SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Last year's champion turf mare Golden Apples will sell this year at Keeneland's November breeding stock auction. A 5-year-old Pivotal mare, Golden Apples was retired last week after injuring her left front suspensory ligament in the Grade 1 John C. Mabee Handicap, in which she finished second behind Megahertz in a three-way dead heat.
Owned by Gary Tanaka, Golden Apples will sell as part of Taylor Made's consignment.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When Fasig-Tipton opens the bidding at its Saratoga selected yearling sale Tuesday, it will be in an unusual position. Since the 1940's, Saratoga has followed Keeneland's often spectacular July auction.
But this year, Keeneland officials canceled the July sale, citing foal-crop reduction from mare reproductive loss syndrome, leaving Saratoga as the bellwether for select yearlings.
New York-breds comprise the entire catalog at Fasig-Tipton's preferred yearling sale on Aug. 10 and 11 in Saratoga, but a small group of well-bred New York-breds will be offered at the auction house's select sale that begins Tuesday.
Thirteen New York-breds, all by Kentucky sires, including Carson City, Chester House, Distant View, Grand Slam, Thunder Gulch, Unbridled's Song, and Victory Gallop, are part of the three-night sale that has more than 200 horses in the catalog.
Familiar names and faces from Maryland return to Saratoga for this week's Fasig-Tipton select yearling sale. On each of the three nights, Tuesday through Thursday, yearlings from a number of Maryland's most distinguished breeding establishments are headed to the sales pavilion.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The presence of yearlings by stallions from outside of California will have a major influence on the results of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association's Del Mar yearling sale on Aug. 10-11.
The sale features yearlings by 32 out-of-state stallions, including three champions - Boston Harbor, Fly So Free, and Giant's Causeway - and four winners of Triple Crown races - Commendable, Fusaichi Pegasus, Lemon Drop Kid, and Louis Quatorze.
Sixteen Florida stallions who won graded stakes will be represented by their first crops of Florida-bred yearlings at the Ocala Breeders Sales. The OBS has cataloged 202 for its Aug. 18 selected session. The open sessions, which begin the next day and conclude on Aug. 21, will offer 1,074 yearlings.
Padua Stable's Grade 1 millionaire Yes It's True (by Is It True), with 19 in the sale, already has been tested in the yearling market. Three of his offspring were sold at the Fasig-Tipton July sale and averaged $118,333.
Fasig-Tipton Texas has catalogued 310 yearlings to its annual summer sale, which will be held at Lone Star Park near Dallas on Aug. 25. The one-day yearling sale will begin at 10 a.m. Central.
Among the stallions represented by offspring are Tale of the Cat, who accounted for the $85,000 sales-topper last year; Distorted Humor, sire of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide; Golden Missile; Real Quiet; Doneraile Court; Cat Thief; and Valid Expectations.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Lexington said this week that it wouldn't shuttle its stallion Mutakddim to Argentina this year because the farm doesn't want to risk injuring a horse whose value is increasing.
Mutakddim is best known in this country as the sire of Grade 1 winner Lady Tak, and his Argentine progeny include Grade 1 winners Luna Real and Symbolic. Mutakddim isn't the only stallion staying off the shuttle circuit this year. Coolmore's Thunder Gulch is skipping his Australian season for "a season's rest" after seven consecutive trips Down Under.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Last weekend at Saratoga, Sightseek won the Go for Wand Stakes by 11 1/2 lengths, and Lady Tak set a stakes record in the Grade 1 Test Stakes. Not so coincidentally, both descend from the same male line, that of the great sire Mr. Prospector.
Already this year, Empire Maker won the Belmont, Funny Cide, took the Derby and Preakness, Peace Rules won the Grade 1 Blue Grass and ran third in the Derby, and Strong Hope won the Dwyer. The reigning Horse of the Year, Azeri, is unbeaten this season. All descend from Mr. Prospector.