LEXINGTON, Ky. - As expected, progeny by Japan's perennial leading sire, Sunday Silence, led selling at the Japan Racing Horse Association's two-day July foal sale in Hokkaido. Six foals by Sunday Silence, 1989's Horse of the Year, brought $1 million or more, including a $2,791,667 colt on Tuesday that was the auction's top seller.
The top price easily coasted by last year's high price of $1,507,936, also paid for a Sunday Silence colt.
PILAR, Argentina - They run on turf, they run on dirt, in the slop, on firm, good, and soft ground. If races were run over broken glass, they would run on that too, and win more than their share of them.
They are Argentine-breds, and their accomplishments around the world are testimony to their gaucho-like toughness. We know them most recently from the exploits of Bayakoa, Paseana, and Gentlemen, but their fame spreads far and wide, throughout South America to South Africa, and stretches back to the 1870's with the founding of the Argentine Jockey Club by Carlos Pellegrini.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The victory of Nonsuch Bay in the Mother Goose was a major success story for her owner, Joseph Platt, and for Sabine Stable, which bred the filly.
Nonsuch Bay has done well for everyone connected with her, but none of the filly's connections are any prouder of her than Julia Householder, who planned the mating, sending her Light Idea mare Brighter Than Gold to Mr. Greeley.
What's it like to have a Kentucky Derby-winning trainer choose your homebred as the best racing prospect among a group of 119 yearlings? "Astounding, and wonderful," said Karen Dempsey after John Ward, trainer of 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos, pinned the grand championship ribbon on her filly Acting Op (by Ops Smile) at the Maryland Horse Breeders Association's annual yearling show held June 30 at the Timonium Fairgrounds.
Dempsey and her husband, Warren, breed and race a small number of horses, primarily steeplechasers, from their 53-acre Reveille Farm in Monkton, Md.
During Saratoga's six-week meet - July 24 through Sept. 2 - purses for New York-bred allowance and maiden races will be $4,000 less than open races, and some New York breeders are unhappy about that.
Open allowance and maiden races received a $2,000 purse boost with the start of Belmont Park's spring/summer meet in May, while New York-bred purses remained the same. The latest $2,000 purse increase for open races at Saratoga was announced by the New York Racing Association late last month.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Tom Bell was gambling on the future when he bought Jury Box last fall at the Barretts October yearling sale.
"He wasn't a flashy looking horse," Bell said. "He was a nice walker and pretty correct, but he was backward, unfurnished. The price was right."
Eight months later, Bell's $10,000 final bid looks like a bargain.
On June 30, Jury Box won a maiden race at Hollywood Park by an eye-catching 11 lengths. Ridden by Mike Smith for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, Jury Box led throughout and finished 5 1/2 furlongs in a quick 1:03.41.
Farnsworth Farms reached a milestone on June 29 at Calder Race Course when Heavenly Miss won the $100,000 J J'sdream Stakes for 2 year-old fillies. A daughter of Suave Prospect, Heavenly Miss became the 200th stakes winner bred by Farnsworth, the 1996 Eclipse Award-winning nursery.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Jockey Club has altered its rules to explicitly forbid embryo transfer, cloning, and artificial insemination for registered Thoroughbreds.
"The revision makes clear that natural breeding practices do not include cloning," said The Jockey Club's registrar, Edward A. "Buddy" Bishop.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Grade 3 winner Richly Blended has been sold and will stand at Rancho San Miguel in California next year.
BnD Chase Thoroughbreds announced Monday that it has purchased Richly Blended, a 4-year-old Rizzi colt, and will stand him for a $4,000 fee in 2003. BnD Chase Thoroughbreds is headed by Del Chase and based in Newport Beach, Calif.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Cashier's Dream is recovering well three days after surgery to correct a twisted gut, according to Barry Irwin, principal of the Team Valor syndicate that owns the Grade 1 winner.
"Her white-cell count is a little low, and that's the current concern, but she's not on any medication," Irwin said from the Team Valor office in Versailles, Ky. Irwin reports that the filly is grazing and her intestines seem to be functioning well. "If she gets through this weekend, I'll relax."