Catalog Surfing: Two-year-olds of 2019 bring power to Timonium

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From May 2019 Issue

Written by Barrie Reightler

Four years of million-dollar horses and gross sales of more than $20 million . . . Names, big names, on the roster of buyers and sellers . . . Seventy-nine horses selling for at least $100,000 in 2018 . . . Graduates such as Call Paul, Army Mule, Concrete Rose and Fourstar Crook.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic’s May 2-year-old sale in Timonium, Md., used to be an overachiever, the little guy in the equation alongside bigger names in Florida and Kentucky. Consignors used to take horses to early-season sales, and save Timonium as the back-up plan. Miss some training? Have a bad work? Failed to attract the right attention? You could always go to Timonium.
No more.

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Senior Senator aims for history in the Hunt Cup

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From April 2019 Issue

Written by Joe Clancy

Joe Davies thought himself a competent amateur steeplechase jockey in 1983 so when Joy Slater went down with a broken collarbone a week before the Maryland Hunt Cup, Davies made a phone call.
“Mrs. Fanning, you don’t know who I am but I sure would like to ride Cancottage,” he said.
Trainer Jill Fanning, whose English-bred horse was bidding for his third victory in the race, didn’t really hesitate.
“Well, I already have Charlie Fenwick lined up, but you sound like a nice young boy and if you’re interested you could ride the pony and take Cancottage to the start for us.”

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Strong Fabric

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From April 2019 Issue

Written by Joe Clancy

West Virginia sire Fiber Sonde continues to climb

At Keeneland November in 2007, the sales catalog listed 31 horses as stallion prospects. You don’t know 30 of them. Eleven didn’t sell. One brought $130,000. Another just $1,000.
The one you do know, West Virginia phenom Fiber Sonde, sold for $8,000. Looking to expand the stallion roster at their Beau Ridge Farm near Charles Town, John McKee and Cyndy O’Bannon made the successful bid – and unknowingly changed their lives.

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A Verdant Land: Deep history of success carried Glade Valley for decades

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From November 2018 Issue

Written by Cindy Deubler

For nearly 100 years Glade Valley Farms operated on fertile land in north central Maryland, just a few miles northeast of the town of Frederick. It ranked as one of Maryland’s most important nurseries, turning out champions, standing leading sires and producing bloodstock that can be found in the pedigrees of racing’s elite. 

In the fall of 2016, a year after the death of co-owner Howard M. Bender, the era of Glade Valley Farms as a Thoroughbred breeding farm officially came to an end. 

All that remains now is the history.

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