Leading outfits head to Fasig-Tipton

Familiar names and faces from Maryland return to Saratoga for this week's Fasig-Tipton select yearling sale. On each of the three nights, Tuesday through Thursday, yearlings from a number of Maryland's most distinguished breeding establishments are headed to the sales pavilion.

Of the nine Maryland-bred yearlings cataloged, seven are scheduled to go through the ring. The first, to sell on Tuesday evening, is one of two yearlings bred by the Nancy M. Leonard Living Trust, from the consignment of Eaton Sales. Hip No. 61 is a bay colt by Belong to Me out of Delaware Handicap winner Power Play (by Fast Play). A half-sister to the tough handicap horse Gala Spinaway, Power Play has two foals of racing age, including Skipper's Mate, a stakes-placed winner last year at 2.

The same family is behind the pedigree of Hip No. 201, a filly by Boston Harbor out of stakes-placed Gala Prospector (by Northern Prospect), who is a half-sister to Power Play and Gala Spinaway. Gala Prospector has produced three winners. Two are stakes horses, including Grade 3 Santa Ynez runner-up Goodnight Irene. In 1997, a Sea Hero colt out of Gala Prospector brought $460,000 at Saratoga.

Carolyn and Ron Green of Green Willow Farms annually send a number of yearlings to Saratoga and offer two this year. Hip No. 95 is a filly from the first crop of Chester House out of stakes-placed Sister Stones, a daughter of Houston.

One of the later yearlings listed in the catalog is Green Willow's Hip No. 212, a colt by Elusive Quality out of the Pine Bluff mare Has Mi Dia. The colt's dam is a half-sister to graded stakes winners Bye Union Ave. and Alleged Impression.

Three years ago, Richard Golden's Sycamore Hall Farm sold a Pulpit colt out of the Relaunch mare Set to Fly at Saratoga for $700,000. Through Eaton Sales, Sycamore Hall offers a full brother (Hip No. 86) on Wednesday. The gray yearling is also a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Raghib and stakes-placed Polish Missile.

Golden has another colt, by Stephen Got Even, with Walnut Green (Jones Brothers), as agent. Out of Stormeor, by Lypheor, the colt (Hip No. 106) is a half-brother to graded stakes winner Shrike and the speedy stakes-winning Second in Command.

Herb and Ellen Moelis, owners of CandyLand Farm, bred and will sell the first foal out of their homebred stakes winner Time to Dream, a colt by Cat Thief from the consignment of Denali Stud. The first three dams of the colt, Hip No. 119, were stakes winners, and Time to Dream is a half-sister to Five Star Deputy.

Conceived, though not foaled, in Maryland are three colts - two by Maryland's annual leading sales sire Two Punch and one by Polish Numbers.

Two Punch's first to be offered is Hip No. 49, a Kentucky-bred full brother to Heavyweight Champ, a multiple graded-stakes-placed 2-year-old, and a half-brother to stakes winner Sleetwood Mac.

Also offered is Hip No. 148, a Virginia-bred colt out of the Storm Bird mare Beauty Coat. A three-quarter-sister to Alabama Stakes winner Spit Curl (by Northern Dancer), Beauty Coat is the dam of two stakes horses, one by Two Punch.

The son of Polish Numbers, Hip No. 108, is out of Student Wife and was foaled in Kentucky. By Seattle Slew, Student Wife is a half-sister to horse of the year Black Tie Affair.