire until they were five, start breeding at six or whatever, and by the time they have a chance to establish themselves, they're 13 or 14, whatever. That makes him unique.”

Not This Time's Grade I winners include Up To The Mark, winner of the GI Manhattan S. and the GI Turf Classic S. on turf. Epicenter won the GI Travers S. on dirt, and was second in the Derby and Preakness. Sibelius won the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, a dirt sprint; Just One Time won the seven-furlong Madison S.; and Princess Noor won the GI Del Mar Debutante on the dirt at two.

That versatility in his offspring is, said Taylor, “the hallmark of a lot of the really, really great stallions. Some of them are pigeonholed more dirt, turf or sprint or distance. But if you look at his top horses, you've got Princess Noor who was a Grade I winner at two. She was a seven-figure 2-year-old-in-training. You've got Up To The Mark, who was a $450,000 Book 1 yearling bred off a $15,000 stud fee, and he's turned into a two-turn grass horse. But he was good on the dirt early on in his career. You've got Epicenter, who was champion 3-year-old on the dirt and with a little better circumstance, probably could have won the Kentucky Derby. And then you've got horses that are like Simplification, who was a top 3-year-old on the dirt last year.”

As if to underscore his point, Not That Time's Cogburn won the GIII Troy S., a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint, at Saratoga Saturday.

“Cogburn was good on the dirt last year, they brought him back, and now he looks like he's a real player for the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint this year,” said Taylor. “He is a turf sprinter, so I think his versatility is unique. The fact that he gets 2-year olds, he gets route horses on the dirt, he can get turf horses going short or long, and the X-factor is he gets beautiful yearlings. I think anybody that's looking around the grounds this week at Saratoga is going to come away just saying, 'Wow. The product he puts on the end of the shank is very impressive.'”

Recent sales of his progeny have been strong; his 2022 Saratoga sale average was $425,000, with seven sold from seven offered. “His sales averages are now just really taking off, and the best mares by far are coming up in the subsequent crops,” said Taylor. “All his success has come off of mares that were bred on $15,000-and-under stud fees. Now he's got a yearling crop that was on a $35,000 stud fee. He's got foals that were on a $45,000 stud fee, and then he's got in-utero mares that were covered on $135,000. The pipeline is really loaded and I think the sky's the limit. He's a very fertile horse, which makes life easier when you're a shareholder and when you're breeding. It's a big deal in this day and age when people are trying to cover large books of mares.”

Taylor said that there were obvious advantages to putting the stallion share up for sale in a public format and at a marquee event. “It's a unique offering and I think the thought was that the vast majority of these stallions that retire to the bigger stallion farms are not syndicated. Finding a horse that's moving into the upper echelon of stallions that is syndicated makes it unique. If we put it in front of the public and let people bid on it, as opposed to just doing a private solicitation of people we think might be interested, we just thought we could get the word out, get more eyeballs on the opportunity. The seller came up with the idea and they asked our permission and we said, Yes.'” The seller, said Taylor is a private individual who wishes to remain undisclosed.

People often comment on Not This Time's good looks, and his name ties into that, Taylor said.

“His mother, Miss Macy Sue, was campaigned by the Albaughs. She produced Liam's Map, and in his year, he was arguably the best-looking yearling on our farm. They didn't plan on selling him, but we lobbied and said, 'Hey, there's a beautiful horse. You could really take a lot of chips off the table, and then there's a lot of years still to breed Miss Macy Sue. Why don't you put it in the sale?'

“They decided to do it, said Taylor. “He brings $800,000. And so when Not This Time came along, he was clearly the best-looking yearling on our farm. He was absolutely just stunning, this big dark bay Adonis of a horse. And so we said, 'Hey, this is another opportunity to take some chips off the table. Why don't we put him in the sale?” And they said, 'Uh-uh. Not this time.'”

Taylor said he believed that as promising as his first few seasons have been, the best is yet to come for Not This Time.

“The support he got this year from the best breeders around the world was really amazing. I mean, you can't name a really top breeder that didn't send mares to him this year. I think that the support he's getting now is hopefully just going to take him to the next level in his career.”

Bidding on the share is available in person at the sales pavilion at Saratoga, online, or via telephone.

