Fasig-Tipton Midlantic’s Eastern fall yearling sale will go from two days to one this year as the number of yearlings cataloged drops 30 percent.

The art and even the science of selecting a Thoroughbred yearling at auction is inexact. But information, expertise, and opinions abound on any sales ground. Pretty much everyone in the Thoroughbred sales business has a piece of advice he or she is willing to pass along, and while some of it is worth whatever you paid for it, some free advice also has turned out to be golden for the listener.

When the world’s largest Thoroughbred yearling sale kicks off Sept. 10, consignors and auction executives will have some reason for happy expectations. Since the major yearling sale season started in July, the general trend has been upward, though in some cases those good results have been tempered by higher buyback rates than auctioneers and their vendors would like to see. But a stable-to-rising market is exactly what sale participants want to see heading into the 11-day September auction, the season’s most thorough test of commercial yearlings.

While the Fasig-Tipton July sale suggested the yearling market was on the rebound, the Saratoga sale in August sent mixed messages, leaving uncertainty about what will happen at the Keeneland yearling sale, which begins Sept. 10. It may be strong, like the Ocala sale, or it may be very uneven, with some home runs at the high end but disappointing numbers on the low end. Of course, this is nothing new. Consignors are simply going to have to take a deep breath and hope for the best.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Dual stakes winner Street Life, vanned off the track after the Aug. 28 Travers with a soft-tissue injury, has retired.

Jockey Jose Lezcano pulled up the 3-year-old Street Sense colt after the finish line at Saratoga. Street Life sustained a non-life-threatening injury in his left front pastern, trainer Chad Brown later said.

AUBURN, Wash. – Leading Northwest stallions Matty G and Harbor the Gold will be heavily represented Tuesday at the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association’s annual summer sale. The two have combined to sire 42 of the 117 select yearlings in the catalog, with Hip No. 1, a Matty G colt, the first to enter the ring when the auction begins at 2 p.m. Pacific in the Morris J. Alhadeff Sales Pavilion adjacent to Emerald Downs.

Debussy, the 2010 Arlington Million winner, has retired to stud in Wales, Racing Post reported Tuesday. A 6-year-old Darley homebred, Debussy is by Diesis out of the group-placed Singspiel mare Opera Comique and will stand at Llety Stud in Carmarthenshire for 3,500 pounds, or about $5,530.

Debussy retires with 6 wins and 2 thirds from 22 lifetimes starts and earnings of more than $1.2 million. The Arlington Million was his only Grade 1 win, but he won a pair of group races in France and also was placed in the Group 1 Champion Stakes in England.

A colt by Successful Appeal brought a bid of $57,000 from Brad Grady to top the Fasig-Tipton Texas yearling sale at Lone Star Park near Dallas on Monday night. The auction was held as a night event for the first time.

The sales-topping colt, named Successful Review, was bred in Louisiana and consigned by Mark Toothaker, agent. Successful Review’s female family produced Grade 3 winner Closing Argument, the Kentucky Derby runner-up in 2005 who earned $986,984.

Vinery owner Tom Simon has put the operation’s four United States properties on the market “after meetings with his family and taking into account their plans and interests,” Vinery president Tom Ludt announced Tuesday.

WinStar Farm has hired two new employees, the Versailles, Ky., Kentucky farm announced Monday. The farm has hired Chance Timm to manage its stallion nomination sales and Leanna Packard as a bloodstock assistant and coordinator of the WinStar Stablemates membership program.

Timm previously worked in the bloodstock business with Tommy Eastham, Mark Toothaker, and John Fulton. Packard handled stallion nominations, mare bookings, stallion books, and sale contracts at Richland Hills in Kentucky and also worked this year at Eliza Park Stud in Australia.