LEXINGTON, Ky. - The January horses of all ages sale continued Tuesday at Keeneland, building upon the top-end prices of Monday's opening session. As of 5:30 p.m Eastern, five horses had sold for at least a half-million dollars, led by Beckys Shirt ($850,000), the dam of Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Cajun Beat.
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Losing the signals from Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita may have been the best thing to happen to AmericaTab.
Ohio-based AmericaTab, a collection of online wagering sites, reports that its handle has skyrocketed 50.5 percent since Magna Entertainment Corp., the parent company of Gulfstream and Santa Anita, pulled the tracks' signals from the account-wagering company on Dec. 26. In the first 12 days of the year, AmericaTab's sites took in $3,172,564 in bets, compared with $2,106,872 for the same time period last year, according to Charlie Ruma, the president of the service.
Adena Springs, with earnings of $11,550,052, topped the list of individual breeders in North America in 2003, according to statistics by the Jockey Club Information Systems Inc.
Adena Springs, Frank Stronach's breeding operation, bred the winners of 296 races from 1,956 starts. The late John Franks, who bred the winners of 449 races from 3,367 starts, was second on the list with earnings of $9,717,890.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The January horses of all ages sale at Keeneland began Monday. So, too, did the revitalization of Golden Eagle Farm.
As of 6:15 p.m., Betty Mabee, who founded Golden Eagle with her late husband, John, had purchased five of the 10 most expensive horses sold, including the session co-leader, Argentine champion La Galerie. Mabee, with Rick Trontz of Hopewell Farm acting as her agent, purchased the 7-year-old daughter of Southern Halo out of the Logical mare Aquarelle for $800,000.
When the five-day Keeneland January horses of all ages sale opens Monday, it will be without its headliner, Grade 1 stakes winner You. Entered as a broodmare prospect, she was pulled from the sale by owner Edmund Gann, who according to sales officials intends to breed her this year.
Even with some of its star power gone, the sale is fueled by optimism following the November breeding stock sale at Keeneland, which showed enormous gains and world-record prices of $7.1 million for a broodmare and $2.4 million for a weanling.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In 2003, In Excess defended his title as the leading stallion standing in California.
But unlike in 2002, his first year atop the standings, In Excess had a global presence last season, with the success of his daughter Musical Chimes, the winner of the Group 1 French 1000 Guineas in Paris in May.
The foreign success not only helped raise In Excess's worldwide profile, but his ranking on the national sire list, as well.
The Stonerside Stable of Robert and Janice McNair set up a small division of broodmares in Texas four years ago. This year, the mares accounted for four Texas-bred stakes winners, giving Stonerside a modern-day breeding record in Texas.
The McNairs' record will be recognized during the Texas Thoroughbred Association's annual awards banquet Saturday, Jan. 17 at Sam Houston Race Park. Robert McNair is a leading businessman in Houston, where he owns the NFL's Houston Texans.
Two yearlings from the first crop of New York sire City Zip are among 29 yearlings foaled in New York who are consigned to Keeneland's January sale of all ages, which begins on Monday.
City Zip, a 6-year-old son of Carson City, has a colt and a filly in the five-day sale.
Hip No. 457, a filly by City Zip, sells on Tuesday. The filly, who is consigned by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services, agent for Willow Oaks Stable, is out of the Sovereign Dancer mare Dances with Quack.
The first Florida sale of the new year begins next Monday when the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company conducts its annual winter mixed auction, Jan. 19-22.
"The financial markets and the economy are getting stronger," said Tom Ventura, OBS general manager and sales director, "and these factors should have a positive effect on the horse business. Our sales have been improving quality-wise and this is among the best catalogs OBS has offered."