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Trophy Girl (Warrior's Reward) will be offered by Denali Stud as hip 302. The 9-year-old mare, selling in foal to dual Eclipse Award winner Essential Quality, is the dam of Blazing Sevens (Good Magic), third behind recent GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. hero Forte (Violence) in the GI Hopeful S. in September and most recently the impressive winner of the GI Champagne S. at Aqueduct to secure his spot in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 5.

Next into the ring will be hip 303, the Paramount Sales-consigned Special Treat (Candy Ride {Arg}). Descending from the Phipps female family of Grade I winners Imagining (Giant's Causeway), Rhythm (Mr. Prospector), Girolamo (A.P. Indy) and Super Saver (Maria's Mon), among others, the 10-year-old was recently represented by Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke), who earned a spot in the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies courtesy of her victory in the GI Frizette S. at the Big A. Special Treat is offered in foal to GI Met Mile winner Silver State (Hard Spun).

Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) earned a ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint when taking out the Oct. 2 Speakeasy S. at Santa Anita, and his dam Sophia Mia (Pioneerof the Nile) is cataloged as hip 312 to The November Sale. Consigned by Stuart Morris, agent for Caperlane Farm, the 7-year-old Sophia Mia is carrying to promising first-crop sire Army Mule.

Among the other supplements are:

• Sheza Smoke Show (hip 300), the dam of GISW 'TDN Rising Star' Princess Noor (Not This Time) in foal to Tapit from the Taylor Made Sales draft;
• Wait For Nairobi (hip 301), a half-sister to GISW Tell A Kelly pregnant to Constitution and offered by Hartwell Farm;
• Byrama (GB) (hip 309), dam of GISW Known Agenda (Curlin) and carrying a full-sibling; Lane's End consigns;
• Duchess of Sussex (hip 310), from the immediate family of GI Cotillion S. romper Society (Gun Runner) and in foal to GI Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World, son of Gun Runner's sire Candy Ride (Arg) from Baldwin Bloodstock

Also included in the first intake of supplemental entries are weanlings by Army Mule, Complexity and Kantharos.

The newest additions are available online and will also be included in the Equineline catalogue app. Print versions of these and any further supplemental entries will be available on the sales grounds at sale time.

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6th-BEL, $90k, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 3:38 p.m. ET

Seven horses make their career debut in this potential-laden nine-horse field, headed by PROTONIC POWER (Protonico), part of an uncoupled entry for the Todd Pletcher barn. Owned by Sumaya US Stable, who campaigned his sire, the colt is out of Grade III winner Sheza Smoke Show (Wilko), making him a half to 2020 OBS April topper and subsequent Grade I winner Princess Noor (Not This Time). The bay stayed home at Belmont for the summer and shows an upbeat worktab, highlighted by a half-mile gate breeze in :48 2/5 (5/66) over the main track Aug. 28. The other half of the Pletcher duo is Al Shaqab Racing's narrow morning-line favorite Afjan (Uncle Mo). The homebred is the second foal to race out of GSW/MGISP Scarlet Strike (Smart Strike), following this year's British G3 Supreme S. hero Toro Strike (Toronado {Ire}). Scarlet Strike is also a half-sister to Grade I winners Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song) and Visionaire (Grand Slam). Afjan most recently breezed a sharp five furlongs from the gate over the local training track in 1:00 3/5 (2/28) Sept. 10. Cairama (Cairo Prince) turned heads at OBS March when breezing a furlong in :9 4/5 before hammering for $525,000, 35 times her sire's stud fee and debuts from the rail for the red-hot Steve Asmussen barn. Pegged as a 15-1 longshot on the morning line in his career bow for Nick Zito, Atlantic Thoroughbreds' Atlantic Dancer (American Pharoah) is a half-brother to last year's GII Tampa Bay Derby hero and GI Arkansas Derby runner-up King Guillermo (Uncle Mo) and hammered for $400,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. TJCIS PPs

—@JBiancaTDN

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Young, who is based in Southern California, purchased the Florida-bred Protonico colt for a mere $35,000 as a 2-year-old at the 2020 OBS July Sale for Amr Zedan.

