Ramiro Restrepo

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE-- When U.S. President Donald Trump made good on his threat to impose tariffs on countries around the world on August 1-including a 15% tax on goods coming into America from the European Union-markets across the world shuddered. In the bloodstock world, the first to be affected will be the Arqana August Sale, which starts this Saturday, August 16. An Arqana-sponsored plane full of Americans arrived Wednesday morning from Saratoga, and the TDN spoke with some of those who came over, and others who stayed home, and international buyers...

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - The third session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale might have lacked some of the glitz of the second session which produced six million-dollar juveniles, but more than made up for it with a strong day of results propelling its three-day average well over the record average set at the 2024 auction. For the session, 144 head sold for $21,806,500, for an average of $151,434 and a median of $80,000. Through three of four...

A colt by Uncle Mo (hip 833) sold to Ramiro Restrepo for $1,300,000 two-thirds of the way through Thursday's third session at OBS April. Consigned by Eddie Woods, the colt is out of a Venezuelan champion 2-year-old in Cacciatora (Ven) and worked a furlong in :10. He is the eighth seven-figure horse sold thus far this week at OBS.

Multiple Grade I-placed 'TDN Rising Star' Ferocious (Flatter) has succumbed to laminitis after being sidelined with a foreleg injury, the connections announced Monday afternoon on X. Twice a runner-up at the highest level in the GI Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga and the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in 2024, the son of Flatter emerged from his fourth place in the GIII Holy Bull Stakes Feb. 1 with a muscle tear. When first reported, the connections said it was a minor injury that just required time to heal, but also...

With the first major 2-year-old sale, OBS March, now in the books, it's time for some predictions. We asked the experts who their pick is for leading freshman sire and also asked them for a "sleeper pick" or a stallion that will perform beyond expectations. Here's what they had to say: Jimbo Gladwell Top Pick: Charlatan, Standing for $50,000 in 2025 at Hill 'n' Dale Ten percent of the horses I've had on the farm are by Charlatan, so I am a Charlatan fan. They are really smart horses that...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL- For the third straight year, Saudi businessman Amr Zedan made the highest bid at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, going to an OBS record $3 million to acquire a colt by Gun Runner during a vibrant final session of the auction Thursday. The sale-topping colt brought the number of horses to sell for seven figures during the three-day auction to seven, up from four a year ago, and a record for the March sale. "I thought...

Following the fireworks that ensued with the sale of a record-setting $3-million Gun Runner colt earlier in OBS's Thursday's session, a pair of juveniles surpassed the $1 million in quick succession. Hip 721, a filly by Maxfield brought a final bid of $1.25 million from Marquee Bloodstock, while only a few hips later, a colt by Nyquist drew $1 million from Shannon Potter, bidding on behalf of Epic Horses. Out of All in With Aces (Quiet American), the half-sister to GISW Hard Aces was consigned by de Meric Sales. She...

OGMA Investments, JR Ranch, Upland Flats Racing, Morplay Racing, High Step Racing, Lady Sheila Stable and Michael and Jules Iavarone's highly regarded Victory Avenue (Arrogate), unraced since his debut run last winter, returns to the races Sunday at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Gustavo Delgado, the colt was second after a troubled start in his debut at Gulfstream on the Pegasus undercard last January. He was entered in the GII Fountain of Youth Stakes off that maiden appearance, but was scratched. "He was just such a naturally fast talented colt that...

The holiday weekend of stakes action--and the Saratoga meet--conclude in style when morning-line favorite Ferocious (Flatter) faces eight rivals in contentious renewal of the GI Hopeful Stakes. Campaigned by JR Ranch, Ramiro Restrepo, High Step Racing and OGMA Investments, the $1.3-million OBS March graduate romped to a 7 3/4-length debut win and earned a 'TDN Rising Star' label Aug. 3. Off a step slow in that unveiling, Ferocious settled in a good stalking position behind an opening quarter-mile in :22.06 over a muddy and sealed main track. Tipped out to...

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.--While it wasn't the scenario he expected at the beginning of the month, trainer John Ortiz will be busy late Saturday afternoon saddling the fillies Brightwork (Outwork) and 'TDN Rising Star' Quietside (Malibu Moon) in consecutive stakes at Saratoga Race Course. First up will be WSS Racing's Brightwork in the GIII $200,000 Prioress Stakes, scheduled for 5:04 p.m. ET. Immediately after the six-furlong Prioress, Ortiz will scoot back to the paddock to prepare Shortleaf Stable's Quietside in the $300,000 GI Spinaway Stakes, which Brightwork won last year. When...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y.--Ferocious's (Flatter) blowout victory in the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course Saturday produced a series of backward and forward moments in the winner's enclosure. Ramiro Restrepo and Gustavo Delgado, Jr., principals in Mage's (Good Magic) rise to prominence and victory in the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby, held court following the $100,000 2-year-old maiden special weight race that might be the first big step for another standout. Restrepo and Delgado spearheaded the purchase of Ferocious for $1,300,000 at the OBS March sale and they were appropriately excited...

The money came late for Ferocious (c, 2, Flatter--Napier, by Midnight Lute), who was available at 4-1 for a good deal of the betting, and when all was said and done, was the 3.45-1 favorite making his career debut in Saturday's sixth race at Saratoga. And the money proved right on, as the colt exploded through the final eighth of a mile to become a no-brainer 'TDN Rising Star'. Things did not go especially well at the break for the $1.3-million OBS March purchase, as he reared slightly, costing him...