Gabriel Duignan

The Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation was established in 2020 in memory of Gerry Dilger, the beloved and well-respected breeder and pinhooker of such horses as GI Kentucky Derby winners Nyquist and Always Dreaming, who passed away on Feb. 24, 2020. The Foundation awarded three scholarships for 2024 for the Kentucky farm experience to Sean Berns and Sara Pepper to go to Springhouse Farm in Lexington, and to Larry Mulvaney, who was placed at Hunter Valley Farm. A pair of 2023 scholarship recipients--Ivanna Dempsey and Elle Sorensen--who did their farm...

11th-Kyoto, ¥42,190,000 ($284,065), Allowance, 4yo/up, 1900m, 1:57.4, ft. AWESOME RESULT (f, 4, Justify--Blossomed, by Deputy Minister), a maiden winner in a single juvenile appearance in 2022, was perfect in her three trips to the races last season, including a victory over 2100 metres at Tokyo Nov. 18. A touch unprepared at the break of this 4-year-old return, the bay was accordingly off a half-step slowly and was consigned to the latter third of the field for the run around the first turn. Yutaka Take slipped her some rein and asked...

The Keeneland November Breeding Stock concluded its nine-day run in Lexington Thursday with numbers off from its 2022 renewal in what Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy called a "pragmatic, solid sale." At the close of business Thursday, 2,128 horses had sold through the ring for $176,571,000. The average of $82,975 was down 16.94% from a year ago, while the median of $32,000 was down 20.00%. "Overall, it's been a very pragmatic, solid sale," said Lacy. "Demand for quality is extremely strong, probably as strong as ever, and that's...

The inaugural golf tournament fundraiser for the Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation was held Oct. 10 at Houston Oaks Golf Course and was a tremendous success. On behalf of our board, and the Dilger Family, we would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who helped to make this first fundraiser happen. It was great to see so many people come out. We had wonderful support from the equine community. A very special thank you to Ashford Stud, Eddie Woods, Fasig Tipton, Garrett O'Rourke, Hagyards Equine Medical Institute,...

   Paramount Sales has fast become one of the leading consignors in America with Jack Christopher, Life Is Good and Kameko an example of the recent graduates. Pat Costello, who emigrated to America in 1984 and climbed the ranks in the industry before setting up Paramount Sales in 2001 with fellow Irish ex-pat Gabriel 'Spider' Duignan, shares all about his racing backstory in this week's Q&A.    From turning a profit pinhooking for 10 years on the trot to revealing what horses in the Paramount Sales draft he's most looking...

LEXINGTON, KY - The yearling sales season kicks off Tuesday with the Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington. Bidding at the one-session auction begins at 10 a.m. "We're optimistic," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said of expectations for the sale. "We've seen a very solid 2-year-old marketplace throughout the spring. There is demand for quality horses, certainly plenty of interest. Racing is pretty good right now." On a balmy Monday morning in Lexington, buyers were out in force and consignors were busy showing yearlings to a...

Year after year, the thread of his horsemanship snags another big prize in the web of his many different interests. And this spring Gabriel Duignan is back on the GI Kentucky Derby trail—this time as breeder, his Springhouse Farm near Lexington having started Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) along the road that has already taken in two of the big Californian trials, latterly the GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita last weekend.  Before you ask: disappointingly, there's no real story behind the nickname. When he started as a kid at...

The cream of Irish Thoroughbred breeding was recognised on Sunday night, with the headline act being Tally-Ho Stud's Tony and Anne O'Callaghan, who were inducted into the ITBA Hall of Fame. Last year's ITBA National Breeding & Racing Awards provided one of the bloodstock social media events of lockdown, but after two years of virtual presentations, the prestigious awards ceremony returned to its rightful home of The Heritage hotel in Co Laois. The O'Callaghans also took home one of the main Flat awards when being named the joint-winners of 2-year-old...

Foaling season is already underway at Springhouse Farm, where breeder Gabriel "Spider" Duignan says they are expecting to see around 50 new foals on the ground this year. On Saturday, Duignan enjoyed a brief respite from his work on the farm to celebrate a successful day on the racetrack. Forbidden Kingdom, a son of American Pharoah bred by Springhouse Farm, stamped himself as one to watch on the Triple Crown trail after he upset a trio of Bob Baffert runners in the GII San Vicente S. at Santa Anita. Trained...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Sale brings the curtain down on a competitive season of yearling auctions when it begins its four-day run at Newtown Paddocks Monday morning. A total of 1,586 yearlings have been catalogued for the auction and bidding begins daily at 10 a.m. Consignors were kept busy showing over the weekend and the foot traffic at the barns was a testament to the auction's continued growth in popularity in recent years. "Historically, with the October sale, once the first call to post at Keeneland would...

Strong trade continued at Keeneland Thursday in the 10th of 11 sessions of the Keeneland September Sale and the second of three Book 5 sessions. The day's top seller was a Tapiture colt (Hip 3173) from the Paramount Sales consignment, who brought $145,000 from John Greathouse, agent for Glencrest Farm. A total of 303 yearlings summoned $9.194 million Thursday. The average was $30,343 and the median was $23,000. In the pre-vaccine pandemic era last year, 244 horses brought $4.764 million during the 10th day of selling with an average of...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale, swept away by the pandemic last summer, marks its 100th anniversary when bidding on the two-day boutique auction starts Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. "We are thrilled to be back," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said while overseeing action at the sales barns on a brilliantly sunny Sunday morning in upstate New York. "It's wonderful to be here and to feel the excitement and the energy on the sales grounds. And there is that same...