Dancing in Silks returns to training

Reigning Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Dancing in Silks has resumed training with Carla Gaines and is expected to make a comeback by the end of the Del Mar meeting in late summer, Gaines said Friday.

Dancing in Silks has not started since finishing fifth in the Grade 2 San Carlos Handicap at Santa Anita in February. The loss ended plans for a trip to Dubai for the $2 million Golden Shaheen sprint in March and led Gaines and owner Ken Kinakin to give Dancing in Silks a break during the spring.

“I think he was just tired,” Gaines said.

A 5-year-old gelding, Dancing in Silks won the BC Sprint at Santa Anita last November, his fourth consecutive win in a streak that included wins in the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes at Del Mar and the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.

For his accomplishments, Dancing in Silks shared the 2009 California-bred horse of the year title with California Flag, winner of the BC Turf Sprint last November.

But Dancing in Silks’s campaign in late 2009 and early 2010 took its toll on his ability. He began 2009 with a third-place finish behind eventual Golden Shaheen winner Kinsale King in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Handicap in January.

Gaines emphasized Friday that Dancing in Silks was not injured following the San Carlos. She said the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes over six furlongs on Sept. 8 is likely to be the first start of Dancing in Silks’s comeback.

“He’s doing great,” she said. “He’s been doing some slow breezes that aren’t being timed.”

By Black Minnaloushe, Dancing in Silks has won 7 of 15 starts and $1,468,622. Gaines has the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs in November as a year-end goal for Dancing in Silks.

155 yearlings cataloged for sale

The Northern California Yearling Sale in Pleasanton, Calif., on Aug. 17 will feature 155 yearlings. The sale sponsor, the California Thoroughbred Yearling Association, recently published the catalog on its website.

The sale is in its seventh year and showed an increase in average prices last year compared to the corresponding sale in 2008, which was held at Santa Rosa.

The 2009 sale finished with 110 horses selling for a gross of $566,000, an increase of 12 percent over 2008. The average grew by 8 percent, to $5,145, while the median of $3,250 was an increase of 30 percent. The sale had shown declines in average prices in the two preceding years.

The 2010 sale features yearlings by Benchmark, Bertrando, Decarchy, In Excess, Old Topper, and Tribal Rule, all of whom are among the state’s leading stallions by progeny earnings this year.

Woodbridge Farms, agent, has the largest consignment, with 23 yearlings. Colleen Turpin-Boyce, agent, has 19 yearlings, followed by Sam Hendricks with 18 and Harris Farms with 16.

Marty and Pam Wygod’s River Edge Farm has 12 yearlings in the sale. Last month, the Wygods announced they were dispersing their California-bred holdings of broodmares, weanlings, and yearlings at a sale at Barretts in Pomona, Calif., in October.

River Edge has consigned to the Northern California yearling sale in the past. Last year, River Edge sold the sale-topper for $32,000, a Benchmark colt later named Lucky Mr. K. Last month, Lucky Mr. K won a maiden special weight race at Hollywood Park.