When Jennifer Leamy came to America in 2015 for an internship with the late Gerry Dilger of Dromoland Farm, she did not expect to be selling horses under her own banner just 10 years later. On Sept. 13, during the fifth session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Leamy and her husband Zach Phillips will present their first two offerings at public auction under Zen Equine.
Leamy returned to the states in 2016 after graduating from the University of Limerick in her home country of Ireland to work for the well-respected Dilger. Her husband Zach is a Kentucky native, who worked for Ted Campion for 15 years.
"I don't come from a horsey background," Leamy said. "My family, we have cattle at home, I've always just loved horses. I wanted to be a jockey growing up, but I quickly got that idea out of my head."
Leamy and her husband rent Millennium Farm near Lexington where they foal mares and prep yearlings. They have roughly 60 head, and plan to foal 40 mares next year, in a mix of personal and client horses.
"Anything that we prep on the farm, we sell," she said. "We try not to take outside horses. We want it be all inclusive. So, if we prep it, then we take it to the sales and we know how they move, what their actions are, what their personalities are like."
Leamy worked for Dilger for six years until he died in 2020. She said the most important thing she learned from him was presentation: "How you present yourself to clients, how you present your horses and your consignment, just small things, making sure everything is neatly put away. Make sure you're presented, that your staff looks good. Presentation is key.
"Knowing your horses is key (too)," Leamy added. "Introducing yourself to people and saying this horse can do this, or this horse can do that. Knowing your stock is definitely very important as well."
Dilger, a native of County Clare, Ireland, graduated from the Irish National Stud in the 1970s, and relocated to Central Kentucky. He was best known for starting Dromoland Farm in 1994, co-breeding 2017 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Always Dreaming, and purchasing 2016 Kentucky (G1) winner and leading sire Nyquist as a weanling for $180,000 at the 2013 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale with partners under the name of Madison Farm, which included Ted Campion and Pat Costello. Dromoland consigned the colt as a yearling the following year, where he sold to a partnership that included his long-time friend and partner—bloodstock agent Mike Ryan.
Leamy will have the opportunity to use what Dilger taught her as she presents two fillies Saturday, both by first-crop sires.
Hip 1322 is by 2021 champion 2-year-old male Corniche , and out of the stakes-placed Gemologist mare Sugar Queen. She was bred by Winchester Farm.
"She's got a great mind on her," Leamy said about Hip 1322. "She's got a really big walk. I think the trainers will like her. She looks like a classic type, real long body, real long walk."
Corniche has gotten off to a great start at the September sale with all six of his offerings bringing six figures, topped by Hip 777, a colt who brought $725,000 from Speedway Stables, who also bought and campaigned Corniche. The son of Quality Road stood the 2025 season at Coolmore's Ashford Stud for $15,000.
Hip 1547 is by another Ashford stallion, Golden Pal , a two-time Breeders' Cup winner. She is the first foal of the stakes-winning Tapizar mare Headline Hunter, and was bred in Kentucky by Al Bianchi Racing and Proracing Stable.
Golden Pal's yearlings have been in high demand this week as well, with his top-priced horse bringing $600,000 from his trainer Wesley Ward and Breeze Easy/Louis Dubois, agent, during Book 1.
"She looks like she's going to be fast," she said of Hip 1547. "She looks like she'll be a (good) 2-year-old."
During the first session of Book 5, Leamy and Phillips will offer a filly by Mitole they bred in partnership with Al Bianchi Racing and Baytree Stables.
She is the second foal of the multiple stakes-winning mare Indiana-bred mare Expect Indy who won nearly $600,000 on the track. Mitole stood the 2025 season at Spendthrift Farm for a $10,000, and is the second-leading third-crop sire by progeny earnings through Sept. 10, and leads by total number of graded stakes winners at four for the season, including recent Music City Stakes (G3T) winner Shisospicy.
