Tremendous!

by Gordon Waterstone

As I was ready to leave Fasig-Tipton around Hip #70 of Monday night’s opening session of the 2026 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, I stopped first to see how my sponsors, Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Farm/Hunterton Sales Agency, were faring. They both flashed smiles and said they were happy.

When I saw Steve and Cindy yesterday morning at Day 2 of the sale, I asked again how Monday night went for them. They both answered at the same time: “Tremendous!”

The top consignor by gross sales, Hunterton sold 23 yearlings Monday night for $4.974 million. Four of the top eight sold came from Hunterton’s consignment. Leading their list at $700,000 was Hip #4, a Chapter Seven colt named Lake Placid. Jeff Snyder and Lennart Agren’s S R F Stable were the purchasers. Snyder and S R F also paired up to purchase the Hunterton-consigned Hip #76 Indestructible for $600,000.

The sale-topper at $825,000 came from Duane Miller’s Kountry Lane consignment in Hip #79 Kountry Prince. The son of Walner was purchased by Ake Svanstedt.

Kentuckiana Farms sold a pair at the top of the chart on Monday, including Maestro Volo, a son of Chapter Seven who went for $800,000, and Special Account, a son of Walner who brought $650,000. Both trotters were purchased by Peter Cimino, acting as agent.

In all, the 111 yearlings sold Monday night averaged a record price of $199,883.

Before Monday’s sale I went to dinner as part of a group of eight to Frank And Dino’s. Thanks to Jim Winske for picking up the tab, and it was great that I had a chance to catch up with Mike Keeling and Paula Wellwood as they were part of the group.

Fasig-Tipton was packed with people on Monday night, probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen there for the opening session. I was making my first loop around the pavilion when I saw my former co-worker Lynne Myers and her husband Mike, who were standing with HRU advertising director Wilma Van Vaerenbergh. The back of the ring was so crowded that I had to cut through the concession/bar area, and it was there I ran into former Rosecroft Raceway publicity director Gregg Boehmer. Gregg told me that after he left Rosecroft years ago he began a career in teaching, and he recently retired. He also told me that he has a pair of 2-year-olds that he is training himself to keep himself busy.

I stopped and talked to Peter and Melanie Wrenn, who I’ve known for more than 40 years since our Michigan days. I reminded Melanie that all those years ago she used to sit some nights in my office at Hazel Park waiting for Peter to get done racing, and now she can call herself the trainer of Odds On Mr Mambo, the winner of this year’s $1 million Pepsi North America Cup.

Others I had a chance to talk to Monday night were Matt Franklin, Austin Luttrell, Charlie Norris, Chris Fout, and Jeff Snyder. Actually, I was on my way to congratulate Jeff on his new purchases and the great year he has been having, especially as co-owner of Apex and Super Chapter. As I was approaching Jeff, somebody tapped my on the shoulder from behind and said, “I really enjoy reading your column.”

I turned to say thanks and found that person to be Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural. So, after a couple minutes talking to Jeff G. I had a chance to speak with Jeff S.

Shortly after I got home Monday night, I received some text messages from John Rallis, who we all know as a great interviewer and the associate editor of Standardbred Canada’s Trot magazine. John’s first text was asking how things were going in Lexington, while his second asked if I had seen his boss, Trot managing director Dan Fisher. Ironically, I had indeed seen Dan, as I sat at a patio table with him, Moira Fanning and Andrew Cohen for a while. My conversation with Dan included reminiscing about my trip last January to the Prix d’Amérique in Paris, where our group was joined by his son, Justin. I had taken several photos of the group while in France, so I quickly scrolled through my phone to show one of Justin to Dan. I did, but it was an oops moment as the photo I had found was not of Justin, but rather it was of Ryan Macedonio, who was also part of our group.

Before I go any further, I need to really apologize to all those in Lexington who either already attended the sale or plan to (sessions continue today at 11 a.m. and Thursday at 7 p.m.) as I was unaware of all the construction on Newtown Pike. It’s an absolute obstacle course as both lanes going and coming from Fasig-Tipton from the New Circle Road exits are being torn up. The lanes zig zag and weave back and forth and get narrow in some spots. So of course, traffic backs up considerably. I wish now I had done a trial run out to the sale, but alas, I didn’t know what was happening.

I made my way back through that cluster zone on Tuesday morning so I could attend the luncheon in the Kentucky Room introducing this year’s Breeders Crown Charity Challenge, which is being sponsored by Greg Luther’s Prolific Equine. Following the luncheon an auction was held for breedings to eight of the sport’s top stallions, which brought in $146,000.

I sat for a bit at the luncheon with ex-Boss Kathy and Moira Fanning, and later was joined by Michael Eisenberg. I did take a moment and go over to talk to Greg Luther, and as I was walking away Brad Grant came up to me and said he enjoys reading Backstretch With Gordon and that he was glad I returned for season 24 this year. It is very gratifying when people pay compliments for the columns as I always hope they will be well received.

Woodbine Mohawk Park’s Mark McKelvie came over to the table while I was joined for a moment by John Campbell and Moira Fanning. I asked Mark how the announcer search is going in the aftermath of the announcement that Chad Rozema would be leaving the booth. Mark said there has been a lot of interest in the job but that management is taking their time in selecting Chad’s replacement to try and ensure the right choice is made.

Mike Micallef, another former Michigander who I’ve known forever, came by and we shook hands and said hello. I walked over to see Meadow Twaddle, who told me after some extra effort she was finally able to log onto the internet on her iPad so she could do some work.

A bit later I heard barking dogs, and looked over and saw Gunjan Patel’s dog Zeus and John and Paula Campbell’s dog Missy about ready to get it on. I’m not sure who I’d bet on in that dogfight, but Gunjan and Paula were able to quickly separate their canines.

Shortly before I wanted to leave, I walked over to the outside patio where the Primetime Racing crew was hard at work for their live audience from the sale. Curtis MacDonald and his wife, Jaimi, of course were there, along with Heather Vitale and Michael Carter.

Curtis asked me if I was interested in being interviewed, and I politely declined. But I incurred the wrath of Heather, so I agreed. In fact, it was Heather who did the interviewing and I think I did pretty good with her. It was so long ago that people may have forgotten, but I did do winner’s circle interviews in my PR days at Hazel Park as well as handicapping the races on the simulcast show. Doing the segment with Heather, who is a world-class pro, was a breeze.

Before I close this out, let’s remember that today is the four-year anniversary of the death of everyone’s friend Dave Brower. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been four years, and his presence has been missed not only in Lexington, but across the racing world. Dave was here in Lexington for the Grand Circuit meet, and I remember not being able to go to dinner with him because I had tickets to see Keith Urban at Rupp Arena, and then getting that call early the next morning from Gabe Prewitt asking if I had seen Dave.

Dave would be mad at me if I didn’t close this out with the price of gas. It’s $4.14 a gallon for regular, and I saw a $6.19 price for diesel. I’ll be back with you tomorrow.