Hastings' Weekly Round-Up
Trainers continue to 'tighten the screws' with just two weeks remaining until opening day at Hastings
Spring Training
Hastings Racing Club
Back in Harness!
It’s quite the palaver, what with the boot and the crutches and negotiating the challenging backstretch “going”, but it was great to see trainer Patty Leaney overseeing her workers at Hastings this week following her nasty recent injury. Patty was in great spirits, but reports she remains a few weeks away from being able to put weight back on the right ankle she fractured in a spill from one of her mounts. Patty remains grateful to her family, friends and colleagues for rallying around to help keep the barn running smoothly and she hopes to be off the bar stool and back in the saddle before too long.
Welcome to the World!
New Stride News
Tiz the Law Colts Tops OBS Spring at $1.5 Million
Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds figures his partnership has been doing business with Steven Venosa for the better part of three decades and credits the longtime consignor with helping prep some of the best horses who have carried his operation’s yellow and black silks.
The fruits of that relationship were magnified inside the OBS pavilion during the final session of the 2025 Spring Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale when West Point Thoroughbreds, in partnership with Spendthrift Farm and St. Elias Stable, secured what Finley hopes will be yet another success story when they went to $1.5 million to land a colt by Tiz the Law and top the bellwether juvenile auction that produced year-over-year gains in gross and a record average.he four-day OBS Spring action was one packed with fireworks as a total of nine horses sold for seven-figures or more, including six that sold during the second session alone. Few had a better week than Venosa, however, as his S G V Thoroughbreds consignment produced the sale’s top two prices.
Prior to selling Hip 1094, a dark bay or brown colt who worked in :10 flat during the under tack show, he led Hip 601 up during Tuesday’s session and watch the bay Gun Runner colt sell for $1.45 million to Kerri Radcliffe, agent for Memo Racing. According to Venosa, this is the first time he has had two seven-figure offerings come out of his barn in the same week.
“Without my team we’re not able to do this. So, they take just as much credit as I do,” Venosa said. “We knew (the Tiz the Law colt) was one of the top horses in the sale. To reach that level, you just never know. You try to lead them up there and, like with the last one, you let the people evaluate them and that’s what they are worth. The most important thing is I’m really excited about the home he’s going to.”
Out of the winning, stakes-placed Souper Speedy mare Georgian Dancer, a half-sister to Canadian champion River Maid, the Tiz the Law colt is one Venosa said has made an “amazing” transformation since he purchased him as a yearling. After opening with a bid of $100,000, the colt morphed into a sales topper with Finley prevailing as he bid alongside Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey and Monique Delk, executive director of racehorse development for St. Elias.
“Tiz the Law is a stallion where we’ve now bought three of them at the 2-year-old sales, and he’s come forward like a whirlwind,” Finley said. “I think he’s going to make an impact on the breed for a lot of years to come. We’ve been doing business with Steven for about 30 years and bought our first really good horse, Awesome Gem, out of Steve’s barn when he worked for J.J. Crupi in 2004. So, I have a lot of respect for the work that he does and this horse, he really was a horse all three of us wanted.”
Added Venosa, “It seems like (the colt) gets better and better. As he was showing here, several people would come and look at him every day and every day he just really blossomed. The (Tiz the Laws), they’re running on dirt, they’re running on turf. They’re showing up at 2-year-old sales. And most importantly they are sound. To bring a horse like that of that size and work the way he did was very impressive.”
The sale-topping colt fittingly closed out an OBS April exercise that demonstrated market strength. The total gross of $88,761,500 from 637 sold was an increase over the $82,373,500 generated by the same number sold in 2024. The average of $139,343 bested last year’s mark of $129,315 and topped the previous April record of $129,577 in 2022. Overall median declined from $70,000 in 2024 to $65,000.
A total of 128 horses failed to meet their reserve for an RNA rate of 16.7%, compared to 18.7% in 2024.
Bloodhorse Daily Headlines — Saturday, April 19