“Jockey Victory Espinoza actually helped bridge the relationship with Mr. Zedan,” Young said. “He's a lifelong horse lover and he felt like he wanted to get back in the game. He met (Bob) Baffert in Saudi Arabia a couple years ago and he decided to take another swing at the game. The first sale we went to (2020 OBS April) he gave me a budget of $1 million and I got there that day and sometimes you hear rumblings about potential top sales prices around the sale. I called him about the two horses we marked down and told him there was a chance we wouldn't get both for that price and one may go for more than the budget.”

Young was correct and their first purchase was future Grade 1-winning filly Princess Noor, who dropped the hammer at $1.35 million. Princess Noor subsequently retired at the end of 2020 due to an injury but was pronounced in foal Friday to top stallion Into Mischief.

Following Princess Noor's purchase, Young returned to the sales ring to the rescheduled OBS July Sale. Because the sale was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Young only had 12 horses marked down in his catalogue to look at following the breeze preview days.

“After the last day of the preview I walked out of the sale similar to Rocky Balboa walking back to the corner after Apollo beat him up,” Young said. “I called Mr.Zedan and he asked me if I remember seeing a horse by Protonico breeze. It was easy to remember because there was only one horse by Protonico in the sale and he was one of the 12 horses I wrote down to look at. He told me his friend stands the stallion and asked if I could go look at him.

“In his sales breeze he kept his rhythm very well to the wire and actually continued out well to the seven-eighths pole. I have the catalogue of that sale and on the page for (Medina Spirit) I wrote, 'natural router stride.'”

When Young arrived to look at Medina Spirit prior to the sale, he noted his dark color like his sire Protonico. On the day of the sale, Young purchased Medina Spirit and he was shipped to Southern California to Baffert.

“I'm glad Mr. Zedan chose me to work with but even more importantly he chose Bob,” Young quipped.

Young arrived to Louisville eight days prior to this year's Kentucky Derby – the same time his prized purchase walked off the van to begin his final preparation for the “Run for the Roses.”

“I kept coming home to the hotel room all week knowing this horse would run well,” Young said. “In the Derby, I knew there wasn't a lot of speed inside of us. We knew Mandaloun had some speed but we thought Brad (Cox) would instruct (Florent Geroux) get him to relax. Rock Your World, who I considered our main opposition, got left leaving the gate.

“Down the backside you start looking around who's traveling well behind you. I could see Mandaloun was a different horse than the Louisiana Derby. He was probably pulling more than you like but he was running. Then, I noticed Flavien (Prat) on Hot Rod Charlie was traveling beautifully. Essential Quality was a little further out than Medina Spirit, Mandaloun and Hot Rod Charlie.”

Young's mere $35,000 purchase gamely turned back his rivals down the stretch for a half-length victory in the Kentucky Derby.

“I remember seeing Mr. Zedan after the race just fall to his knees in pure jubilation,” Baffert said. “What a humble man. We couldn't be happier for him.”

Young was noticeably hoarse Sunday morning following the Derby celebration.

“You can't put into words what winning the Kentucky Derby means,” Young said. “Life has been so good to me. I've been around so many talented people and horses. In the past I've been fortunate enough to win many Grade 1 races but there's only one Kentucky Derby and I'll remember that moment for my entire life.”

Medina Spirit will face his next test in next Saturday's Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico. He returned to training Wednesday at Churchill Downs and will ship to Baltimore, Md., Monday afternoon.

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Of the 26 fifth-year stallions standing in Kentucky today, Protonico was one of five to breed less than 20 mares last year. And yet, here he is now sitting atop the Leading Second-Crop Sires list after his son Medina Spirit charged home to win the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby at 12-1 odds.

When Protonico began his career at Taylor Made Farm in 2017, he bred just 34 mares. After moving over to Darby Dan Farm the next year, he couldn't do much better there with a 51-strong book. Eventually, he found a home at the Ryan family's Castleton Lyons Farm outside of Lexington and not long after, produced a Kentucky Derby winner from his first crop of 3-year-olds.

“It's kind of a fairytale story,” Castleton Lyons equine manager Pat Hayes said. “It just goes to prove that a good racehorse can come from anywhere- at any level and any price point in the stallion ranks. It gives a lot of assurance to breeders that good stallions might not be priced expensively, but they are out there. So you just have to dig a little deeper, I guess, and hope you land on one.”

