For longtime bloodstock agent Bob Boni, the recent announcement of a merger between his Northwood Bloodstock company and Diamond Creek's sales force was a long time in the making. "I've been talking with Adam (Bowden) over the years about something like this," Boni said. "The time was right." Alliance Bloodstock was announced in January, with Boni and Diamond Creek's Shaun Laungani heading the company. Boni brings years of wisdom to the energetic and efficient team at Diamond Creek. The move suggests that unlike some mergers where businesses contract, the Alliance Bloodstock venture should help the collective expand at many ventures going forward. "We started selling for outside clients four years ago," said Laungani. "Bob's sold thousands of horses and has built relationships." Diamond Creek and Northwood have been major agencies at the two primary U.S. Standardbred yearling sales annually, and that is not likely to change, though the numbers could escalate. "I expect that we'll also be selling more horses at the Ohio and Indiana sales," said Boni. "This represents a great opportunity for smaller breeders to sell with us." Boni has done business with Diamond Creek over the years, offering his expertise in evaluations that help assist in insuring many horses. Boni learned the breeding business from the ground up with a career that began at Pine Hollow Stud Farms in New York and would later grow out in a partnership with Lou Guida that landed him front and center in the rollout to champion Niatross' first crop. Boni was part of a team that looked at every yearling from that first crop and tried to purchase the best-looking and hopefully best-qualified to race as 2-year-olds in 1984. From that select group emerged world champion Nihilator, the premier 2- and 3-year-old from Niatross' first crop. Nihilator won 35 of his 38 races in his career with $3.2 million banked, giving Guida the champion he was looking for and Boni much of the credit for his keen eye in assessing pedigree and conformation. "It's ironic," said Boni of his first encounter with Diamond Creek's Adam Bowden. "I remember he purchased Western Montana at the Harrisburg Sale (2005)." Boni didn't know Bowden at the time, but the acquisition of a pacing filly with close blood lines to Nihilator was intriguing. Now, nearly 20 years later, it is Bowden's Diamond Creek that has been transformed by that singular purchase as well. Western Montana was not only a stakes-winning filly but has emerged as Diamond Creek's foundation mare over the course of an incredible run in the breeding shed. Most recently, her daughter Geothermal produced the 2023 Horse of the Year Confederate, who in turn became the first homebred stallion to stand at Diamond Creek, with his first foals sprinkling in over the last week. Boni's Northwood Bloodstock has many ties already with smaller breeding farms, and that business will be incorporated into the Alliance sales catalog. What Diamond Creek's connection will get from Boni is the wisdom to dealing with varying types of customers and improving the entire package for both buyer and seller. "The Diamond Creek team does a great job already," said Boni. "Hopefully I can help them achieve even greater success moving forward." With his vast experience Boni understands that the yearling sale climate is rife with uncertainty, with many of today's breeding farms also active in the racing business as well. Diamond Creek has done a great job mixing the two over the last few years, selling and owning champions on the track. The difficulty at times is in perception with potential buyers concerned that the cream of any farms crop may already have been taken off the table before they reach the sales. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter "I think you have to market where people understand the circumstances going in," said Boni, recognizing that transparency is a must in today's auction business. Many major farms have retained horses over the years, and there has been no study to suggest a higher success rate than with horses sold at public auction. No matter the pedigree or physical prowess exhibited, horses become champions on the racetrack. Boni also expects that Alliance will be able to garner a greater number of horses to sell in mixed sales, with owners and breeders needing to cull and restock on a regular basis to fine-tune operations. "With us (Diamond Creek), we're looking to get greater support for our stallions," said Laungani. "We're trying to help people out that help support our stallions. Maybe they need to sell, and we can help them on that side. "With Bob we now have a capacity to do more." What's paramount to any sales success is the level of trust buyers have in the product being sold. Perhaps that's the key element in the Alliance merger since Boni's reputation among buyers and sellers has been forged on years of experience and wisdom shared that has helped buyers purchase with confidence and sellers enjoy realistic returns on their offerings. Boni brings a wealth of experience at yearling sales, and that is vital when you consider the number of horses trainers and owners need to examine before any horse heads to the auction ring. Over the years Boni has shown the keen ability to understand the type of horses certain buyers are looking for and steer them in the right direction. This has helped buyers manage time constraints and improve the overall experience. Horse sales in general are not among the easiest places to find all people smiling when the hammer comes down. For those who market to the sellers, the most important factor is to do the best possible job and to get the horses exposed in a positive way prior to auction. With Boni joining Diamond Creek's team, the overall benefit will be that sellers will see their horses receive a higher level of attention and hopefully have that translate to more bidders and higher prices. "A lot has do with building traffic," said Laungani. "We'll have something for everybody." Over the last 20 years Diamond Creek Farms' growth and success appears to be part of a solid business plan. With the merger with Bob Boni's Northwood Bloodstock and emergence of the collective Alliance Bloodstock, the next step is in place to build a force in the bloodstock agency business with the depth to handle an increasing number of breeders' needs going forward.