$500K raised at TRF event

Helped by an auction-topping $47,000 Distorted Humor season option, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation raised more than $500,000 at its annual fund-raising dinner and auction at the Saratoga Golf and Polo Club on Monday.

The sale of 10 stallion-season options at the auction yielded $247,000. Restaurateur Bobby Flay bought the Distorted Humor season option as well as an $11,000 option to More Than Ready. The season options allow the buyer to breed to stallions in 2007 at their 2006 fees. Distorted Humor's 2006 fee was $150,000; More Than Ready's fee this year was $30,000.

Among the celebrities on hand were Flay and New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca, who donated a chance to be on the field during Mets batting practice and to meet the baseball team. Trainer Jimmy Jerkens purchased that for $12,000.

Proceeds from the auction go to support more than 1,300 retired racehorses currently in the TRF's care.