While most of the commercial market may have initially turned its nose at the near million-dollar earner, Protonico's owner and breeder Oussama Aboughazale never wavered in his belief in the horse.

“The first time I met Mr. Aboughazale was in the spring of 2019,” Hayes recalled. “He put his arm around me and said, 'Pat, this horse will breed a champion.' So for all this to happen with his first crop is truly a testament of Mr. Aboughazale's belief in him. He told us he was going to support him with 10 to 20 mares every year and he has lived up to that and bred some really nice mares to him.”

Perhaps Aboughazale developed such a passionate faith in Protonico when he had a bird's-eye view of the son of Alpha Spirit (A.P. Indy) during his early days on the track. Aboughazale trained Protonico in his first two career starts, taking the colt to a 12 3/4-length debut victory before he was transferred to Todd Pletcher's barn for his 3-year-old campaign.

Medina Spirit's win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby gave his sire the first Grade I victory of any second-crop sire this year. | Horsephotos

As a sophomore, Protonico reeled off victories in the GIII Smarty Jones S. and GIII Discovery S. but came just short of a Grade I win in the Clark H., where he bested third-place finisher Constitution (Tapit), but came up just half a length short of Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday). He came back at four to take the GIII Ben Ali S. and GII Alysheba S. for Aboughazale's Sumaya U.S. Stable.

“The stallion game is so competitive here,” Hayes said. “He was just a tick off in the Clark H. to win a Grade I, and I think that really hurts a stallion coming to retire in Kentucky. But his pedigree was there. There were a couple of other Giant's Causeways retiring at the same time as him, but looking at his race record, we thought he was just as good as a lot of them.”

So the team at Castleton Lyons was rewarded last weekend, when their belief in the previously-disesteemed stallion was fulfilled by Medina Spirit's victory and the calls starting coming in with breeder's begging for a slot with Protonico in the last few weeks of breeding season.

“Going into the Derby, I think everybody at the farm was a little nervous,” Hayes admitted. “We thought it was possible, but watching the race and seeing him go wire-to-wire was awesome. Since then, the phones have been ringing quite a lot. It's been pretty hectic, but we've gotten a lot of contracts to Protonico since, which is what every stallion owner wants to hear.”

What was the first thing Hayes heard from Aboughazale after the big day at Churchill Downs?

“I spoke with him yesterday and his comments were, 'I told you so,'” Hayes relayed with a laugh.

Hayes added that it should come as no surprise that a grandson of the 'Iron Horse' would display such grit.

“Medina Spirit has that heart and courage that Protonico had as a racehorse. When they were all bearing down on him in the [Kentucky Derby] stretch, he just kept fighting and fighting. Bob Baffert has touched on this a lot this week, that the horse never gives up and doesn't know how to say stop. It's great for a stallion to pass that along and Medina Spirit really embodies a lot of what Protonico was as a racehorse. They have quite a similar way of running with a low head carriage and they're very economical movers.”

Karl Keegan, who founded Lucan Bloodstock last year, was the eye behind the famed recommendation Aboughazale gave to Amr Zedan that resulted in Medina Spirit's $35,000 purchase for Zedan Racing Stables at the 2020 OBS July Sale.

Keegan vividly recalls first seeing Medina Spirit on the OBS sales ground.

“I was stabled at barn 15 and this horse kept catching my eye at barn 16, so I went to take a closer look and I was blown away.”

At the time, Keegan was working with several Sumaya Stables-owned horses, so he called their team to pass on the tip.

“That night I went home and watched his breeze a bunch of times and was amazed he had stopped the clock in :33 flat,” Keegan said. “We had a conference call the next day with the Sumaya team and they were happy about my positive review of the son of their stallion, so that gave Mr. Aboughazale the confidence to pass on the information to his good friend Amr Zedan and as they say, the rest is history.”

Protonico has had only 10 starters from his first two crops of runners, but three are already winners. Keegan, who breaks 2-year-olds for Aboughzale in Ocala, believes there are many more to come.

