L.R. “Bob” French Jr., a successful owner and breeder of Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, died August 2 at the age of 86.

A native of Brownwood, Texas, French was president of French Tool and Supply and was an independent oilman. He resided in Midland and Fort Worth, Texas, as well as Palm Springs, Calif.

Rockport Harbor, a Grade 2 winner and leading Pennsylvania sire, was euthanized on Friday at New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., due to complications from laminitis at age 11.

A federal judge issued a restraining order on Friday in a lawsuit against two proposed slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Iowa, temporarily halting plans to open both facilities next week.

Taylor Made Stallions has purchased an interest in Grade 1 winner Graydar, now co-owned by the Nicholasville, Ky. stallion farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stable.

Grade 1 winner Champ Pegasus has been retired from racing and will stand the 2014 breeding season at Legacy Ranch in Clements, Calif.

The 7-year-old son of Fusaichi Pegasus was a prominent member of the West Coast’s turf division during his racing career, with wins in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch and the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap in 2010, and in the Grade 2 San Luis Obispo in 2011. He also finished second to Dangerous Midge in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs.

Blue Horse Charities, an organization funded by contributions from Fasig-Tipton horse auctions, announced Thursday that it has awarded grants totaling $119,700 to 30 non-profits that work to rehabilitate, retrain and adopt off-the-track Thoroughbreds.

Silvano, a globetrotting Grade/Group 1 winner during his racing career, finished the 2012-2013 Southern Hemisphere racing season as South Africa’s leading general sire.

The 17-year-old son of Lomitas displaced runner-up Jet Master, whose stranglehold on the top spot had lasted the previous six seasons. Jet Master died in 2011 after contracting West Nile Virus.

The first winner for Grade 2 winner and freshman sire Papa Clem came on Aug. 1 at the Sonoma County Fair, when Hirschy rallied to win a maiden special weight race by three-quarters of a length.

Bridlewood Farm in Ocala Fla., one of the state’s top breeding operations, has been purchased by media company chairman John C. Malone and his wife Leslie.

It felt, at first, like a kick in the gut for Taylor Made Farm and bloodstock agent Buzz Chace: A big client’s 2-year-old from Unbridled’s eagerly anticipated first crop had just sold for a world-record $1.4 million, only to be returned by the buyer.

The issue was a spot on the colt’s X-ray that buyer Hiroshi Fujita believed could be an ankle chip. Taylor Made, the colt’s consigning agent, thought the deal could be salvaged, but its client, Ernie Paragallo, didn’t hesitate. He took his colt back.