Ciaran Dunne

When it comes to racing, breeding and sales, Justin Wojczynski has done just about everything. He's been a pinhooker, he's broken horses for others and prepared them for the races, he's handled layup horses and he's been a trainer. One might think that's plenty, but Wojczynski is intent on expanding his stable of race horses while keeping his other side jobs. That might sound like a lot, but it has been made easier by the emergence of the 6-year-old mare Awesome Treat (Awesome Patriot). In her last start, she sprung...

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes highlights debuting 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. To follow is the lone such horse entered for Sunday at Saratoga: Sunday, July 14, 2024 Saratoga 1, $100k, 2yo,...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its two-day run at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium Tuesday with a lively session of bidding led by a $1.25-million daughter of Bolt d'Oro. Through two sessions, 343 horses sold for $32,766,500. The average of $95,485--up 2.9% from a year ago--just ticked up from the sale's previous record average of $95,391 set in 2022, while the median of $50,000 tied the sale record set in 2021 and equaled again in 2023. "I thought we had two very...

A filly by Bolt d'Oro (hip 401) brought a final bid of $1.25 million from trainer Steve Asmussen, acting on behalf of Ron Winchell, midway through the second session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale Tuesday in Timonium. Consigned by Wavertree Stables, the filly worked a furlong during last week's under-tack preview in :10 flat. Ciaran Dunne purchased the filly on behalf of a pinhooking partnership for $335,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. She is out of Werewolf (Arch) and is a half-sister to graded-placed Howling...

TIMONIUM, MD - The juvenile sales season makes it annual stopover in Maryland when the two-day Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training opens Monday morning at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. After a rain-interrupted under-tack show last week, skies were still overcast but there was no rain during a busy day of showing for consignors Sunday. "We have had so much foot traffic up to this point so far," said consignor Randy Miles. "Even yesterday, early in the morning in the rain, they were still coming. So...

TIMONIUM, MD - The under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded with a third session Friday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium and after an initial session of headwinds and a second session punctuated by tailwinds, conditions were calm with overcast skies during the show's finale. A filly by Bolt d'Oro (hip 401) had the fastest furlong work of Friday's session, covering the distance in :10 flat during the day's third set. Consigned by Wavertree Stables, the bay filly is out of Werewolf (Arch)...

TIMONIUM, MD - After an unexpected day off Wednesday and a two-hour delay, the under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale resumed for its second session at 10 a.m. Thursday with a lively surface and a significant tailwind which persisted throughout the day. The first horse to work Thursday matched the :10 flat bullet time of Tuesday's opening session of the three-day show and was followed in that first set by six more to hit that mark in the first set before a colt by Street...

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - Without a breakout horse and numerous outs, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training dutifully marched through its paces Thursday, with a colt by Nyquist attracting the session's highest price of $550,000 late in the day. Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, bidding on behalf of Zedan Racing Stable, signed the ticket on the session topper for the third straight day. From a catalogue of 302 horses, just 187 went through the ring Thursday and the session, which started...

Delayed a day due to severe weather in central Florida, the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training got back underway Friday with a colt from the third crop of Spendthrift stallion Bolt d'Oro (hip 787) setting the high mark at :9 3/5. Consigned by Top Line Sales, which continued to be well-represented Friday after posting five of the top 18 fastest furlong works during Wednesday's session, the juvenile was purchased as a yearling by Cash Bloodstock at Keeneland September last year for...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - With a pair of colts topping the seven-figure mark, the tempo picked up during the second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Wednesday. With 144 horses sold Wednesday for $25,488,000, the session average was $177,000--up 6.2% from last year's corresponding session--and the median of $87,500 declined 2.8% from a year ago. The buy-back rate was 31.8%. "I thought it was a very good session," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "It felt like...

Jon Dean grew up in Michigan, but moved to Central Florida as a high school senior, and now, as an Ocala-based attorney, his path seemed to inevitably lead to Thoroughbreds. But, after a series of lackluster results in the industry, he decided he needed to recalibrate his business plan three years ago. The result was two years of profitable pinhooks and Dean will be hoping to keep the momentum going when he sends a pair of juveniles through the sales ring next week at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March...

Ciaran and Amy Dunne's Wavertree Stables is perennially one of the leading consignors of 2-year-olds in the country, but their process for buying pinhooking prospects at the yearling sales changed dramatically with the advent of the sales repository over two decades ago. "We started buying yearlings before the repository," Ciaran Dunne said. "Back in those days, you had to shorten down your vet list because of the costs involved. There was very little that we couldn't live with because we might vet, at the very most, four horses a day....