This week Protonic Power begins training with Todd Pletcher, the same trainer who oversaw his sire's career. | Karl Keegan

“We had five Protonico 2-year-olds this winter at Lucan,” he said. “They were all good-sized horses with strong bone and exceptional depth of girth. From day one in the round pen to breezing on the racetrack, they went out every morning and did their job.”

Hayes added of the youngsters on the ground at Castleton Lyons, “One thing we're really seeing with them is the athleticism and the walk. They've all got great bodies and are generally correct. Physically, Protonico is a really nicely-balanced horse. He's a great mover and has a really strong body. He has a lot of Giant's Causeway's traits, but even more so of A.P. Indy from the damside.”

One young son of Protonico that stands out to both Keegan and Hayes is a 2-year-old named Protonic Power. The colt is a three-quarters sibling to Princess Noor (Not This Time), the speedy filly purchased for $1.35 million last year who went on to take the GI Del Mar Debutante S. and GII Chandelier S. for Zedan Racing Stables.

“He's owned by Samaya Stables and he looks great,” Hayes said. “We're looking forward to seeing him at the races this year.”

Keegan reported that Protonic Power has wrapped up his early training and is shipping to Todd Pletcher on Saturday.

“He's a very good-looking, powerful horse with good balance,” Keegan said of the juvenile. “He's training super. He reminds me a lot of Medina Spirit, just a tad smaller. I had seen him at Castleton Lyons when I was up in Kentucky for the [2020] Keeneland September Sale and I was very excited at the chance to break and train him. When he got to our farm I went back and looked at some photos and  video I had taken of Medina Spirit at the OBS Sale and saw a lot of similarities.”

While the team behind Protonico eagerly anticipates more chapters to come in their stallion's Cinderella story, they aren't quite finished celebrating an unforgettable weekend as the stack of contracts on Hayes's desk continues to grow.

“This is a huge thing for Castleton Lyons,” Hayes said. “It's been a thoroughbred farm since the late 1700s and has had a lot of highs and lows over the years. Since the Ryan family took it over, they've typically had stallions in the barn since 2004 and we've had Malibu Moon, Bernstein, and Gio Ponti, who was a great homebred and is still standing here. To have a new stallion with some buzz around him right now is great for the farm and the staff and more importantly, great for the owners.”

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We're not used to hearing many Middle Eastern owners speak in the winner's circle these days, except for Amer Abdulaziz of Phoenix Thoroughbreds, and he seems to be in a bit of trouble. When Godolphin or Shadwell wins a big race over here, their respective surrogates Jimmy Bell and Rick Nichols utter a few words on behalf of their patrons. Likewise, Juddmonte's U.S. representative Garrett O'Rourke spoke for Khalid Abdullah and presumably would have done the same on behalf of his son had Mandaloun caught Medina Spirit in the Derby, but you get the idea.

Moreover, the region and some of its principals have taken an international PR beating lately and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, has had his once-promising reputation irreparably sullied by being implicated in the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. On the racing front, the Saudis have handled the Maximum Security (New Year's Day) affair atrociously–has this colt been disqualified or not, 14 months later?–and its proceedings on the matter have been cloaked in secrecy to the consternation of many, including the colt's owners, the Coolmore partners and Gary and Mary West. The Wests, of course, bred and own Concert Tour (Street Sense), one of Baffert's big guns and a possible rival to Medina Spirit in the GI PreaknessS.

You have to go back to the 2002 Derby to find a comparable to Amr Zedan–and to Medina Spirit, for that matter. That year, Baffert trained winner War Emblem (Our Emblem) for The Thoroughbred Corp. of Saudi businessman Prince Ahmed bin Salman, a gregarious, self-deprecating, and enthusiastic owner who was accessible like Amr Zedan and gave Middle Eastern ownership a pulse that resonated here. Baffert and Ahmed bin Salman got along great and the record seven-time Derby-winning trainer seems to have a similarly jocular relationship with Zedan. And remember this? War Emblem, a dark bay colt like Medina Spirit who also was by an unproven sire, led wire-to-wire to win the Derby at generous odds, 20-1–even longer than the 12-1 of the Zedan frontrunner in the Classic.

