Etc. . . .

After three strong days of selling, a $55,000 yearling Family Calling-Orchid Corsage filly was the session leader Thursday at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. winter mixed sale's final session in Ocala, Fla. Wednesday's session, the first of two open days, sold 187 lots for $870,700, up from last year's $805,600 for 193 horses, as the average price rose 12 percent to $4,656, but the median fell 22 percent to $2,100, and the buyback rate rose slightly, from 21.9 percent last year to 22.4 percent in 2004. . . . Jockey Mel Lewis, who rode in seven decades, from the 1920's to 1981, died Tuesday at age 88. Funeral services are scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m. at the Deegan Funeral Chapel in Escalon, Calif. . . . Another pure white Thoroughbred filly was born at Painted Desert Farm in Redmond, Ore., on Jan. 7, according to Dalene Knight, the farm's owner. The filly, named Snow Robin - by Rob 'N Gin out of Snow Baby Go, who is also white - is the 13th white Thoroughbred bred by Knight since 1999.