New York sire Manlove is keeping good company at the top of the current list of leading grass sires of 2004.

Manlove, who stands at Liberty Stud Farm in Ghent for $3,000, is in second place on the list with $332,550 in progeny earnings with his turf runners and is surrounded by stallions whose stud fees are significantly higher. California sire In Excess, who tops the list, stands for $25,000. Theatrical, third behind Man-love, stands in Kentucky for $75,000, and another Kentucky sire, Royal Academy, fourth on the list, stands for $20,000.

Shine Again, a million-dollar earning mare bred by Mrs. Richard C. duPont, tops the list of 2003 Maryland-bred champions announced Friday by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.

Shine Again (by Wild Again-Shiner, by Two Punch), the fourth generation of her family foaled and raised at duPont's Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, was named horse of the year, champion older female, and champion sprinter.

Other divisional champions are:

MIAMI - An improving economy, the infusion of overseas money, and a solid catalog all combined for a record-breaking session at Tuesday's Fasig-Tipton Select 2-year-old-in-training sales held at Calder Race Course.

LAS VEGAS - The Kentucky Derby is only nine weeks from Saturday, and while America's most prestigious race appears wide-open as of this date, there are a handful of colts who will prosper at 1 1/4 miles.

MIAMI - Six years ago, a Japanese businessman named Fusao Sekiguchi spent $4 million on a yearling, outbidding Satish Sanan. Two years later, that son of Mr. Prospector, named Fusaichi Pegasus, won the Kentucky Derby.

Sekiguchi and Sanan went toe to toe again in the sales ring on Tuesday, with Sekiguchi spending $4.5 million to outbid Sanan on a son of Fusaichi Pegasus and set a world record at the Fasig-Tipton selected 2-year-olds-in-training sales at Calder Race Course.

Be My Guest, a Group 2 winner who sired the 1990 Belmont Stakes winner, God and Go, and several European champions, died Feb. 19 in Ireland of the infirmities of old age, according to a report in the Racing Post. The stallion, who had been pensioned from Coolmore, was 30.

AUBURN, Wash. - Taiaslew was named Washington-bred horse of the year for 2003 at the state's annual awards banquet at Emerald Downs.

Taiaslew, a son of Slewdledo who races for Shelli Tracy and Stan Ryan, earned the accolade by winning 4 of 7 starts, including the Grade 3 Alberta Derby and three other stakes.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The select market for Thoroughbreds has been hot since last year's Saratoga yearling sale, and officials at Fasig-Tipton are hoping buyers' desire for racing stock will warm the market up even more in Miami on Feb. 24. That's when the auction house will hold its annual select 2-year-old sale in the Calder Race Course paddock.

It has been nearly 20 years since Kattegat's Pride ended her storied racing career in Maryland. One of the finest Maryland-bred mares to appear in the 1980's, Kattegat's Pride (North Sea-Pilgrim's Pride, by First Landing) won or placed in 18 stakes, earning $511,812.

Her career was a life-altering experience for Harford County, Md., residents Steve and Sue Quick, who came up with her in their first attempt at breeding a race horse.

"We thought, 'This is an easy job. All you have to do is pick the right mating,' " said Sue Quick.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Nearly two years of hype was justified when the California-bred Bear Fan won the $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel on Feb. 14.

Since a four-length win in a maiden race at Hollywood Park in April 2002, Bear Fan, 5, has displayed the potential to become a graded-stakes winner.

The Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie was her third attempt in such a stakes and has given trainer-breeder Wesley Ward a reason to point for the $250,000 Humana Distaff Handicap, a Grade 1 over seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on May 1.