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.

Dr. Edward Allred, the president and CEO of Los Alamitos Race Course, has been selected by the Thoroughbred Owners of California to receive the 2013 Ed Friendly Industry Service Award.

The award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions and service in the California Thoroughbred racing industry.

Sea The Stars, Europe’s Horse of the Year in 2009, will cover a limited book of mares at his home base in Ireland during the Southern Hemisphere breeding season for an advertised base fee of about $115,680 (85,000 Euros).

The 8-year-old son of Cape Cross stands at the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud in Co. Kildare, Ireland, for the same price during the Northern Hemisphere season.

The covering fee will be non-refundable at 45 days gestation for the Southern Hemisphere-time mating, but breeders will be offered about $11,570 (8,500 Euros) toward expenses.

Applications are now available for The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program’s (T.I.P.) 2014 Performance Awards.

The 2014 awards, which are worth more than $8,000, include ribbons, prize money, leather lead shanks and T.I.P. customized lead ropes. The Performance Awards will be tabulated for horse shows that are held between December 1, 2013, and November 30, 2014.

Created and announced in October 2011, T.I.P. recognizes and rewards the versatility of the Thoroughbred through sponsorship of Thoroughbred classes and high point awards at sanctioned horse shows.

James B. Tafel, owner and breeder of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, died Wednesday in his home at the Village of Golf, Fla. He was 90.

Tafel became active in the Thoroughbred industry in the 1980s, shortly after retiring from a lengthy career in the publishing business, with the help of Cot Campbell of Dogwood Stable.

Steve and Shelley Johnson and Dr. Joseph and Lynn Fowler have sold their interests in the Midway, Ky.-based Margaux Farm to Jim and Susan Hill of Calgary, Alberta.

The Hills acquired a partnership interest in Margaux Farm in 2012, operating in partnership with the Fowlers and the Johnsons. A year later, the Hills purchased 370 acres adjoining the original 320-acre Margaux property.

Steve Johnson took full possession of the Bourbon County property that was formerly part of Margaux Farm, where he will continue to operate a boarding and breeding operation.

There’s a specific stall in trainer Rusty Hellman’s barn that veteran campaigner River Bear prefers.

“He loves the end stall so he can keep an eye on the track,” Dana Waier said of her homebred gelding. “He has to be looking at the track at all times ... You put him on that end stall where he can see the track itself. And he’ll hear the call to the post go off, and he’s looking at the track like, ‘Hey, what about me?’ ”

On Sept. 14, 2013, the gray colt Afortable finished a half-length ahead of his nearest foe to win a maiden race at about a mile on turf at Arlington Park.

It was a benchmark moment for the racing and breeding program of David, Patricia, Chris, Ryan, and Dena Block, better known as Team Block, as the homebred colt was the first winner by their homebred sire Fort Prado and was out of a Block-owned mare.

This must be the year for unique achievements for the dams of European classic winners. Only a week after Holy Moon produced her third consecutive Italian Oaks winner, the great racemare Ouija Board became the first mare who crossed the finish line first in the Epsom Oaks to produce a winner of the Epsom Derby sired by another Epsom Derby winner.

The Retirement Assistants and Care for Equines (R.A.C.E.) Fund will host an online fundraiser auction from June 21 through June 28 to raise funds for racehorse retirement and rescue.

Featured items include halters worn by Darley stallion Street Cry, best known for siring Zenyatta and Street Sense; Taylor Made stallion Forestry, the sire of Shackleford; and Wood Memorial winner I Want Revenge, standing his first year at Pauls Mill.