LEXINGTON, Ky. – Oatsee, the dam of 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford and 2007 Alabama winner Lady Joanne, was named Broodmare of the Year Thursday by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders.

LEXINGTON, Ky. − Bena Halecky, an executive with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, got the call from Phil Needham on the afternoon of January 8, 2008. Needham was Halecky’s bicycling partner, but he also was her partner in a handful of Thoroughbred broodmares. Now he was calling from the Keeneland January sale, and he hoped Halecky would be interested in a Smart Strike mare he had bought − or, really, bought back from other partners − the previous afternoon.

Wednesday's opening session at the Tattersalls Craven breeze-up sale in Newmarket, England, drew an international group of bidders but failed to produce gains on last season's figures.

The highest-priced juvenile Wednesday was a 170,000-guinea ($285,600) Danehill Dancer colt out of Miss Keller's half-sister Oshiponga, a daughter of Barathea. Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock bought the chestnut colt, who is a half-brother to Group 2 and Grade 3 winner Hatta Fort. Lynn Lodge Stud in Ireland was the consignor.

Six juveniles sped an eighth of a mile in 10 seconds Wednesday as the fastest workers at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's second under-tack preview for its upcoming spring 2-year-old sale.

The six were Hip No. 469, a Tiznow-Gdanska filly; Hip 518, a Candy Ride-Harlow Gold filly; Hip No. 529, a Cowtown Cat-Her She Shawklit colt; Hip No. 566, a Sky Mesa-Ing Ing colt; Hip No. 567, a Candy Ride-Into Reality filly; and Hip No. 584, an Indian Ocean-Jeet filly.

A Henny Hughes filly was the only juvenile to break the 10-second barrier Tuesday at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s first under-tack session for its spring 2-year-old sale next week. The bay filly, a duaghter of the Cape Town mare Cape Discovery, was the fastest worker over a furlong with a 9.8-second breeze. She will go through the ring as Hip No. 233.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Grade 1 winner Trumpet’s Blare, whose son Al Mubhej was a session-topper at the 2000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, has died at age 25.

The Vice Regent mare was euthanized due to the infirmities of old age. She died at Meg Levy’s Bluewater Farm in Lexington, where she most recently served as a babysitter.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Dynaformer, sire of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and multi-million-dollar earner Perfect Drift, has been pensioned after “experiencing a significant cardiac event in his stall on Saturday,” Three Chimneys Farm announced Monday.

“The stallion is resting comfortably in his stall,” the farm’s announcement said of the 27-year-old Roberto horse.

Glenye Cain Oakford

The Chinese government will partner with Ireland in developing a massive new Thoroughbred racing, breeding, and training complex, and the arrangement will give Coolmore an important role, Racing Post reported Sunday.

China is planning a $2 billion Thoroughbred facility to be called the Tianjin Equine Culture City near Tianjin, the country’s fourth-largest city. Plans call for 4,000 stalls, an equine hospital, an international equestrian college, an auction house, and two racetracks that will host about 40 race dates.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The bonus for California-bred runners who win maiden special weight races in Southern California will be reduced from $20,000 to $17,500, effective with the start of the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting on April 26, the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association announced earlier this week.

The decision to reduce the bonus by 15 percent was one of economics, according to CTBA executive vice president Doug Burge. The program has become too successful, and paid out too many dollars in recent years, he said.

Glenye Cain Oakford

Gio Ponti, a three-time Eclipse Award winner now in his first year at stud, will shuttle from Castleton Lyons in Kentucky to Australia’s Arrowfield Stud for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, the farms announced Thursday.

Gio Ponti stands for $20,000 at Castleton Lyons in Lexington, Ky. Arrowfield hasn’t yet announced an Australian fee for the 7-year-old Tale of the Cat horse.