LEXINGTON, Ky. - Led by a $1,190,476 colt out of Fanjica (Ire), sons of Sunday Silence dominated Monday's opening session at the Japan Racing Horse Association's two-day select foal sale on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Six of Monday's top 10 lots were Sunday Silence colts, including the highest-priced lot, a son of the Grade 1-placed Law Society mare Fanjica.

Hiroyoshi Usuda purchased the session-topper from the Yoshida family's Shadai Farm, which stands Sunday Silence, Japan's perennial leading sire.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It did not take long for television producer David Milch to realize a return on his acquisition of Above Perfection and four other California-breds from Old English Rancho.

A little more than a month after the deal was finished, Above Perfection made her stakes debut in Wednesday's Grade 1 Prioress Stakes at Belmont Park, finishing second to Xtra Heat, who set a six-furlong stakes record of 1:08.26.

The New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc., in conjunction with Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, will present the Cornell at Saratoga Symposium on Aug. 13-15 at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The three-day event, which made its debut last year at Saratoga, covers 13 topics dedicated to equine-related issues.

The majority of the sessions focus on equine health, but breeding philosophies and business and finance issues also will be addressed.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The holy grail in racing is to balance athletic talent and soundness, and too often unsoundness undermines ability. But a recent study may lead researchers toward dietary solutions in the quest to build a stronger racehorse - or at least allow horses to maximize the strength and growth of their bones.

In a study that will be published in the Journal of Animal Science, Michigan State University scientist Dr. Brian Nielsen found that feeding silicon, a mineral that's commonly found but not easily absorbed by horses, may help horses build and retain bone.

With the first half of 2001 in the books, Tour d'Or (Irish Acres Farm) is the Florida's leading sire in the money won by progeny category. An 18-year-old stallion, Tour d'Or is rarity in that he is the only stallion among America's top 50 from the line of Secretariat. Tour d'Or is the sire of 47 winners, counting two stakes winners, with progeny earnings of $2.3 million.

Robyn Dancer (Farnsworth Farms) leads Florida stallions in the most winners category, with nearly 70 of them, and they have earned $1.6 million.

Ontario's outstanding breeders of 2000 were to be honored at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's annual awards dinner and dance Saturday in Milton, Ont., but it is a jockey who was to receive the night's primary award.

Sandy Hawley, one of North America's most accomplished riders and Woodbine's ambassador of racing, was named the unanimous recipient of the Blood-Horse Mint Julep Cup for lifetime achievement.

Bringing parimutuel racing to Virginia - and keeping it there - has been an epic struggle. But for longtime Virginia breeder/owners such as Mr. and Mrs. Charles McNeely, the opportunity to race on their home turf has been just as gratifying.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Answer Lively, the juvenile champion of 1998, is back in Florida after fertility difficulties compromised his initial year at stud in Kentucky, where he stood the 2001 season at Hill 'n' Dale Farm.

Answer Lively's fertility problems do not appear to be permanent, according to Phil Hronec, manager of John Franks's Franks Farms Southland division in Ocala, Fla., where the

5-year-old horse currently is stabled. Answer Lively is likely to remain at Franks Farms Southland division for the 2002 breeding season.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont last Saturday, the Seattle Slew filly Fleet Renee confirmed the impression she had made defeating Golden Ballet in the Ashland Stakes. Fleet Renee's effort in the Mother Goose, winning by 5 1/2 lengths, showed that she is one of the very best fillies of this crop.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - As research into mare reproductive loss syndrome continues, the University of Kentucky is continuing to find a correlation between syndrome incidence and the presence of cherry trees and Eastern tent caterpillars nearby.