LEXINGTON, Ky. - A $400,000 rocket lit up the second and final day of Keeneland's October yearling sale Tuesday, but the sale-topping Pleasant Colony colt was one of the few bright spots in a generally weak market.
Together, the two sessions sold 338 lots for $5,092,900, yielding an average price of $15,068 and a median of $5,200. The buy-back rate was 34 percent at the Tuesday session - an improvement over Monday's 43 percent - and 38 percent for both days.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The deal to sell a half-interest in Shesastonecoldfox, which appeared dead on Monday, was brought back to life and finalized on Tuesday.
After meeting with Art Preston, of Prestonwood Farms, face-to-face on Monday, Debbie and Dennis Petrisak finally worked out an agreement to sell half-interest in their undefeated New York-bred juvenile filly to Prestonwood Farms. She passed a veterinarian's examination on Tuesday morning following a workout and the sale was officially announced that afternoon. Financial terms of the sale were not released.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - On a dreary October Saturday a slight man with a gentle bearing lunched in a corner of Arlington's Trackside betting parlor, slightly removed from a herd of grumbling gamblers. Morton Fink, a lifelong Chicagoan, was doing what he had done for a great part of his adult life, spending an entertaining afternoon at the races.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's first October Yearling Sale got off to a rocky start Monday in front of a small crowd of conservative buyers. The two-day auction's opening session produced a $140,000 top price for an A.P. Indy colt, one of only two six-figure lots to sell, and first-day buybacks were 43 percent.
The session sold 160 yearlings for gross revenue of $2,110,500, yielding an average price of $13,191 and a median of $5,000.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - A study by the University of Louisville predicts that the Kentucky equine breeding industry's economic losses from mare reproductive loss syndrome will reach $336 million for the period from 2000 to 2003. The majority of those losses - $300 million - are expected to hit the Thoroughbred industry.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland has filed suit against English businessman Bobby Killoran, saying he defaulted on payment for two yearlings he bought for $1.4 million at Keeneland's July yearling sale.
Fasig-Tipton also is pursuing payment from Killoran for eight yearlings he bought for $1,945,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, but the company has not filed suit, according to chief operating officer Boyd Browning.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Owner Tracy Farmer announced Friday that Grade 1 winner Albert the Great will retire at the end of the year and take up stud duties at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky. His stud fee will be announced at a later date.
Farmer, who will retain 100 percent ownership in the colt, said that the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park will be Albert the Great's final start.
"We've been blessed with an incredibly sound, game horse," Farmer said in a release. "How many people get to announce their horse's impending retirement, not forced by injury?"
ARCADIA, Calif. - Cover Gal, a two-time California-bred champion, has been retired, trainer Lance Stokes said Friday.
The announcement brings to an end the career of one of the state's top sprinting fillies over the last two years.
"She was sound, but she wasn't quite the same," Stokes said. "She had some thin-walled feet. We decided rather than spend the time to get her right, we'd send her to the breeding shed."
LEXINGTON, Ky. - You's victory in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont last weekend made her a favorite for both the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and for the 2-year-old filly championship. And the victory of Siphonic in the Grade 2 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland stamped that son of Siphon as a contender for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Take a peek in Unbridled's feed tub these days and you'll find beet pulp, a feed component that has become a useful element in caring for horses who are recovering from abdominal surgeries. Unbridled underwent two abdominal surgeries last month at Lexington's Hagyard Davidson McGee clinic, one to remove a three-foot portion of thickened colon and a second to repair a hole at the surgical resection site.