LAS VEGAS - This is the fifth part of a series on the 2004 freshman sires, with particular emphasis on how to play their offspring. Listed alphabetically, the sires are followed by their pedigree and the state or country where they stand.

Keeneland concluded its five-day January horses of all ages sale Friday with across-the-board increases.

Keeneland sold 1,258 horses for gross sales of $49,344,900, an increase of 58 percent from the 2003 auction. The average price of $39,225 and the median of $13,000 also rose sharply, climbing 49 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

The number of foals nominated to the Breeders' Cup rose 7.3 percent in 2003, reversing a decline caused by Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome, Breeders' Cup announced on Friday.

Foal nominations were 14,927 last year, compared with 13,910 in 2002. The numbers have not fully recovered from 2001, however, when foal nominations were 15,104.

Nominations to the Breeders' Cup dropped off in 2002 because of a sharp increase in late-term abortions in central Kentucky mares, a phenomenon that is still poorly understood.

A busy few days and nights for Florida's Thoroughbred industry start with the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's annual winter mixed sale, Monday through Thursday. The OBS has cataloged 1,090 horses for this sale, with roughly half of them yearlings.

The first book features the consignors' preferred sessions and the Irish Acres Farm reduction consignment. The second book catalogs the open sessions.

A new year means a new agenda for the board of directors at the New York Thoroughbred Breeders.

The NYTB held its first organizational meeting of 2004 on Jan. 5. Dennis Brida, the executive director for the organization, said several topics, which he called "visions for 2004," were explored at the meeting.

Call it luck, or label him a genius. Either way, Jim Ryan's success over the past 25 years at breeding and racing Maryland-breds has been a wonder to behold.

First to gain national fame were his back-to-back Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old fillies Smart Angle (1979) and Heavenly Cause (1980). Then came Belmont Stakes winner Caveat (1983).

A buzz has surrounded the first crop of young sire Perfect Mandate since his foals began racing last summer throughout California.

Saturday, before a national audience, the hype could go nationwide when two of Perfect Mandate's 3-year-olds start in Sunshine Millions races for California-breds and Florida-breds.

At Santa Anita, Badgett's Mandate, Perfect Mandate's top earner, starts in the $250,000 Dash. At Gulfstream Park, Allswellthatnswell makes her stakes debut in the $250,000 Oaks.

After posting tremendous gains in gross and average on Wednesday, the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale continued Thursday with a $260,000 early session- leader in Saturday's Child.

Saturday's Child, a 5-year-old daughter of Storm Cat, sold in foal to Broken Vow. She was consigned by Mill Ridge Sales and was purchased by Domino Stud of Lexington. As of 5 p.m. Eastern, she was the only horse to sell for six figures Thursday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The death of William T. Young at age 85 in Florida on Monday stirred up a lot of good stories about a man generally regarded as one of the shrewdest - and most gracious - businessmen the Thoroughbred game has known. Some of the best stories about Young involve his faith in the stallion Storm Cat, and few people can tell that story better than Ric Waldman.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Despite the cold, the rain, the wind, and mental images of sunny south Florida beaches, Keeneland staged a successful January sale this week. Bargains were found, fortunes were made, and the beat goes on.

At the top of the market, the sale of Cajun Beat's dam, the Cure the Blues mare Beckys Shirt, for $850,000 shows both the volatility and the possibility of the Thoroughbred marketplace, as well as its potentially immense rewards.