Etc. . . .

Fastnet Rock won the first leg of the inaugural Global Sprint Challenge at Flemington Racecourse in Australia on Saturday with a neck victory over the filly Alinghi in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes, covering the five furlongs of the $350,000 contest in 57.37 seconds. Cape of Good Hope finished third, a length behind Alinghi, who was the 3-2 favorite. . . . The $80,000 Slew City Slew mare Tanta Bertie made the top price at Monday's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic winter mixed auction in Timonium, Md. The one-session sale sold 112 lots for $807,900, down 38 percent from last year, when 132 sold, as this year's average price fell 27 percent to $7,213, and the median slipped from $5,000 to $4,000. . . . Keeneland Race Course announced Monday that the purse for the opening-day feature at its spring meet, the April 8 Transylvania Stakes, has been increased by $50,000 to $150,000. The race will now have a corporate sponsor, Central Bank of Lexington, in its race name.