Kiaran McLaughlin

Kiaran McLaughlin surprised much of the racing world last year when he abruptly decided to halt his massively successful training career in order to become the jockey's agent for Luis Saez. But it shouldn't surprise anyone to see the success McLaughlin has had handling Saez's book, as the 29-year-old Panamanian is poised to win his first Saratoga riding title. Wednesday, McLaughlin joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland to talk about why he made his career shift, the booming results of his partnership with Saez, memories of triumphs in...

Kiaran McLaughlin, agent for Saratoga's current leading jockey Luis Saez, joined this week's TDN Writers'' Room to talk on the success Saez is having this meet and relive some of his most memorable moments as a trainer.

For at least a decade, there were no "if" or "when" questions about Todd Pletcher and the Hall of Fame. If? By the time he won the GI Kentucky Derby for the first time with Super Saver in 2010, Pletcher, then a month away from his 43rd birthday, already had nine champions, four Eclipse Awards as outstanding trainer, four national money-earned titles, had topped the Saratoga trainers table six times and had earned the Gulfstream Park training title for the seventh consecutive year. Super Saver's Derby triumph was his 72nd...

Keeneland announced that Central Kentucky horseman and bloodstock adviser Gatewood Bell has been named Vice President of Racing at the Lexington oval and will assume duties later this month. Bell in 2011 founded Cromwell Bloodstock, a full-service bloodstock agency and consulting firm named after a company owned by his grandfather, John A. Bell, and has served as its president for the past decade. Bell, under the Cromwell Bloodstock and Hat Creek Racing banners, purchased several significant runners, including Grade I/Group 1 winners Undrafted, Hootenanny, Mastery and Con Te Partiro. Bell...

When Kiaran McLaughlin announced his retirement earlier this spring, Shadwell Stable's Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols already had a trainer's name in the back of his mind who could potentially fill the void. "Actually, it was kind of a no-brainer," Nichols said. "Through Kiaran, I got to know Todd [Pletcher] quite well and always had tremendous respect for him. I would have always liked for him to train for us, but since Todd and Kiaran were such good friends, it was a line that I didn't want to...

Adam Smith, the so-called father of economics, once said this about the slickly oiled business machine: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." In other words, the more vested the butcher, the brewer or the baker is in the overall fiscal health of his or her own enterprise, the better the overall product for the rest of us. Smith died in 1790, and so, quite what he would have said...

5th-GP, $45K, Msw, 3yo, 7ff, 2:46 p.m. ET Shadwell Stables' ASHIHAM (Tapit), an $800,000 Keeneland September yearling, debuts for trainer Todd Pletcher after finishing an even fourth in his career bow for Kiaran McLaughlin going six furlongs at the Hallandale oval Feb. 29. The chestnut is out of Wine Princess (Ghostzapper), a graded stakes winning daughter of Hall of Famer Azeri (Jade Hunter). At Pletcher's Palm Beach Downs training base, the May foal worked five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 Apr. 18. Jockey Luis Saez, whose book is now managed by...

Moving from strength to strength since kicking off his career last October, Sole Volante (Karakontie {Jpn}) has been tabbed the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday's GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby. A winner on the turf in his first two starts last season, including the Pulpit S. at Gulfstream Park Nov. 30, the gelding finished a credible third in the Jan. 4 Mucho Macho Man S. and later in the month, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing bought a majority stake in the Triple Crown prospect, joining owners Andie Biancone and Limelight Stables...

The Shadwell Stable horses currently in training with Kiaran McLaughlin will be moved to Todd Pletcher, Shadwell Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols announced Thursday. The farm's statement came in response to Wednesday's announcement that McLaughlin was retiring from training at the end of this month to become the agent for jockey Luis Saez as of Apr. 1. Nichol's statement read as follows: "On behalf of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan and all of us at Shadwell, we would like to thank Kiaran McLaughlin and his staff for all of the...

Despite being one of the sport's most successful trainers, Kiaran McLaughlin has decided to switch jobs and has signed on with Luis Saez to be his agent. McLaughlin will continue to train through the end of this month, before going to work for Saez Apr. 1. "I was approached about taking Luis Saez' book and after speaking to my wife, my children, my family, I felt like this was right thing to do," McLaughlin said. "I am very excited. Luis is a great kid and a great jockey." McLaughlin admitted...

Already a smashing success story as a former claim turned multiple graded stakes winner, Michael Hui's Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}) enjoyed a dream run along the rail to earn his first top-level score in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. last out, and the hard-knocking gelding is right back in the entry box as he attempts to defend his title in the 1 3/8-mile GII Mac Diarmida S. Saturday at Gulfstream. Haltered for $80,000 out of a dominant optional-claiming victory in the summer of 2018 at Churchill,...

4th-GP, $50K, Msw, 4yo/up, 6 1/2f, 2:31 p.m. ET Albaugh Family Stables, which will start likely GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. favorite Dennis' Moment (Tiznow) this Saturday at Gulfstream, also has action Thursday in Hallandale Beach, as they debut the expensive and well-related COASTAL DEFENSE (Curlin) in the day's fourth event. Owned in partnership with Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust, the chestnut hammered for $800,000 at Keeneland September in 2017 and is a half-brother to MG1SW Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy), as well as the Albaughs' GISW Free Drop Billy (Union...