Etc. . . .

The Jockey Club is projecting a 2003 North American registered Thoroughbred foal crop of 37,000, an increase of nearly 4 percent over the 2002 foal-crop forecast of 35,600 Thoroughbreds. The 2002 projections are influenced by an expected loss of about 20 percent of Kentucky's foal crop because of the abortion-causing syndrome known as mare reproductive loss syndrome. . . . As of 4 p.m. Monday, a $200,000 Halo's Image colt out of Proud Clarioness was the session-leader at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's August selected yearling sale in Ocala, Fla. James McIngvale purchased the colt from Celebrity Farm, agent. . . . Owner and breeder G. Watts Humphrey has joined the board of stewards of The Jockey Club, filling a vacancy left by the expiration of Wheelock Whitney's four-year term. The Jockey Club also re-elected its chairman, Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps, to a four-year term as a steward.