LEXINGTON, Ky. - Spain, North America's leading female earner and winner of the 2000 Breeders' Cup Distaff, was bred to top sire Storm Cat in Lexington on Wednesday, according to Ric Waldman of Overbrook Farm, which stands the stallion.

Waldman said that Spain, a 5-year-old Thunder Gulch mare owned by Prince Ahmed bin Salman's Thoroughbred Corp., returned to Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., after the mating. Waldman did not have additional information regarding Spain's plans, including whether she might be returned to training if she does not conceive.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Topped on its second day by a $300,000 Saint Ballado colt, the two-session Barretts May sale in Pomona, Calif., ended Tuesday on a strong note, thanks to a pair of dispersals.

N. W. Management, which purchased the $330,000 sale-topping Touch Gold-Silken Magic filly on Monday, also bought the Tuesday session-topper, a son of Heart of America.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Caressing, North America's champion juvenile filly of 2000, has returned to training in foal to Fusaichi Pegasus.

On April 21, during a 30-day layoff from the races, Caressing was bred to Fusaichi Pegasus, the 2000 Kentucky Derby winner who stands at Ashford Stud near Lexington for $135,000. She arrived back in trainer David Vance's barn at Churchill Downs on Monday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Popular California stakes-winner Spinelessjellyfish, part of a complete dispersal from the estate of Bart Heller, brought a final bid of $130,000 Tuesday as the second and final day of selling got underway at the Barretts May sale in Pomona, Calif.

Cardiff Stud Farms, which acted as consignor for the Heller dispersal, bought Spinelessjellyfish, a 6-year-old Skywalker horse, from its client. Spinelessjellyfish's immediate plans were not available at press time.

MIDWAY, Ky. - Not much has changed at Charlie Nuckols Jr.'s farm since last Saturday, the day War Emblem finally gave the Nuckols family's century-old Thoroughbred breeding operation its first Kentucky Derby victory.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Paul Mallory was doing yard work at his Lexington house last Tuesday when his neighbor called to tell him Seattle Slew had died.

"Why, I knew him before he was," Mallory said Friday. "I pulled him out of his mama."

The inclusion of two estate dispersals give this week's Barretts May Sale of 2-year-olds in training a different look. Buyers will have not only more than 300 juveniles to inspect, but also a lengthy list of yearlings and horses of racing age from the dispersal of the Cavanaugh Family Trust and the Bart Heller Estate Dispersal.

Bart Heller died last August, and his family is dispersing his holdings and those held in partnership. The Cavanaugh Family Trust represents the racing holdings of Thomas and Marguerite Cavanaugh. Marguerite Cavanaugh died earlier this year.

To find a juvenile sale with a colt by the nation's leading sire, horses from major Kentucky nurseries, and a history of producing an Eclipse Award winner, you once had to travel to Kentucky or Florida. But that's no longer true.

"If you haven't looked at a Timonium 2-year-old sale in the past 10 years, you're looking at an entirely different book," said Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's executive vice-president, Mason Grasty.

The death of Seattle Slew reminds me of how close that magnificent racehorse and stallion came to launching his stud career in Florida.

I was a freelance writer a quarter-century ago and Jim Hill was a young New York vet. Hill and his wife, Sally, became partners with Mickey and Karen Taylor in the ownership of Seattle Slew. But one could not be a vet in New York and an owner as well, so for a time there was no admitted proprietary connection between the Hills and Taylors. For all anyone knew, Hill was Seattle Slew's vet and Sally Hill and Karen Taylor were close friends.

The New York Thoroughbred Breeders will hold a board meeting on Monday, the first since Dennis Brida became the organization's executive director last month.

Brida said among the items on the agenda to be discussed by the 11-member board is the creation of promotional events tied to New York Showcase Day, an afternoon of racing dedicated entirely to New York-breds on Oct. 19 at Belmont Park.