Researcher O'Casaigh Buys 90% Interest in Early Voting

An international animal reproduction specialist who helped restore the reproductive health of freshman sire Early Voting prior to the 2024 breeding season has reportedly purchased 90% of the stallion. Dr. Padraig O'Casaigh, a veterinarian and owner of Fission Biomedical, announced the transaction July 6. The purchase was confirmed by Taylor Made Stallions, where Early Voting stands for $12,500 and will continue to stand. O'Casaigh got involved with Early Voting after his first season at stud. The son of Gun Runner bred 191 mares during his first season but started to show troubling signs of not getting mares impregnated late in the breeding season. Early Voting was eventually diagnosed with the rare condition of anejaculatory syndrome—the inability to ejaculate despite displaying all the other attributes of a healthy libido. O'Casaigh was contacted because of work he had done at University of Auckland Research Centre in Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gyneacology in New Zealand, where he is a research associate and senior lecturer. O'Casaigh has been involved in research to address reproductive issues in multiple species since he graduated from veterinary school in 1989. With the late Sir Graham "Mont" Collingwood Liggins, a professor and researcher at the University of Auckland, O'Casaigh and his team isolated an important communicator within every cell called the chaperone protein. Using chaperone protein treatment, O'Casaigh said he was able to restore Early Voting to full reproductive viability. "We got him right, and the very next season he's a fertile crackerbox, with 86% mares in foal," he said. READ: Innovative Treatment Returns Early Voting to Stud Duty O'Casaigh said his purchase of Early Voting enables him to give back to the Central Kentucky Thoroughbred community that has done much for him. He first came to Kentucky in 1989 through an internship in equine surgery at Hagyard, Davidson, and McGee (now the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute). "This is not just a great horse industry, but a wonderful community," he said. "We will give back by funding students to veterinary school from Early Voting's stud fees, in Professor Liggins' name. I couldn't name the many people I am so grateful to who have taught and guided me." Early Voting, who won the 2022 Preakness Stakes (G1), is the third-leading North American freshman sire by progeny earnings as of July 6. To date, he has sired five winners, led by stakes-placed winner He Is No Lie, who ran second in the Bashford Manor Stakes. At the 2-year-olds in training sales, Early Voting was represented by 11 horses that sold for $200,000 or more in the United States and Europe. Hoppel sold his top-seller for $850,000 to Three Amigos during the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.