SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sales figures at the Fasig-Tipton yearling auction on Monday night collapsed despite the sale of two million-dollar-plus colts late in the sale.

The two late sales rescued the figures from even more dismal returns, serving to bolster an extremely soft market that seemed to hit its ceiling any time bidding approached $400,000. Prior to the sale of the two colts, the highest-priced horse to sell had been a Tapit filly that brought a final bid of $500,000.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. - Monarchos, the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner who had colic surgery Tuesday night, is being hand-walked and allowed to graze lightly, Nuckols Farm owner Charles Nuckols III said Friday afternoon.

A 14-year-old Maria’s Mon horse, Monarchos remains at Haagyard Equine Medical Institute, where the surgery took place, and is not expected to return to Nuckols Farm in Midway, Ky., for at least four or five days, Nuckols said.

Select yearling buyers and sellers turn their attention to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this week, where Fasig-Tipton auction executives hope their Monday and Tuesday sale will continue the positive trends started last month in Kentucky.

DEL MAR, Calif. – In his first serious exercise since winning the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes on July 21, Acclamation breezed five furlongs on turf in 1:02.80 at Del Mar on Thursday. It was not a hectic day for the champion older male of 2011.

Acclamation traveled with minimal effort under exercise rider Fernando Valenzuela, the 6-year-old horse’s first workout in the buildup to a defense of his title in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 26.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Monarchos, the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner, is “up and stable” after undergoing colic surgery Tuesday night at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington.

The surgery, first reported by Paulick Report, is the 14-year-old stallion’s second colic surgery in 16 months. In April 2011, he underwent surgery to correct a twisted bowel and recovered to return to the breeding shed at Nuckols Farm in Midway, Ky.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Benburb, Canada's 1992 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old, died Wednesday at Hagyard Equine Medical Center here. A 23-year-old Dr. Carter gelding, Benburb was euthanized because of complications from melanoma, the Old Friends equine retirement facility announced.

Lit de Justice, the 1996 champion sprinter and retired stallion, died last month in California, where he was pensioned in February due to infertility.

Lit de Justice was 22 and died July 20, according to Magali Farms, where the El Gran Senor horse stood before his February pensioning. Lit de Justice started his stud career in Kentucky, but relocated to California for the 2003 breeding season. In his stud career, he sired such runners as graded winners Hour of Justice and Injustice and graded-placed stakes winners No Parole and Silver Bird.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland has cataloged 3,604 yearlings to its upcoming September yearling sale, which will take place Sept. 10-21 this year. The catalog numbers are down 17 percent versus last year, when 4,319 yearlings were in the Lexington auction’s catalog.

England’s Tattersalls auction house has tweaked the 2012 schedule for its major yearling auction, the October sale, and will start the sale one day earlier than originally planned.