Bloodstock agents across the country dive into Fasig-Tipton's two-day The Saratoga Sale starting Aug. 5 equipped from long days of research and inspections they hope will unearth gems at the boutique select yearling sale in New York. In the thick of the hunt will be Kyle Zorn and Legion Bloodstock.
After working with 2012 Florida Derby (G1) winner and Kentucky Derby (G1) participant Take Charge Indy as an assistant trainer for Patrick Byrne, Zorn began working as racing manager for the colt's co-owner Maribeth Sandford following the death of her husband, Chuck.
While buying horses for Sandford, Zorn became close friends with Travis Durr and Kristian Villante. After a few years of constantly running into each other at the sales, they decided to partner together and form Legion Bloodstock. In less than three years, the group has already seen considerable success.
Among Legion's early claims to fame are grade 2 winner Honor Marie, who raced in the 2024 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes (G1), and Mo Plex, recent winner of the Sanford Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course. Both colts were purchased by Legion for less than $50,000.
Zorn spoke with BloodHorse in the lead-up to the sale to discuss his passion for racing, Legion's outlook on the sales, and the joy of being involved at the sport's highest level.
BloodHorse: How did you first discover a passion for racing?
Kyle Zorn: I grew up going to what was then Louisville Downs (now the site of the Churchill Downs Training Track). My dad's parents died when he was young, so his uncle raised him and he was a big harness racing fan and owned harness racing horses. From the time I was able to walk, I was over at Louisville Downs. I fell in love with the sport, specifically horses. If we weren't at Louisville Downs, we were over at Churchill.
BH: How did you get started working in the industry?
KZ: I went to Tom Van Berg and asked him if I could work for free. I showed up at the Skylight Training Center in Goshen, Ky., and Tom was nice enough to let me start hotwalking. After the winter, Tom was moving and he lined up a job for me with Pat Byrne. I started walking hots and started grooming. Next thing I know, I was an assistant trainer. I worked for Pat for close to 10 years as an assistant.
I started working another job on the pharmaceutical side of things. At that same time, we had Take Charge Indy in the barn. Chuck and Maribeth Sandford were the owners. Chuck had passed away and Maribeth contacted me and asked if I'd come on to be her racing manager.
BH: When did you meet Travis Durr and Kristian Villante, and how did you all form Legion?
KZ: I'd always gone to the sales, but never really looked at buying anything. Maribeth and I started shopping around. One of the concerns we had was we hadn't landed on a place to send the horses after we buy them. Someone introduced me to Travis and we hit it off immediately. We started sending horses to Travis (to Travis Durr Training Center in South Carolina). That's where I met Kristian. The three of us began talking; we became buddies. Next thing you know, we're at the sales looking at the same horses. Those guys were more experienced, so I'd ask their opinion. Suddenly, we're all walking around together. It formed naturally. About three years ago now, we thought, "Why not do this together?" That's how quickly it became a thing.
BH: How does the team prepare for a sale like the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale?
KZ: We try to do as much homework as we can, and we'll go out to some of the farms. Really, the biggest thing for us is circling the wagons with all our clients. Some of them wait for the Saratoga meet and are just looking for action with New York-breds. We've got clients that are more interested in our racing groups. Then we've got clients that we worked with before we even started Legion. We just touch base with everybody and see what they're looking for.
BH: What will the days look like in the lead-up to the sale?
KZ: Those are the long days. We don't like to miss anything. We have a lot of horses with trainers like Jeremiah Englehart and Whit Beckman. We'll watch morning training and set a time for when we have to get out of there. The sales pavilion (at Saratoga) is right across the street. We look at every single horse in both Saratoga sales (select and New York-breds). The select sale we'll work together. We'll split up if need be and then come back and shortlist all at the same time. That's one of the things that works so well for us. That's how we attack any sale. We look at them and dissect them and decide if they make the final cut. Having three opinions has helped us immensely.
BH: Once you find a horse you like, how do you match that horse to a specific client?
KZ: We have clients who are very specific and are looking for a colt, a two-turn horse, fillies, whatever it might be. We do have those clients, but I would say the majority of them allow us to find the shape. Especially with our racing group horses, we have a budget in mind that we try to stay in with different groups. We find the group of horses first. Then, when we have the final list, we'll go through and say, "This is a great horse for..." Sometimes, we'll buy a horse without an owner in mind just because we don't want to run against him. That's worked out well for us, too.
BH: What is the feeling like when the hammer comes down on your winning bid for a horse you really like?
KZ: It's almost as euphoric as winning a race. That's one of the reasons we try to get our Legion Racing group's owners to the sales. A lot of people don't understand how exciting it can be. The Saratoga Sale is a perfect example of that. Usually, you're going up against all the big money. If you happen to get the horse at the end, you feel like you beat them in a nose bob at the wire. It also goes the other way; sometimes you walk out of there like you just lost a photo finish. It's exciting, especially when it's a horse like Mo Plex. Nobody thought we'd be able to buy Mo Plex for $45,000. We thought it would be a stretch with what we had to spend. When you walk out of there and get a deal on it, it's even more euphoric. It's a completely different high, but I would still call it equally as big as winning a race.
BH: In addition to being bloodstock agents, Legion Racing also acts as racing managers for some of your clients. Why is that a benefit?
KZ: A lot of people get in these racing groups because they love the game, but they don't understand the process or how to communicate to a trainer. We've tried to simplify it. We asked a lot of people who have been in syndicates and partnerships why they've gotten out. Typically, they didn't realize there were going to be all these different bills. They weren't complaining about the dollar amount, it was keeping track of the chiropractor, the blacksmith, the regular vet, the trainer. What we've done is simplified everything. We pay everything out to these vendors and then we simplify it to our guys. They get one bill, and they love that.
BH: Would you have ever imagined, back when you were a kid going to Louisville Downs, that you would be involved with horses like Take Charge Indy or Honor Marie on racing's biggest stages?
KZ: Honor Marie was eye-opening. Take Charge Indy, I'd been in it for a while at that point. To be able to make the Derby walkover, I honestly thought it was probably the only chance I'd ever have. When we started Legion, we had very high expectations. I don't want to say we've got the secret sauce by any means, but I think we've figured out how to buy good horses. Although, I don't think anybody would have ever dreamed that two years into this, we'd have a horse running a Triple Crown campaign, especially one that we paid $40,000 for. We had 16 horses altogether that year in those groups. To get one in the Derby and one that was potentially looking like he was on that path (Drip), it's opened our eyes that there's no reason we can't do this every year. We feel that we're buying as good a horse as any other agent or group out there and we're doing it for some value.
BH: Why the name Legion Bloodstock?
KZ: We wanted our name to represent a team. Everybody has their strengths in this group. Having Travis owning Travis Durr Training Center, we get to watch these horses from the minute we buy them and have a major part in how they're developed. Kristian has such an unbelievable eye for finding good pedigrees and good horses. I came from sales, so I'm more of the marketing guy. I love talking to the owners and trying to set up big race day experiences. We're a team with every single facet of what we do.
BH: Legion is very active in promoting its horses on social media. Why is that an important piece to the team?
KZ: We have a lot of people that want to know so much. They want to know how the horse is doing, but they unfortunately live out in Arkansas or Texas and they can't be part of every morning. It's so easy with all these social media channels to just break out your phone and film, let's have some fun with it. That's one part of the racing business that I've always said we need more of. We get so much negative press in our business, it's great to have some fun stuff. Jeremiah does all these TikToks and our owners, they love it. They love being able to see videos attached to their horse and the groom celebrating as they pass the finish line.
