bloodstock agent

The TDN picks the brain of bloodstock agent Sean Grassick on his highs and lows of 2023 and what he's looking forward to this year.   Proudest moment of 2023? Catherine Of Siena (Ire) (U S Navy Flag), who we bought for £13,000 as a yearling, earning black-type.   What is your biggest ambition for the New Year? More winners and happy clients.   Give us one horse to follow and why? Bladon (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}). He ran eye-catchingly for Atomic Racing and Kevin Coleman in a Killarney over a...

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to [email protected] Echo Zulu winning the GI Ballerina S. She put on an impressive performance. I've always been a fan of hers. She's a hell of a horse. Exceptionally fast and a generational defining talent. --Clay Scherer, Bloodstock Agent

Imperium Sales may be the newest name on the consignment block but this is no rookie outfit. Imperium is the brainchild of leading bloodstock advisor Alex Elliott and it makes its debut with 14 horses hitting the market at this week's Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale. From what Elliott describes as a potential Melbourne Cup horse in Balance Play (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) to the rapidly-progressive He's A Monster (Ire) (No Nay Never), Imperium Sales has the potential to make its debut draft a memorable one.  In many ways, Elliott...

Many eyes will be on the top-class racing in Ireland this weekend, but the relentless run of yearling sales continues, with Italy's major auction taking place on Saturday at San Siro racecourse in Milan. Among those in action at the 117-lot sale will be Valfredo Valiani, whose globetrotting success as a trainer saw him conquer the Knavesmire not once but twice, first with Super Tassa (Ire) in the Yorkshire Oaks of 2001 and then four years later with Electrocutionist, winner of the Juddmonte International. An amateur rider from a young...

I am a bloodstock agent and, at times, a horse owner based in California. I have been reading, with great interest, the various comments and opinions regarding how best to resolve the ongoing and serious issue with the spate of deaths of our precious and amazing Thoroughbreds. While I am not as well known (and as articulate) as most of the professionals who have commented on this topic in TDN, I feel that I might be able to bring a different perspective. My family has owned both flat and steeplechase...

Against the backdrop of one of the most eagerly anticipated King Georges in recent history on Saturday, bloodstock agent Sean Grassick and trainer Kevin Coleman enjoyed something of a red-letter day of their own when Uluru (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) ran out a taking debut winner at Gowran Park.  Uluru was one of eight yearlings that Grassick purchased on behalf of Atomic Racing at the sales last year and was considered just about the most talented juvenile the commercial syndicate had to go to war with this season.  Despite showing signs...

A beloved father, grandfather, friend and horseman, Glenn Byron 'Gus' Bell passed away peacefully July 4 in the care of the Veteran's Administration Hospice in Lexington, Kentucky. With a sobriquet like the 'Working Agent' inscribed below his name on his business cards, Bell defined his craft and his outlook on life. He spent nearly a half century in the equine industry as a bloodstock agent based in the Bluegrass region. As a Lexington native, Bell was a graduate of Lafayette High School before heading out of state to Marshall University,...

James Delahooke, an outstanding horseman who played a key role in the creation of the late Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte empire, died of a heart attack Wednesday morning while grouse hunting in Yorkshire with friends, according to his brother Matthew Delahooke. He was 77. A large proportion of the greatest horses bred and raced by Juddmonte from the late 1980s onwards have descended from fillies or mares bought by Delahooke on the Prince's behalf. The Juddmonte families which have yielded the likes of Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), Enable (GB) (Nathaniel...

Michael Slezak may have been watching the Kentucky Derby alongside his 11-year-old twin boys from his living room in Jersey City, but he celebrated like he was about to receive the trophy himself when Rich Strike (Keen Ice) scored the second-largest upset in the race's 148-year history. A former TVLine and Entertainment Weekly journalist, Slezak is now a full-time bloodstock agent who also dabbles in TV pilot script writing. One month and a day before Rich Strike made Derby history, Slezak claimed the colt's half-sister My Blonde Mary (Oxbow) for...

First-season or proven stallion: Proven. Speed or stamina: I have had a bit of luck with both. It seems the stayers have many avenues to sell in the horse-in-training market later in their career at the moment. Best piece of advice you've received: The harder you work the luckier you get! Value sire: Cotai Glory (GB) on the Flat and Hillstar (GB) for National Hunt. Cotai Glory had 35 winners in his first crop with eight stakes horses. He trained on himself and he gets good looking stock. Hillstar has...

Jerry McGrath has been named the new Goffs UK Bloodstock Manager. Formerly a jumps jockey before his career ended in a fall at Lingfield a year ago, he will begin his role on Feb. 7. During his riding days, he was part of Nicky Henderson's Seven Barrows team since 2008, and won over 200 races total, including a pair at the Cheltenham Festival. During the summer months, McGrath worked with Clive Cox and was part of the team that selected Group 1 winner Supremacy (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) at the Goffs...

Bloodstock agent and consignor Mike Recio passed away Sept. 16, at the age of 46 after battling sepsis. The son of respected Ocala horseman Bill Recio, he had been involved in the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry for the majority of his life. After graduating from the University of Louisville Horse Racing Industry Program in 2002, Recio worked in client services for Taylor Made Farm, Adena Springs, Mill Ridge and Hidden Brook, where he cultivated his business acumen and his legendary gift of gab. In the fall of 2014, Recio...