pinhooking

Young pinhooker and manager of Stanley Lodge Stud Nick Cope reflects on one of the best sales results of 2025, Ethical Diamond's Breeders' Cup triumph and more What is it about this great game of ours that it can turn the hardiest of fellas into mush? In Nick Cope's defence, profiting the price of a small house in one fell swoop would bring a tear to the most seasoned pinhooker's eye, not least this young whipper-snapper making his way in the game.  The part-time pinhooker and full-time manager of William...

The Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation has named Conan Murray and Mark Moloney as the 2026 recipients of its Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Experience scholarships, the Foundation announced Friday. Granted to recent graduates of equine programs from Irish educational institutions, these annual awards provide young people with the opportunity to travel to the United States and gain placement at a leading Kentucky farm. Conan Murray, a Kildare native and graduate of Kildalton College, will be based in Lexington at Springhouse Farm, a full service breeding operation. Conan has worked at Baroda...

The husband-and-wife team of Carlos Estrada and Sarah Estrada-Brok have been skillfully developing C & S Thoroughbreds into thriving pinhooking venture over the past eight years. Steadily picking up steam with a each carefully-crafted consignment, the couple makes only their second appearance at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, which will be held in Saratoga Springs Aug. 4-5. After offering their very first consignment in 2017, they ventured out on their own thereafter, and in their initial season selling 2-year-olds under the Sterling Thoroughbreds banner in 2021, they hit pay...

Typically, Scott Dilworth, along with his wife Evan, are found on the other side of the ticket. Longtime successful pinhookers, they notably purchased a yearling son of Uncle Mo for $250,000 at KEESEP in 2021 only to sell him as a 2-year-old seven months later for a sales-topping $2,300,000 at OBS April. That colt, under the tutelage of Bob Baffert, became Arabian Knight, a Grade I winner who joined the roster at Hill 'n' Dale for his first season at stud this year. Fast forward three years and it's a...

System seems to work pretty well. Donato Lanni buys their standout for Amr Zedan, and on they go: win their Grade Is, make another ton of money at stud. In 2022, it was the $2.3- million Uncle Mo colt we now know as Hill 'n' Dale stallion and 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight; a year later, it was a $2-million son of Good Magic, 'Rising Star' Muth, meanwhile underway at Gainesway. With horses, however, there's always something you could do to make things even better. Last year Zedan called Jimbo...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, Ky - With a pair of seven-figure colts by Nyquist leading the way, trade remained strong straight through the conclusion of Book 2 during the fourth session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Thursday in Lexington. "It was a great day," said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy at the close of business Thursday evening. "We are very pleased. The median is up 25% for the session over last year, which is a metric that we always use. That shows that it...

Pinhooking is a risky old business, but then again, so is breeding. Pinhookers at least have the chance to observe a live animal in front of them, watch them walk up and down and make their judgments accordingly. Those who have been around young stock for many a year can make an educated guess as to how a particular youngster may continue to develop, and work out if there are certain aspects which can be helped though improved nutrition or judicious farriery. Then there are the random elements, for better...

Carl Bowling, a longtime pinhooker in Ocala, Florida, died July 26 at the age of 84. The following is an obituary provided to the TDN by the Bowling family: "Carl Bowling passed away July 26, 2024, resulting from an accident while riding a motorcycle near Hiawassee, GA, where he enjoyed his summers with his family in the North Georgia mountains. Carl was 84 years young, born in 1940 in Black Mountain, NC. He was one of two boys and five girls. He is survived by his wife of 66 years,...

Leo and Sarah Dooley can tell you a thing or two about the Thoroughbred racing industry. But don't let their youthful appearances fool you--the couple has already forged a most impressive, not to mention broad, resume in the game. And while they can hardly be called newcomers to the sales game, having sold horses through other agencies in the past, the couple will embark on new territory when selling horses for the first time under their own banner, Norevale Farm, at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale July 9. Explaining the...

The island is still there, nearly 50 years later, which would have surprised Nick de Meric at the time. He'd have assumed that there could be nothing left by now. "Because they were basically mining it off the map," he recalls. "It was made of iron ore. So they had these massive Euclid trucks, wheels high as a building. And all these men on shift work, living in long huts. Not quite a prison environment, but it was all-male, tropical heat, nothing to do but drink beer and play cards....

The Midwestern sage, Mark Twain espoused, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." Nothing could be more apropos when considering joining a Thoroughbred racehorse partnership. Getting started is the hardest part for most prospective owners. The world of Thoroughbred racing can seem as inaccessible as the Churchill Downs Turf Club on Derby Day. The good news is joining a partnership makes getting started easier. In the first part of this series, we provided basic information such as investment levels, tax considerations and the entertainment value partnerships offer. In Part...

Perhaps it is called the Hopeful Stakes because that's the most anyone can ever be with a Thoroughbred. But if nearly any purchaser at Keeneland over the next couple of weeks would like to be contesting that race, a year from now, then one consignor might give them not just hope but something closer to confidence. Okay, so a trifecta for Eaton Sales graduates in the Saratoga Grade I last year featured only the winner, Forte (Violence), from the 2021 Keeneland September Sale. Runner-up Gulfport (Uncle Mo) and third Blazing...