Ritchey to judge yearlings

Tim Ritchey, trainer of last year's Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner, Afleet Alex, has accepted the assignment to judge the Maryland Horse Breeders Association Yearling Show, scheduled for Sunday, June 25. The event, which has attracted more than 100 entries, will be held in the horse show ring at Timonium Fairgrounds and begins at 10 a.m. Admission is free.

In addition to training Afleet Alex, who earned an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old colt, Ritchey is also well known for his feat of saddling three consecutive winners of the Maryland Million Classic: Sumerset, in 2001, and Docent, in 2002 and 2003.

Ritchey will judge six classes of Maryland-bred yearlings, three for colts and three for fillies. Four of the classes are for the offspring of Maryland sires, the other two for out-of-state sired youngsters. More than $10,000 in prize money will be awarded on the day of the show, and every yearling exhibited will be eligible for the $40,000 bonus to be split among the top four money winners at ages 2 and 3 competing in North America.

Recent yearling show graduates include Declan's Moon, the champion 2-year-old of 2005; Cherokee's Boy, who was last year's Maryland-bred horse of the year; and Celestial Legend, the champion Maryland-bred 2-year-old filly of 2005.

The annual yearling show crab feast will be held at Maryland Stallion Station in Glyndon the evening before the show. For tickets, call the MHBA office at (410) 252-2100.

Dynamic Deputy wins Shine Again Stakes

Shine Again, who was the Maryland-bred horse of the year of 2003, a three-time Maryland-bred champion handicap mare, and two-time champion sprinter, had a Pimlico stakes race named in her honor on May 27.

Restricted to statebred fillies who have never won a stakes, the $50,000-guaranteed event attracted a field of nine. The winner was Dynamic Deputy, who drew off to a 3 3/4-length victory over longshot Unbridled Grace. Take a Check finished third.

Trained by Richard Small, Dynamic Deputy placed in both the Maryland Racing Media Handicap and the Snow Goose Stakes earlier this year. She now has 5 wins and 4 seconds from 11 starts, for earnings of $144,020. A 4-year-old daughter of Deputy Minister, Dynamic Deputy is a full sister to Star Minister, who was the champion Maryland-bred 3-year-old filly of 1992, and is a half-sister to graded winner Stellar Brush. Their dam is Dynamic Star (by Silent Screen), a stakes winner and multiple Grade 1-placed horse.

Both Dynamic Deputy and Shine Again hail from families nurtured by two of the state's all-time leading breeders. Shine Again, a multiple Grade 1 winner of $1,271,840, was among the many stellar performers bred and raced by the late Allaire duPont.

Campaigned for five seasons, and on the board in 31 of her 34 starts, Shine Again also was a late bloomer, becoming a stakes winner at age 4. A daughter of Wild Again, Shine Again earned her first Grade 1 victory in the Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga that summer, and successfully defended her title in the Ballerina Handicap the following year. She won or placed in 20 stakes during her career, 18 of them graded, and ranks 10th on the list of all-time leading Maryland-bred money earners.

Shine Again continues to reside at duPont's Woodstock Farm in Chesapeake City, Md. The Woodstock broodmares are now owned by members of duPont's family under the name of Bohemia Stable. Many of the yearlings will be sold commercially, said longtime farm manager Richard Bennett, who has worked at Woodstock for 23 years.

Shine Again produced her first foal, a filly by Deputy Minster, in January 2005. Almost a year to the day, Shine Again delivered a filly by El Prado this January. Bennett said he is excited about the El Prado filly, who was weaned this past week, and reports that Shine Again is in foal to Unbridled's Song.

"Shine Again is a beautiful looking girl," said Bennett.

And if Shine Again's fillies have inherited her ability, there is much to look forward to in the years ahead.