Taylor Made Farm

Taylor Made Farm

Type	Thoroughbred breeding and sales
Founded	1976
Founder	Duncan Taylor & Mike Shannon
Headquarters	Nicholasville, Kentucky
Key people	Duncan Taylor: founder, President, CEO Ben Taylor: Vice President of Taylor Made Stallions Frank Taylor: Vice President of Boarding Operations Pat Payne: Vice President of Sales Mark Taylor: Vice President of Marketing and Public Sales Operations

Taylor Made Farm is a 1,600-acre Thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and is a leading consignor of Thoroughbred horses.^[1][2] The farm is owned and operated by four brothers, Duncan, Ben, Frank and Mark Taylor with their long time family friend and business associate Pat Payne becoming a partner in 2008.^[1][3]

History

Taylor Made was founded in 1976 by then-19-year-old Duncan Taylor and his business partner Mike Shannon as a broodmare boarding farm, and initially was located on a parcel of leased land on Gainesway Farm.^[4][5] Gainesway Farm used Taylor Made as a place to board mares that traveled to Kentucky to be bred.^[1] The Taylor brothers, Duncan, Ben, Frank, and Mark grew up living and working on Gainesway Farm with their father, Joe Taylor, the farm's manager,^[5] and also learned about the horse business from their grandfather.^[4]

In 1978, the business broadened to include sales when they consigned horses at the Keeneland Sales.^[5] By 2012, Taylor Made was consigning approximately 10% of the Keeneland's September yearling sale−about 345 yearlings out of the entire sales catalog of 3,604.^[2]

As Taylor Made grew, the horses were kept on leased property and barns throughout Central Kentucky. They expanded into sales consignments and then built their own facility on a 120-acre piece of property owned by Joe Taylor on Union Mill Road in Nicholasville, Kentucky.^[4][5]

Operation

Taylor Made is divided into two separate companies: Taylor Made Sales Agency, and Taylor Made Stallions Inc. Taylor Made Sales Agency is in involved with public and private sales as well as a boarding facility.^[5] The brothers of the Taylor family have been the sole the owners of the corporation since 1986.^[4]

Taylor Made is headed by Duncan Taylor, the president and CEO of the family-owned farm. Ben Taylor is the vice president of the company's Taylor Made Stallions division.^[6] The farm now is 1,600 acres today.^[4]

Taylor Made Sales Agency

Taylor Made Sales Agency is a leading consignor of Thoroughbred horses.^[1]

For fourteenth time since 2001, Taylor Made was the leading consignor at the 2016 January Horse of All Ages Keeneland Sales auction^[7] with 92 horses sold for $4,359,500.^[8]

Boarding Operations

Taylor Made Farm has 22 barns with 429 stalls. The farm has three round pens, five exercise walkers and 107 paddocks.^[9]

Taylor Made Stallions

As of 2016 stallions owned by Taylor Made include:

• Astrology: In 2012, Astrology retired to Taylor Made Farm to stud with a 3-3-3 record from 12 starts and earnings of $516,977.^[10]
• California Chrome: Taylor Made Farm bought a 30% share of 2014 Kentucky Derby winner and American Horse of the Year, California Chrome, with the intent of racing him in 2016 then retiring him in 2017.^[11][12]
• Graydar: In 2013, Graydar retired to Taylor Made Farm for stud as a Twin Creeks Racing/Taylor Made Stallions venture. Graydar was bred in Kentucky by William Farish.^[13]
• Northern Afleet: Northern Afleet, a sire of Afleet, entered stud in 1999 at Double Diamond Farm in Ocala. He moved to Taylor Made Farm in 2004. Northern Afleet has sired champion race hose Afleet Alex.^[14] He has sired a Breeders' Cup winner and has a son that sired a Breeders' Cup winner.

Previous stallions stood by Taylor Made included:

• Unbridled's Song (1993-2013), winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Florida Derby and Wood Memorial.^[15]

References

1. Hammonds, Evan (2010-06-30). "Q and A with Taylor Made's Duncan Taylor". Blood Horse. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
2. Patton, Janet (August 26, 2012). "At Taylor Made, a careful calculus of finding the right horse". Lexington Herald Leader. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
3. "Meet The Team". www.taylormadeadvantage.com. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
4. "About Taylor Made". Taylor Made. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
5. Zunker, Esther (2014-03-11). "A principled approach spells success for Taylor Made". Thoroughbred Racing Commenary. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
6. Mitchell, Eric (July 17, 2015). "Taylor Made Buys Share in California Chrome". Blood-Horse. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
7. "Keeneland sale marked by stability, selectivity". ABC 36 News. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
8. "Keeneland January produces mixed results". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
9. "Boarding". Taylor Made Farms/Boarding. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
10. "Astrology to Stand at Taylor Made". Blood Horse. 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
11. Genaro, Teresa (2016-01-09). "After A Year Away, California Chrome Returns To U.S. Racing In Triumph". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
12. "Taylor Made Buys Share in California Chrome". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
13. "Donn Winner Graydar Retired to Taylor Made". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
14. Evans, Murray (2005-06-06). "Breeding boost". Ocala.com. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
15. "Unbridled's Song". Equibase. Retrieved 3 June 2016.