Etc. . . .

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company in Ocala, Fla., ended its fall mixed auction Thursday with a sale-topping price of $145,000 for a Tale of the Cat weanling filly that Buzz Chace, agent, bought from Celebrity Farm, agent. The auction, which included two consignor-preferred sessions and two open sessions, sold 731 lots for $6,966,400 (up 13 percent from last year), for an average price of $9,530 (a 15 percent rise). . . . John Ertmann, the president of Equibase, resigned Monday after 18 months on the job. Alan Marzelli, the chairman of Equibase - a partnership of the Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations - will assume the president's responsibilities until a new president is hired. . . . Hook and Ladder, a graded stakes winner who was recently retired, will stand the 2004 breeding season at Lakland North in Hudson, N.Y., for a fee of $3,500. He will stand as a partnership with Lakland North and Chester and Mary Broman.