Mike Ryan

The sales ring can be a formidable place for any first-crop sire. Add in a global pandemic, with side effects of low sales attendance and a free-falling stock market, and a positive outcome for the stallion might seem futile. But this year, the first crop of Airdrie Stud's Upstart must not have gotten the message. They were the hot commodities at the OBS March Sale, the only 2-year-old sale to finish before the sales season was forced to grind to a halt. Six Upstart 2-year-olds brought the hammer down during...

4th-Gulfstream, $38,000, Msw, 4-12, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:11.78, ft. SARATOGA AFFAIR (f, 3, Paynter--Mallory Street {SP, $111,837}, by Street Sense) cost three times as much as the next-priciest Paynter juvenile last term when she brought $450,000 at OBSAPR off a strong :10 flat breeze. She was given a 7-2 chance off an upbeat-looking worktab at Palm Meadows, and was spotting most of her well-bred foes a race or two worth of experience. Off towards the back of the pack, the bay was scrubbed on to sit midpack among a strung-out...

by Steve Sherack & Brian DiDonato With the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping below 20,000 as the stock market continues to plummet, it was no surprise that the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its two-day run with sharp, across-the-board decreases as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to wreak havoc throughout the world. This year's two-day sale grossed $27,902,500, good for an average of $95,885 (-34%), a median of $50,000 (-38%) and an RNA rate of 40%. The 2019 auction, held under dramatically different circumstances, grossed $44,422,500,...

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan went to $600,000 to secure a colt from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Upstart (Flatter) during Wednesday's second session of the OBS March sale. The bay colt is out of Blue Beryl (Bernstein), a half-sister to multiple graded placed Brigand (Flatter). He was consigned by Woodford Thoroughbreds, which purchased him for $220,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale. The colt is the sixth six-figure juvenile for Upstart at the two-day March sale.

With the OBS March Sale slated to kick off the 2-year-old auction season Mar. 17 & 18, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack caught up with prominent bloodstock agent Mike Ryan for a Q&A session. Structor (Palace Malice)--an $850,000 OBS March (:21 1/5) purchase by Ryan from the Pick View LLC, Agent II, consignment at this sale last year--capped a perfect three-for-three season for owners Jeff Drown and Don Rachel and trainer Chad Brown with a dramatic win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. Fellow OBS March...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. In this edition, Union Maiden (Union Rags) is highlighted following a better-than-it-looked fifth-place finish after missing the break on debut at Gulfstream Park earlier this month. Previous runners featured in this column include: MGISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Paradise Woods (Union Rags), GSW Backyard Heaven (Tizway), MSW and 'TDN Rising Star' Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}); and the highly regarded runaway Santa Anita maiden winner Honor A. P. (Honor...

In this new series we sit down with a selection of Europeans making a significant impression in the Thoroughbred industry on foreign shores. Today we hear from Lesley Campion. Position: Account Manager at Paramount Sales. Original Hometown: Adare, Co. Limerick, Ireland. Current Hometown: Midway, Kentucky. Thing you miss most about Ireland (not including family and friends): Probably the great standard of food and easy proximity to beautiful beaches. Hidden Talent: I'm not the worst cook in the world, years of Ted's sideline critiquing have helped me move up my game....

"Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland" is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale who have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages. 'TDN Rising Star' Valid Point (Scat Daddy) isn't exactly following the script his owners envisioned when they bought him as a $140,000 yearling at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. But the improvised rewrite this undefeated colt is orchestrating just might turn out better than the original story line, because the plot thickened considerably last Saturday when Valid Point roared home a length...

Arlington's GI Secretariat S., contested at a mile and a quarter since 1985, has been turned back in distance to a one-mile event this year, and drew a competitive nine-horse field for Saturday's running at the Chicago area oval. True to form, Chad Brown has a pair of imposing runners in Peter Brant's Fog of War (War Front) and e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Mike Ryan's Valid Point (Scat Daddy). Fog of War, who followed up a debut victory with a popular score in the GI Summer S. at Woodbine,...