by Dave Briggs

Shaun Laungani said this year marks the first time since he joined Diamond Creek in 2018 that the farm is selling some of its own yearlings at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company sale in Harrisburg, PA.

“We’ll see how it works, but for some of the later foals it’s been handy to let them mature a little bit,” said Laungani, Diamond Creek’s vice-president.

Typically, Diamond Creek sells its own yearlings in Lexington.

“From my perspective, they are very similar markets, both standardbred yearling markets, but they are both different,” Laungani said. “You do have some people that only go to one and not the other. You just hope you put the right horse in the right sale to hit the right person.

“We had two really nice Muscle Hill colts and so it was nice to split them and put one in Harrisburg, so they wouldn’t have to compete against each other in the same consignment.

“You are just guessing on this stuff, but you’re just trying to do the right thing by each individual horse. So, if you’ve got one that needs a little more time or was a later foal, it’s a really handy option. Or with the Ontario-breds, it seems to make sense to go to Harrisburg because it always seems that the Canadians are able to get down in a bigger group for that sale, being that their Sires Stakes program is over by that point.

“This year, we’re taking several Downbytheseasides and so are a lot of other people. They sold fabulous all sales season, but they could potentially sell just as well or better because now, finally, the Ohio Sires Stakes finals have occurred, whereas it hadn’t occurred… and that’s a lot of purse money to be distributed but that didn’t happen until after Lexington.”

Fresh off the news that 2024 Hambletonian winner Karl will stand in 2025 at Diamond Creek, Laungani said the farm is rolling into Harrisburg ready to work out the syndication details. The farm is also still aiming at winning some prominent late-season stakes.

“Direction, our good homebred filly, was third in the Breeders Crown,” Laungani said. “She’s going to go to the Matron.

“We’ve got some fresh shooters, one for the Governor’s Cup – Fusion is a really nice colt that hasn’t really had to face the top ones yet. We have him prepping to go against the top ones in the Governor’s Cup. We’re excited about that. We’ve got a filly named Faze and she’s another homebred filly. She’s also not really had to race against the top ones, but she did get a taste of it there in the Bluegrass and she fared pretty well, so we’re going to give her a shot in the Matron and the Three Diamonds.

“I don’t think we’ve had a racehorse in the Three Diamonds or Governor’s Cup in a while and usually our 2-year-olds have had too many starts to keep going by then, but with these ones we tried something different. We let everybody compete in the Breeders Crowns and hopefully we’ll be fresh.”

All of which proves Diamond Creek is just as pumped about racing as it is about breeding and selling horses.

Diamond Creek will sell 38 yearlings in Harrisburg — about a third are Diamond Creek owned and the other two-thirds are agent horses.

“We’re representing several good clients, people that we are close to that we like working with and we’ve kind of been involved with their yearlings or their breeding plans the whole time,” Laungani said. “So, we know the horses well.”

Laungani said Diamond Creek is most excited about selling yearlings for Anthony Perretti Farm, “which burst back onto the scene a few years ago. They are producing some really high-quality horses. They sold Geocentric with us a few years ago up there and then they had a few Grand Circuit horses that sold in our consignment last year, like Papis Pistol and My Sweet Lily. So, they are on a roll and they’ve got a super strong group, maybe their strongest ever, coming to us this year.

“Then, we’ve got Hot Lead Farm and that’s Joe Parisi – the Parisi family of White Birch. He has a really high-quality broodmare band and he’s working with us for the first time this year. We sold one in Lexington for him and we’ve got a few at Harrisburg for him.

“We’ve got Woodside Farm out of Indiana. He bred Woodside Charm and he’s bred some really nice trotters.

“We’ve got some Ontario-breds for the first time in a long time from a breeder-client of ours, Nick Malcolm and we’ve got a few trotters for Order By Stable.

“That kind of covers all the core people. It’s a mix, you know, we’ve got something for everybody, every jurisdiction. It’s pretty even between pacers and trotters.”

In terms of highlights, Laungani mentioned:

• Hip #21 Woodside Jet Seven. “This is one of the most athletic, strong Chapter Seven colts we’ve been around in a few years,” Laungani said. “He’s a must-watch video. I think people… have to have a Chapter Seven colt to compete these days, so I think people will gravitate towards him.”

• Hip #105 Papis Best Shot from Perretti. “This is just an A-plus individual,” Laungani said. “He’s a Papi Rob colt… and this guy has extreme presence about him. So, he’s got the full package and I think he’s going to be super, super popular. He already has been at the farm.”

• Hip #129 Custom, “is super cool,” Laungani said. “She’s a Walner filly and she is out of a very high-class stakes filly in France, who made over $300,000 and won several stakes. She was second in a Group 1 and third in a Group 2, second in another Group 2. This is her first foal, from the family of Qualita Bourbon. It’s a Walner filly that’s really athletic and has really been enjoying her prep here at the farm. I think people are going to be excited to see her as well.”

• Hip #131 Vinyl Daddy, “I believe is the only colt in the sale that’s bred on the same cross as Maryland,” Laungani said. “That’s Chapter Seven over a Father Patrick mare, so that’s interesting. He’s a nice colt.”

• Hip #330 Climate, “people shouldn’t sleep on [her],” Laungani said. “This is a first foal, a Downbytheseaside filly, that we love. Fantastic family, family of Ginger And Fred that goes back to Elegant Grace and Caviart Belle involved – not shown on the page. This filly can really move and she’s one of those tough fillies that you think, ‘Yeah, she’s going to race good for somebody.’ She’s dual-eligible.”

• Hip #357 Canal is, “a Creatine filly, of all things, but she’s royally-bred on the dam side,” Laungani said. “She’s dual-eligible with a must-watch video. Lovely physically. She’s cool because somebody is really going to end up with a gem here. Being that she is a Creatine, she might not be on everybody’s radar. I’ll be talking about her a lot and getting her out because being a Creatine is actually a fantastic thing. All of us need to look outside the box with these trotting fillies so we’ve got options when they are done racing. She’s a big, dark, beautiful thing.”