Secret Heart, the dam of 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Pluck, died over the weekend at Denali Stud in Paris, Ky. The 15-year-old Fort Wood mare was in foal to first-year stallion Point of Entry at the time of her death; a cause of death has yet to be determined. 

A stakes winner in her native South Africa, Secret Heart was also multiple stakes-placed, including third-place efforts in both the South African Fillies Guineas and Cape Times Fillies Guineas. She concluded her racing career in the U.S. after Team Valor imported her in 2004.

Lammtarra, a European champion and pensioned stallion, died July 6 at Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum’s Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, England, according to a release on Godolphin’s website. He was 22.

For the past year or so, Daily Racing Form has featured an occasional freestyle “Catching Up With” column wherein a reporter writes about an individual that piques his or her interest. Me, I like doing horses … and believe me when I say, I’m selective.

In 1976-77, a red comet called Blushing Groom streaked across the French racing firmament, winning seven of his nine French starts from about five furlongs to about a mile. The son of the erratic Nasrullah stallion Red God lost his first start only through inexperience and his last when he did not find a clear passage until too late in a farcically slow Prix Jacques le Marois.

The state that produced the star 3-year-old California Chrome may have a breeding industry shaking off the effects of a grueling decline in recent years.

Recent interviews with farm managers, as well as Doug Burge, the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, indicate that several stallions had stronger books of mares in 2014 than in past years and that some farms have had an uptick in overall activity.

Any improvement in the foal crop will be greatly appreciated by almost everyone in the sport.

Super Saver, winner of the 2010 Kentucky Derby, was represented by his first winner as I Spent It took his career debut Wednesday at Belmont Park.

I Spent It, who is trained by Tony Dutrow for Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, tracked the pace through the early going of the five-furlong maiden special weight under Javier Castellano before getting up late to win by three-quarters of a length. The final time over a fast main track was :58.11.

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Barretts Sales and Thoroughbred Owners of California will host “Buying a Racehorse,” a free new owners’ seminar and preview of the Barretts Paddock Sale at Del Mar on Sunday, July 20.

The seminar will begin at 9 a.m. Pacific in the Veranda Café and will conclude at approximately 11:30 a.m.

David and JoAnn Hayden’s Dark Hollow Farm was represented by two blue ribbon winners, including the grand champion, on Sunday at the Maryland Horse Breeders Association’s Maryland-bred yearling show.

Trainer Tony Dutrow was the show’s judge, selecting the grand champion over 75 other entrants.

The continuing proliferation of “championship meetings” around the world has made it much more difficult to declare with any degree of certainty what is the world’s highest-class race meeting. This year, Australia added a championship week in emulation of similar meetings in the United States, Dubai, Hong Kong, Great Britain, and France, to name only the most prestigious.

If July is traditionally the month when the North American breeding and sales sectors shift attention to the approaching major yearling auctions, it is also the month when fans begin to pay full attention to emerging 2-year-olds on the racetrack.