Ahmed bin Salman, who wore an ever-present smile under his trademark black mustache, was the first Arab owner to win the Derby. War Emblem also won the Preakness. The year before, Ahmed bin Salman had won the Preakness and GI Belmont S. with Point Given, giving him a sweep of all three U.S. Classics in a short but illustrious tenure as an owner. Like Amr Zedan, Ahmed bin Salman was educated in the U.S. and the Kentucky Derby had been a longtime goal. He was 43 when he won the Classic, a few months before he tragically died of a heart attack in Saudi Arabia.

Based in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Jordan, Amr Zedan is 46 and has the swashbuckling looks of an old-time movie star to him, replete with mustache and slicked-back hair. He was born in California, where his parents attended USC, and later moved back to Saudi Arabia before returning to the U.S. to attend college, first at Texas A&M and then later at the University of Stockton in California, from where he graduated. “You can tell from my accent that I'm somewhat American,” Zedan said via phone on Monday, shortly after he'd returned to the Middle East on a 10-hour flight, tired but satisfied.

Baffert calls him a “super cool guy,” and he looks like he lives the life of one in his Instagram posts. He's married to Princess Noor bint Asem of Jordan, plays polo with gusto on a team he owns in Dubai, is a philanthropist, and runs his family's Zedan Group, an energy-focused collection of companies of which he's the chairman.

I asked Zedan how he'd been so composed when speaking during the trophy presentation. “Well, I was very emotional in the box. I lost my voice, because I was really cheering and all that. I was actually with my brother-in-law and I was almost on my knees. I was just thanking God, because if you've ever doubted that there's a higher being, whatever you believe in–in my case it's God–it's that moment when you realize everything needs to be aligned, and it's only by that divine power that you have this. You just get blessed, and everything comes to fruition. So, I was emotional, but the moment I walked out [of the box], I just called my dad and said, 'Dad, we did it,' and he said, as I was walking to the winner's circle across the track, 'Son, congratulations. Let's be humble about this. Get yourself together.'”

Getting Together with Baffert

Much has already been written about Amr Zedan's chance encounter with Baffert at the Dubai airport when Zedan was on his way to Jordan and Baffert was on a layover en route to Saudi Arabia to saddle Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man)–owned by Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal bin Khaled–and McKinzie (Street Sense) in the inaugural Saudi Cup last year. That informal meeting laid the groundwork for what was to follow with the extraordinary purchases of subsequent Grade I winners Princess Noor (Not This Time), his wife's namesake, and Medina Spirit, but Zedan said he'd met Baffert several times earlier as well when he was first getting into the game, which he originally did with an ownership interest in California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) when the colt was under Taylor Made management, and later with a foray into auction buying with brothers Dennis and Doug O'Neill.

Zedan had taken a position in California Chrome just weeks before the horse won the 2016 G1 Dubai World Cup and that had spoiled him, he said. “The investment made sense and it gave me the opportunity to check out the sport and come at a high-entry level. Obviously, he won, and that was good and bad. You get the taste of success, but you think any horse you buy can become an automatic Grade I winner. Little did you know that it takes a lot of money, sweat, and rigorous activities to find that diamond in the rough, and that took me basically some time to achieve.”

Relatively speaking, it didn't take that long, because here he is five years later with a Kentucky Derby winner that cost him $35,000 at last year's OBS July sale, although he did pay a sale-topping $1.35 million for Princess Noor a month earlier at the pandemic-delayed OBS Spring sale. But between California Chrome and now, he did have some busts with the O'Neills, including the purchase of a $710,000 Orb colt at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in May of 2017. Named Alfareed, that colt has since been gelded and earned less than Medina Spirit cost.

Zedan stressed, however, that there's no bad blood between him and the O'Neills, who were rooting for their colt Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) in the adjacent box as vigorously as Zedan and his people were for their colt. After the race, Dennis O'Neill was as gracious as Zedan, tweeting: “Congratulations to Amr Zedan!!! Super classy man and great to see him win the big race.”

