Sealed Bid For Minority Interest Of Race Horse Curlin Failed
A sale by sealed bid for the 20% minority interest in reigning Horse of the Year Curlin failed to produce an acceptable offer.
A state judge had ordered the minority share of Curlin be sold to help satisfy a $42 million judgment against the horse’s minority owners, William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham. Prospective buyers had until Wednesday to submit the bid.
The trustee, Sylvius von Saucken, appointed to oversee the sale rejected an undisclosed number of sealed bids.
The 80% majority interest held by winemaker Jess Jackson isn’t affected by the sale. Kevin McGee, vice president of Stonestreet Stables, which owns the 80% majority of the race horse Curlin, said Jess Jackson will wait to see what happens in a private sale.
“We would hope it would happen quickly,” Kevin McGee said.
Race horse Curlin is stabled at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, following a fourth-place finish in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Classic last October 25 at Santa Anita Park.
Cunningham and Gallion bought Curlin for $57,000 in 2004 through their Midnight Cry Stables. They sold a majority interest to a group led by Jackson in 2005. Jackson has since bought out the other investors.
Cunningham and Gallion are charged with bilking clients out of more than $90 million in a settlement over the diet drug fen-phen. Their first trial ended in a mistrial; a third attorney, Melbourne Mills Jr., who had no financial stake in Curlin, was acquitted. A retrial is set for February.
The $42 million judgment stems from a lawsuit brought by more than 400 former clients of Gallion and Cunningham. The former clients are seeking compensation, contending Cunningham and Gallion kept more of the $200 million settlement than they were entitled to.
Horse racing news edited from AP.
Tags: Curlin
"Sealed Bid For Minority Interest Of Race Horse Curlin Failed" was posted on 6 November 2008 10:53 PM under Horse Racing News, Horses, Owners & Breeders, Special Features
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