Curlin Not To Be Auctioned

Posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

Special Judge Roger Crittenden disallowed to auction off ownership stake of William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. in 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin. During a 90-minute hearing on Tuesday, it was concluded that the plaintiffs did not have enough information about the assets of attorneys Gallion and Cunningham to force the auction.

The ruling comes in a lawsuit against Gallion and Cunningham, who were Curlin’s original owners through Midnight Cry Stables. They, together withMelbourne Mills Jr., are accused of bilking former clients out of at least $42 million in a $200 million settlement involving the diet drug fen-phen.

Their criminal trial is set for May 12. They have pleaded not guilty and are being held in the Boone County jail.

William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. sold an 80% stake in Curlin to a group led by Jess Jackson, the founder of Kendall-Jackson Winery and owner of Stonestreet Stables, and his wife, Barbara Banke, in February 2007. Jackson has since bought out two partners and became Curlin’s majority owner.

A state judge ordered Cunningham’s and Gallion’s assets, including Midnight Cry Stables, turned over to the plaintiffs to satisfy a $42 million judgment stemming from the lawsuit.

Lexington attorney Angela Ford who represents the plaintiffs said Gallion and Cunningham and the companies and foundations they ran have refused to turn over financial information since the judgment. “To date, there’s not been any answer served by any of the entities,” Angela Ford said. “And they haven’t turned over any assets.”

Ford sought to foreclose on Curlin after accusing Gallion and Cunningham of trying to sell the 20% stake in the horse.

Andre Regard, the attorney representing Tandy LLC, the parent company of Midnight Cry Stables, said Tandy and other companies aren’t party to the lawsuit and not required to turn over information to the plaintiffs.”We’re bringing these LLCs into court when they aren’t really plaintiffs,” Andre Regard said.

Judge Crittenden ordered Ford to issue requests for specific information about the companies and foundations and also ordered attorneys for Gallion and Cunningham to turn over to him their fee arrangements for a private review. He said any money paid to the attorneys but not spent could be turned over to the former clients. “That money may have been paid, but it still belongs to the defendants,” Crittenden said of legal fees paid by Gallion and Cunningham.

Curlin, who won Horse of the Year and top 3-Year-Old Male honors at the 37th Eclipse Awards Monday night, has been in training at the Fairgrounds in New Orleans.

Richard Getty, the attorney for Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables, echoed comments Jackson made Monday night about Curlin racing as a 4-year-old. JessJackson is considering running Curlin in the Dubai World Cup in March.

“I don’t think the horse is training for no particular reason,” Richard Getty said after the court hearing. “The horse is training because we expect to do something with it.”

Curlin won $5.1 million in purses in 2007, winning the Preakness Stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup before his Breeders’ Cup Classic win at Monmouth Park last October.

Share with other horse racing fans:

"Curlin Not To Be Auctioned" was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Owners & Breeders, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.