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Medallion Racing had a year to remember in 2025. Revisit their top five moments with Mark Taylor and Phillip Shelton.

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00:00Coming into 2025, we were coming off one of our best years at the racetrack.
00:05You know, Porta Fortuna had won three grade ones in 2024, including, you know, our second Royal Ascot win.
00:12We had had Vodka with a Twist coming off a second place in the Breeders' Cup.
00:16And so we had dreams of what was going to happen with them, and that partially came true.
00:21But then we had a whole new development of new horses, new experiences, and, you know, massive sales that we really couldn't have expected going into the year.
00:36I'm going to go number five is the international trips we took this year.
00:40We took a trip in the spring to Donnick O'Brien's training center in Ireland.
00:45And then we took a trip to Deauville, France for the Arcana August yearling sale, which was just unbelievable.
00:52We got to do the Normandy D-Day beaches.
00:55We, you know, some of our partners got to ride Sulkies on the beach, and we had a cider tour.
01:00We can't wait for 2026 to have some more unique international opportunities.
01:08Vodka with a Twist is one of my favorite horses we've had in Medallion, but this year she placed in four graded stakes.
01:14She ran in a lot of big days, exciting environments, and she sold for $1.6 million in the auction.
01:20So she was really just a medallion success story, start to finish, and definitely deserve it of being in the top five.
01:31Lush Lips to the wire.
01:33Lush Lips.
01:33Tyler Gaffelio to board to win.
01:36Lush Lips won the QE2.
01:39I would have said this has to be number one for the year.
01:41Winning a grade one at Keeneland is, you know, that's like the pinnacle of the sport.
01:46To win it at Keeneland, our home track, all the team there to celebrate in the director's room, and then cherry on top, she tops the Keeneland November sale.
01:57So that was just a one-two punch.
01:59The fact that that is not number one is shocking, but I'd say she, you know, that tandem of events comes in number three.
02:07Port of Fortuna took our partnership in Medallion and then took our partners to a level that, you know, we could have only dreamed about.
02:19And taking her to Tattersall's and seeing the admiration.
02:25All the major players in the world were there looking at her, and basically nobody could find a fault in her.
02:29It was an emotional thing, just being with her for three or four days before she sold.
02:35That was probably the highlight of my year, is just spending time with the actual horse.
02:39But for our customers to have that exposure, go to Ascot, I mean, you're up there on the podium with the king.
02:46I mean, you know, it's just a fairytale story.
02:48So going into Breeders' Cup Friday, I was really hopeful about Cypher, and then she wins in scintillating fashion.
03:05It was just unbelievable, because she got the not this time factor combined with the medallion racing factor.
03:10It was unbelievable.
03:11And then Valentina was just like this wild card, right?
03:14Here comes Valentina, and she's charging through, and Pacific Mission is closing two.
03:19Get up! Get up, O3! Get up!
03:23But it's Valentina who rides the rail to win it! Valentina!
03:29You know, I thought she was going to massively outrun her odds, but to win a second Breeders' Cup race,
03:34and to be able to go back and tell all of our partners, you know,
03:37you guys won more Breeders' Cup races in 2025 than anyone else in the world, and you have nine horses.
03:44It's just an amazing feeling, and I think Breeders' Cup will be a day we'll never forget.
03:49I think any time you have a great year, you always are a little bit nervous.
03:54Can we top this in 2026?
03:58But I think it's a lot of fun dreaming now.
04:00What could Cypher do next year?
04:02You know, Valentina is going to try to do what Porta did.
04:05Plus, we have a lot of other fillies in the partnership that we're really excited for next year.
04:10When you look at Medallion's evolution over the last eight years,
04:15we developed the model around sourcing horses that have already run.
04:20It is our way of welcoming new people in to the racing game
04:25and promising them that they're going to have transparency,
04:28they're going to have great management,
04:30we've got a great team of sourcing talent,
04:32and we're going to pair it together with world-class experiences.
04:36That's what we're hoping for, because we want to grow the sport,
04:38and that's good for everybody.
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