Early look at sale yearlings

Local horsepeople got into the yearling sales mood a week before Canada's biggest auction was to get under way when consignor Richard Hogan paraded many of his youngsters at a barbecue last Tuesday on his farm in Nashville, Ontario.

Almost 100 people, including top trainers Reade Baker, Roger Attfield, and Mike Doyle, got an early preview of some of the offerings at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's annual sale of Canadian-bred yearlings.

The selected session will be on Tuesday beginning at 3 p.m. at the Woodbine sales pavilion, while the open sessions will be held on Friday and Saturday beginning at 6 p.m.

Hogan, last year's third-leading consignor at the selected session, is the agent for 19 yearlings in the sale, including 15 in the selected session.

Among those is George Tharrenos's striking Tejano Run colt out of the stakes-winning mare Lady Gretchen. The colt is a full brother to multiple stakes winner Shaws Creek.

Two other yearlings made impressions on the crowd - a Silver Charm filly out of the stakes-winning mare Galaxy Girl, and a dark bay colt by Tethra who is half-brother to stakes winner Comtesse Cristol.

The selected session suffered a slight drop in average price last year - just over 11 percent - when 171 yearlings sold for an average of $37,162.

A smaller catalog for the selected session this year could help boost the average price, as should the promise of Woodbine Entertainment Group's ambitious development project on the property and the encouraging increase in wagering on the Woodbine races this summer.

Last year's leading consignor (by gross), Hill 'n'Dale Sales Agency, once again has a large selection of yearlings, as does Gail Wood's Woodlands Farm.

Southern Halo colt heads sales stakes

One of the best advertisements for this week's yearling sale is the six sales stakes races, for sales graduates, to be held at Woodbine on Sunday.

Heading the Simcoe Stakes for 2-year-olds colts or geldings is Edenwold, sold by Gail Wood and Bill Diamant last year for $100,000 to Jim and Alice Sapara.

Edenwold is a son of Southern Halo out of the appropriately named mare Best of Friends, who was claimed by Wood's longtime friend Vicki Pappas and Diamant for $10,000 in September 1997.

A daughter of Mining known as "Bessie," Best of Friends won her maiden in a $25,000 claiming race three starts later and was retired to the breeding shed.

Best of Friends is in foal to Salt Lake.

Wood is offering two yearlings this week for Diamant, including the only Holy Bull (sire of Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo) in the sale, a filly out of Golden Sister.

Triple for Panie

Local owner and breeder John Burness scored a rare triple last month when three offspring of his mare Panie won in four days.

Four-year-old Paniemoniam won a $12,500 claiming race on Aug. 24; her 3-year-old full sister (by I Can't Believe), Panie May, won her maiden for $25,000 on Aug. 26; and juvenile Trail Fox, by Fox Trail, scored over maidens on Aug. 27.

Panie is a multiple-winning Arkansas-bred mare by the Danzig sire Dmitri out of the Cox's Ridge mare Electra Lee. The mare, in foal to the regally bred stallion Dance to Destiny, resides at Burness's Colebrook Farms in Uxbridge.

LongRun Gala to feature zebra

Tickets are still available for LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society's Black and White Gala at the Woodbine trackside tent on Sept. 23. The gala will feature a live concert by Jeff Healey and the Jazz Wizards, dinner, open bar, silent and live auctions, plus a photo opportunity with a zebra and a riding demonstration featuring former runner Kemp Road Cavalier.

Tickets, which are $200 each, can be purchased from the LongRun office on the Woodbine backstretch or by calling 416-675-3993, ext. 3440.