Robert Clay

C R K Stable and Grandview Equine's Baeza (McKinzie), winner of the GI Pennsylvania Derby and third in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes last season, will be transferred to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, according to the DRF Monday. The colt was previously trained by John Shirreffs, who passed away last week. "The most important thing is the quality of Bill Mott, the kind of person that Robert Clay and myself relate to," Lee Searing told DRF. "John Shirreffs would probably have liked that pick." Baeza, who...

After years as the COO of his family's Three Chimneys Farm, which was bought by the Borges Torrealba family in 2013, Case Clay was ready for a change. So in 2022 he moved full-time to his own business, Case Clay Thoroughbred Management Since then, he has also become the racing manager for Wathnan Racing, which is the Emir of Qatar's stable. On the racetrack, Wathnan is one of the fastest-growing racing operations in the world. Racing in the U.S. for less than two years, Wathnan has won the GI Dubai...

6th-ELP, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:12 p.m. ET. Robert Clay's Grandview Equine went to a cool $1-million to acquire VALIANT (Into Mischief) at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. Partnering with LNJ Foxwoods and Hubert Vester, the ownership group sent the colt to trainer Brad Cox. The debuting bay is the first foal out of unraced Validest (Medaglia d'Oro)--a Vester purchase for $350,000 from the 2021 Keeneland November Sale while she was in foal to Authentic. Validest is a half-sister to GII American Turf Stakes hero Global View (Galileo {Ire})...

Robert N. Clay has been selected by the Board of Directors of the Thoroughbred Club of America (TCA) as the 2025 Honor Guest, the organization said via a Friday press release. A former president of the TCA, Clay will be feted at the 94th Testimonial Dinner, which will be held at Keeneland on Saturday, Nov. 15. Current TCA President W. Chapman Hopkins said, "Mr. Clay's impact on the Thoroughbred industry has spanned decades. From managing influential stallions, to owning and breeding multiple graded stakes winners and most recently leading Grandview...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It was a low-key celebration for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott Saturday night after Sovereignty (Into Mischief) continued his stampede through the 3-year-old male division. "Put a couple hamburgers on the grill," Mott said, sitting at his desk in his office at the Oklahoma Training Track on a soggy Sunday morning at Saratoga. "Good hamburgers, by the way. They were from Fresh Market. That was it. Then early to bed." When Mott got his barn Sunday morning, he looked down his shedrow and saw the...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, KY - Solid trade continued right through the conclusion of the second and final Book 2 section of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale Thursday, with the 3-year-old broodmare Finesse (Street Sense) bringing the section's top price of $900,000 when selling to Dixiana Farms. "It was really solid today," said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. "It was very competitive. I was speaking to a lot of buyers out there, and they were finding it very difficult to buy the foals that...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, which opened Monday with figures on pace for a third year of records, concluded Tuesday with an electric session which demolished the sale's previous high for gross, average, and median. At the close of business Tuesday, 154 yearlings sold for $82,160,000--highest ever in the auction's 103-year history, surpassing the previous record of $75,055,000 set last year. The average of $533,506 also improved on the 2023 record figure of $487,370, while the median of $425,000 bettered the...

Robert Clay signed the winning ticket on hip 201 Tuesday evening at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, going to $1 million for a colt by perennial leading sire Into Mischief. Consigned by Indian Creek, agent, the April-foaled bay colt is out of the unraced Validest (Medaglia d'Oro), a half-sister to the multiple graded-winning Global View (Galileo {Ire}). This is also the family of MGSW A. P. Warrior (A.P. Indy). Breeder Hubert Vester acquired Validest for $350,000 in foal to Authentic at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale.

War Chant (Danzig), the winner of the 2000 GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs, passed away on Thursday, Apr. 11. Housed at Yarradale Stud in Western Australia, the 27-year-old stallion succumbed to old age at the Gidgegannup nursery that he had called home for over a decade, the breeder said in a Thursday release. War Chant was bred and raced by Marge and Irving Cowan, and trained by Neil Drysdale. Out of MGISW Hollywood Wildcat (Kris S.), the homebred finished ninth in the GI Kentucky Derby and ended his...

He'd given himself five years to make it onto Saturday Night Live. But it had now been six years, and Case Clay could see where he might be headed if he wasn't careful. Stick around too much longer, and he could end up like the guy in the comedy club, sitting there on his own every night with a drink at the end of the bar. "He was a fixture, and a beloved fixture," Clay stresses. "Sometimes he'd be on stage with you, performing, but the rest of the time...

Puca (Big Brown), the dam of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), was originally reported as unsold at $2.8 million, but Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin told members of the press in the post-session debrief that John Stewart, who made a giant splash at Fasig-Tipton Tuesday evening, had acquired the 11-year-old mare for $2.9 million post-RNA. Arvin told the press that the sale would not be included in the Book 1 statistics. Consigned by Case Clay Thoroughbred Management and offered carrying a full-sibling to Mage, former 'TDN Rising...

Coolmore's Lookin At Lucky was responsible for the top-selling colt and priciest filly as the Keeneland September Sale reached its second-last day of trade Friday afternoon in Lexington. Robert Clay's Grandview Equine signed for a pair of seven-figure yearlings--colts by Into Mischief and Curlin--during the select Book 1 and 2 sessions early last week, and the operation remained focused on the task at hand all the way through Book 6, going to $120,000 for hip 3910. The Apr. 27 foal was consigned to the sale by Hill 'n' Dale at...