Duignan Enjoying Success as an Owner With Echo Sound

Gabriel Duignan had a smile a mile wide when he led his homebred Echo Sound into the winner's circle after the filly's explosive victory in the May 16 Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course. A prominent figure across the Kentucky racing industry and a respected leader in both the sales ring and the breeding shed, there aren't too many times in Duignan's life when a horse running solely under his name has taken their picture at the graded level. Predominantly a commercial breeder, a large portion of Duignan's business revolves around breeding and selling Thoroughbreds, rather than racing them himself. While he's bred or purchased countless grade 1 winners in his career, and even raced successful graded stakes winners in partnership, Echo Sound's Miss Preakness win celebrated a new and special milestone for Duignan. Echo Sound, co-bred by Duignan with Vision TBs and Bruce and Patricia Pieratt, was born and raised at Duignan's Springhouse Farm, located down the road from Taylor Made Farm between Lexington and Nicholasville, Ky. Around 100 broodmares, half of which are owned by Duignan and his wife, Aisling Cross, and the remaining number belonging to clients, live on the sprawling 300-acre farm. Duignan's biggest client is Lee Searing of C R K Stables. 2024 Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) winner Kingsbarns was bred by Searing and hailed from a Springhouse Farm foundation. While the vast majority of weanlings and yearlings at Springhouse are prepped for the auction ring, Duignan decided early on that Echo Sound would never be for sale. From the first crop of the Ashford stallion Echo Town, Echo Sound was the last foal, and the only filly, produced from Duignan's longtime mare Eagle Sound. Nineteen years old when she died, hemorrhaging after giving birth, Eagle Sound was initially a $70,000 buy for Duignan out of the 2009 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. "I can actually recall when we bought her very well," Duignan said. "She was a beautiful mare. We bought her out of the Mill Ridge consignment from one of the later books. She was a Fu Peg mare with a little bit of family. And as luck would have it, she was in foal to Kitten's Joy at the time, who hadn't hit yet with his first few crops. We probably got a discount on her really, because he wasn't very fashionable at the time. But within a year, his runners started doing big things, he became hot stuff, and was on his way to becoming Kitten's Joy. It all worked out." Eagle Sound's Kitten's Joy foal was grade 2 winner Pick of the Litter, who Duignan sold for $150,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September Yearling Sale through his Paramount Sales consignment. Duignan co-founded and operates Paramount with fellow Irishman Pat Costello. Overall, the daughter of Fuaschi Pegasus produced nine winners in her tenure as a broodmare. In addition to Pick of the Litter and Echo Sound, Eagle Sound also produced graded stakes-placed Deer District. "She was a very good producer and she had a good sales record too," Duignan said. "That's part of why we wanted to keep Echo Sound, because (Eagle Sound) was so good to us." Echo Sound is currently the leading runner for her sire, Ashford Stud's second-crop stallion Echo Town. Although the grade 1 winner lacked a large book in his first crop, he boasted 13 winners from 32 foals to race in 2024, good enough for 13th on the freshman sire list. "I'm a fan of Echo Town," Duignan said. "He's a very well-bred horse, he was a very good racehorse, and with the mare, she was at the stage of her life, being an older mare, where we weren't going to pump a big stud fee into her. But I like Echo Town. I think he's done remarkably well for the opportunities he's had. I think if he gets the chance, he could be a pretty nice stallion." Echo Town initially stood for $10,000 upon retiring to Ashford. The son of Speightstown currently stands the 2025 breeding season for a fee of $5,000. "You have to take a gamble on stallions you think are good or could be good," Duignan said. "It's hard (as a breeder) to keep paying the top-dollar stud fees all the time. Sometimes you just take a chance, sometimes you're right, and sometimes you're wrong." If Echo Sound is any indication, it looks as if Duignan's gamble paid off. A winner on debut last summer at Ellis Park, the filly has won four of her five starts under the care of Keeneland-based trainer Rusty Arnold. "I've known (Duignan) as a friend and acquaintance through going to the sales for probably 25-30 years," Arnold said. "I don't think he really puts a lot of his horses in training, but I got lucky and he asked me if I would take this filly and it's been a great run so far." "I have a ton of respect for Rusty," Duignan added. "She's the first one I've sent to him, but I've been meaning to send him a good one." Since stepping off the van from Ocala, Fla., where she heeded her early lessons from Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables, Arnold said Echo Sound was a presence to behold. "She's a beautiful filly. She's a big, strong filly. When you saw her, you had to like her right away," Arnold said. Echo Sound quickly proved she was just as good as she looked, capturing her first three starts at three different racetracks, each race more challenging than the next. When she drew away by 2 1/4 lengths to win Keeneland's Myrtlewood Stakes in her third start, Duignan and Arnold started thinking they had something truly special on their hands with Echo Sound. "She's got a great mind on her," Arnold said. "I've never seen her upset, I've never seen her sweat or worry, she goes to the races, she knows what her job is, marches in there, and does her work. She's just absolutely been a pleasure so far." Given the winter off to refresh and recover from a minor injury, Echo Sound returned with vigor to capture the Miss Preakness Stakes on Black-Eyed Susan day. Rating kindly early, the filly looped five wide into the lane and stormed clear down the center of the track. It was her first race since finishing second to Impulse Buy in the Nov. 30 Fern Creek Stakes at Churchill Downs. "Coming off the layoff, I thought it was a tough spot, but Rusty assured me she couldn't be doing any better," Duignan said. "She couldn't have done it any easier I don't think. I think it was her best race yet. She showed a lot of maturity. She broke sharp and then settled. She looked like the winner the whole way around didn't she?" Arnold was equally as impressed with Echo Sound. "As a trainer, when you bring them back from 2 to 3 you never quite know," Arnold said. "You always want them to show you that they were as good as they were last year, if not better, and I think we got that answer from her. She did everything right." Duignan and Arnold have now started plotting a summer campaign for their budding star filly, beginning with the July 3 Victory Ride Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course, a race named after a horse Arnold calls the "best filly he's ever trained." "It would be a very nice race to win," Arnold admitted. "It would be special because of Victory Ride." The speedy Victory Ride polished off eventual champion 3-year-old filly Xtra Heat in a memorable running of the Test Stakes (G1) in 2001. Arnold can see Echo Sound following in the hoofsteps of his former pupil. The Test Stakes, contested at seven furlongs at Saratoga in August, is the ultimate one-turn prize for 3-year-old fillies in the country. "Like Victory Ride, we'd like to win the Test," Arnold said. "That's getting ahead of us, but for now, we'll focus on the next one (Victory Ride) and get there first." With the possibility of an exciting summer on the horizon, Duignan admits he's far from tempted to stray from his successful business model in order to race more of his own horses. For now, he's just enjoying the ride with Echo Sound until the day she'll retire to the Springhouse broodmare band. "As a breeder, you always end up racing one or two," Duignan said. "I do think racing is great in Kentucky. The purse structure is just fantastic, especially with a nice horse, but I'm probably not going to change too much."