Brothers Eric and Albert Wirth of Douglaston, N.Y., teamed up to purchase their first Thoroughbred in the late 1960's, and have been breeding and racing horses, primarily in Maryland, ever since. One of their newest players, the promising 3-year-old Maryland-bred filly Spirited Game, conditioned by the brothers' longtime trainer Ron Cartwright, scored one for the home team when she won the Smart Halo Stakes on April 4 at Pimlico.

The first-quarter data for 2004 is on record and the numbers are bullish for much of Florida's Thoroughbred industry. All the Florida sales, mixed as well as 2-year-old auctions, have been either approached or broken records.

A newcomer at the top of Florida's leading sire roster is Halo's Image. Halo's Image is a son of Halo out of the stakes-winning Valid Appeal mare Sugar's Image. The late Valid Appeal has been for several years Florida's leading broodmare sire.

A small but select group of New York-bred 2-year-olds will be offered for sale at Keeneland on Tuesday.

Here's a look at the horses representing the Empire State:

Hip No. 6: A Two Punch filly foaled in May and the first registered foal out of the Pine Bluff mare Very Reasonable. The filly's second dam, Stay a Leader, was a stakes winner and producer. The filly's breeders, Berkshire Stud and Oak Cliff Stable, bred Private Emblem, the champion 3-year-old New York-bred in 2002, and Rhum, the New York-bred champion turf female in 2002.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Bertrando, one of California's top stallions in recent years and the champion older male of 1993, has been bred to 35 mares this year despite suffering from a liver disease that required surgery as recently as December.

Through Wednesday, 20 of the 35 mares bred to Bertrando had been pronounced in foal, according to owner Marty Wygod. As of Wednesday, Bertrando had been booked to 69 mares this year.

Bertrando stands at Wygod's River Edge Farm in Buellton, Calif.

Throughout the current breeding season, Bertrando's health has been closely monitored.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Robert Sangster, a major English-based owner and breeder and a force behind the creation of the globally dominant Coolmore operation, died at his London home on Wednesday. Sangster, who was 67, had pancreatic cancer.

A family friend, Lord Bell, said Thursday, "He was surrounded by his family, and he died very peacefully after a long illness that started nine or 10 months ago."

Millionaire and multiple Grade 1 winner Excellent Meeting died March 23, according to Brushwood Stable. The mare died during colic surgery at the Rood and Riddle veterinary clinic in Lexington, Ky., according to a report on The Blood-Horse website. The mare was 8 and delivered her last foal, a Storm Cat filly, earlier this year.

Excellent Meeting, a daughter of General Meeting and the Chief's Crown mare Fitted Crown, won four Grade 1 races. From a career record of 20-8-5-3, Excellent Meeting earned $1,402,396.

LAS VEGAS - In a "normal" year, the Wood Memorial Stakes, Blue Grass Stakes, and Arkansas Derby are designed to be preps for the big prize, the Kentucky Derby.

Not this year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - European champion In the Wings, winner of the 1990 Breeders' Cup Turf and sire of 1996 grass champion Singspiel, died Saturday at age 18.

Laminitis had plagued the Sadler's Wells stallion during the last month. Officials at Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum's Kildangan Stud in Ireland decided to euthanize him after his condition declined "to spare him further pain," according to a statement issued by Kildangan manager Joe Osborne.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Having shaken the dust of Dubai off his heels, Pleasantly Perfect now has won the two richest dirt races in the world: the Dubai World Cup and the Breeders' Cup Classic. There is no doubt that he is a very good horse at 10 furlongs, and he showed the versatility in the Dubai World Cup on Saturday to lie close to the pace and then duel head and head with Medaglia d'Oro for about the last five-sixteenths of a mile.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mare abortion rates in central Kentucky are no longer alarmingly high, as they were during the mysterious mare reproductive loss syndrome in 2001. But the drop in abortion rates hasn't made breeders or researchers any less vigilant about the Eastern tent caterpillar.