During the period with the O'Neills, Zedan first met Baffert on a trip to Del Mar. “We just said hello, et cetera, and that was an opportunity just to get acquainted. And then right after that, we bumped into each other at the Dubai World Cup. So, we just had a small chat and we exchanged numbers. And then, after that, I called Bob and said, 'I'm thinking of coming back into the sport, and I really want to do it with you.' You know, Bob is just an amazing guy. And I don't mean to blow smoke up his rear end, but Bob is all heart, and people who don't know him don't know this. He is a good, good, good man, and that's something I'd like for you to quote. He is someone who will surprise you as to how he will take your best interests to heart. So, we hit it off very well, and then, by coincidence, we bumped into each other at the airport again.”

And no doubt by now you're familiar with the rest of the story about how this partnership that started 15 months ago resulted in the Derby win on Saturday.

Baffert had advised Amr Zedan to get an agent, and Zedan picked ace clocker and bloodstock agent Gary Young by word of mouth from jockey Victor Espinoza, who Zedan had gotten to know. Espinoza was the rider of War Emblem and California Chrome, not to mention American Pharoah. Young, who fills the role of racing manager for Zedan Racing, was, of course, pivotal in the acquisitions of both Princess Noor, a standout breezer, and Medina Spirit, though both horses had been originally mentioned to Zedan by Chilean Oussama Aboughazale, who'd bred Princess Noor and stands Protonico (Giant's Causeway), the sire of Medina Spirit.

Aboughazale owns Haras Sumaya in Chile and a farm in Kentucky, and his family is a major shareholder in Fresh Del Monte Produce, Inc., which is reportedly the third-largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. He is of Middle Eastern descent and treats Zedan as a son, Zedan said. “I'm 46, he's about 76, 77. He's a good guy. He doesn't have kids, so he treats me very close to being a son. The correlation or the relation between Princess Noor and Medina Spirit was a complete and utter coincidence. In fact, Oussama called me about Princess Noor, told me he bred her and she's supposed to be nice, but he told me to be careful. There's that very close relationship in terms of friendship, and he said, 'Don't go crazy.'”

It was Baffert, however, that pushed Zedan, who was in the Middle East during the sale, to go to $1.35 million for Princess Noor when the bidding got well past the $750,000 target price that Zedan had set. “The price is now $1.2 million, and Bob says, 'Get her.' Then we hit $1.3 million, so Bob texts me and says he will make her worth this much. If you have Bob Baffert in your corner and he's saying that, you just do it. So I say, 'Gary, just get her. Don't leave without her.' Boom, boom, we got her, and you know the rest of the story.”

What neither Baffert, Zedan, and Young knew at the time was that they'd get an even better one a month later for a fraction of that price, and that colt has now signaled the arrival of Amr Zedan, whose transparency and accessibility is a refreshing revelation for observers.

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Retired after sustaining a soft tissue injury in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes last Saturday, plans are to bring Princess Noor to Kentucky in the coming weeks to settle into her new home at Taylor Made Farm where she will begin her second career as a broodmare.

Into Mischief was the champion sire of 2019 and has secured his spot as this year's champion sire, with progeny earnings of nearly $22 million – breaking the single season earnings Tapit set in 2016.

The mating of Princess Noor with Into Mischief scores an “A” TrueNick rating. Similar-crossed yearlings from the Giant's Causeway sire line sold up to $400,000 this year. Mares in-foal to Into Mischief from the Giant's Causeway sire line sold up to $700,000 this year.

Into Mischief stands at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky.

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“She’s a star and a very talented filly,” said Amr Zedan. “She had the race and most probably a few more Grade Is to her name. Our focus now is to get her healthy and off to Kentucky to be the best mom she can ever be. It hurts, but thank God she’s well and retirement is the best decision.”

A $135,000 Keeneland September yearling who blossomed into this year’s OBS Spring 2-year-olds sale topper at $1.35 million after blazing through a :20 1/5 quarter-mile breeze, the dark bay debuted as an odds-on favorite Aug. 22 at Del Mar and cruised to the easiest of tallies, earning ‘TDN Rising Star’ status. Backing that up with a dominant 6 1/2-length conquest of the GI Del Mar Debutante S., she made it three-for-three with an 8 1/4-length romp in the GI Chandelier S.

Fifth as the favorite in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Princess Noor was 3-5 to get back on track in the Starlet, but was pulled up by jockey Victor Espinoza shortly after taking the lead around the quarter pole. She retires with a record of 5-3-0-0 and earnings of $363,500.

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