COVID-19 and horse sales

In just five weeks, the annual Keeneland September Yearling Sale will be underway. Despite unprecedented challenges and ongoing uncertainty, it will mark the start of a marathon of events for Keeneland and its future President and CEO Shannon Arvin. "We've got a long fall," said Arvin, who now serves as Interim Head of Sales and will be officially named President-elect on September 1. "We've got the September Sale, the October race meet, the Breeders' Cup that we're so excited about and then we've got the November Breeding Stock sale to...

Working in racing has always been a stressful occupation; a roller-coaster of emotions, triumphs and tragedies, long hours and travel. Add a global pandemic and unprecedented economic worry, with many participants fearing for their health, livelihoods and businesses, and the stress can become almost overwhelming. It's the sort of topic many people don't like to talk about, but we asked several industry participants to open about what particular stresses they were feeling during these very concerning times, and how they were dealing with them. CRAIG BANDOROFF, Denali Stud  This business...

The Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association's 53rd annual summer sale will take place as scheduled on Tuesday, Aug. 18 at the WTBOA Sales Pavilion at Emerald Downs. The catalog features 123 yearlings, 17 broodmares and one broodmare prospect. COVID-19 protocols will be in place and published at washingtonthoroughbred.com. Online bidding will also be available (click for more).

Fasig-Tipton will offer online bidding at all of its future live auctions, the company announced in a press release Thursday morning. The platform will be available for Fasig-Tipton's next scheduled auction, the Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale, to be held June 29-30 in Timonium, Maryland. As an additional service to buyers, the company will also further expand its long-established phone-bidding program for the remainder of 2020. The service allows prospective buyers--who are not on site at an auction--to bid on horses through a member of the Fasig-Tipton staff. "The addition...