Questroyal Stud in New York has purchased Richard Simon’s former Sez Who North in Stillwater, N.Y., in partnership with Gus Schoenborn Jr., Questroyal announced Monday.

“This property is obviously a good place to breed horses, and now is the time to breed horses in New York,” Questroyal owner Barry Ostrager said. “There has just never been a better time to breed and race New York-breds.”

Sez Who North has 120 stalls and a stallion facility.

Vivien Malloy’s Edition Farm in Hyde Park, N.Y., has hired longtime central Kentucky horseman Fred Winters as its manager. Winters has managed Kentucky operations including Lazy Lane Farm and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, and he also owned his own farm and worked at Farm Equine Management. Edition Farm, twice a New York Breeder of the Year, recently set up a strategic alliance with Kentucky’s Denali Stud.

Irish champion and Darley stallion Refuse to Bend, sire of European champion 3-year-old filly Sarafina, died of a heart attack Friday at Haras du Logis in Normandy, France. The Sadler’s Wells horse was 12 and already was about to start the breeding season.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The newly created Golden State Series for California-breds, a calendar of lucrative stakes this year, could attract more than 1,000 nominations by Wednesday’s deadline, according to California Thoroughbred Breeders Association executive director Doug Burge.

The series, first announced last fall, includes stakes for horses of all ages, but 2-year-olds of 2012 must be nominated to the program for $300 by Wednesday. Horses aged 3 or older in 2012 have been grandfathered into the series without a preliminary nomination fee.

English champion Blue Bunting has been retired after injuring herself en route to a start in the March 31 Dubai Sheema Classic, Godolphin announced Wednesday.

A 4-year-old Dynaformer filly, Blue Bunting will be bred to Darley stallion Street Cry.

Godolphin’s statement said Blue Bunting sustained a leg injury while preparing for her race at the Dubai World Cup Carnival.

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company has cataloged 362 juveniles to its March select 2-year-old sale, which will take place in Ocala, Fla., on March 13-14. Catalogs are available online at the OBS site, where updates include a sortable master index for the catalog and daily pedigree updates.

The number of horses in this year’s catalog is down from last year’s catalog of 490, reflecting in part the smaller Thoroughbred foal crop nationwide. OBS combined its February and March select auctions for the first time last year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky winter mixed sale on Monday in Lexington continued the upward trend at recent breeding stock and all-ages sales by posting across-the-board increases.

The one-day auction at Newtown Paddocks sold 270 horses for $4,601,800, an increase of 63 percent over last year’s aggregate for 183 horses. The average gained 11 percent, climbing from $15,418 last year to $17,044. Median rose 5 percent, from $5,700 in 2011 to $6,000. Buybacks were 22 percent, down from 30 percent a year ago.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A quick burst of bidding for stakes-winning females gave Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky winter mixed sale a trio of session-leaders Monday in Lexington.

Stakes winner Legally Blanca, cataloged as Hip No. 20 in the Paramount Sales consignment, kicked off the early run when auctioned for $150,000 to Fred Allor. Legally Blanca sold as a racing or broodmare prospect. She is a 6-year-old by Northern Afleet who last year equaled Parx Racing’s five-furlong track record of 56.36 seconds. She has $172,690 in earnings.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Boundary, the Claiborne Farm stallion who sired 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, was euthanized Feb. 4 due to the infirmities of old age, according to the Paris, Ky., farm. Boundary, by Claiborne’s late sire Danzig, was 22. He had been pensioned at Claiborne since 2005.

Acclamation’s haul of year-end awards for his 2011 season is likely to grow on Monday when the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association announces its Horse of the Year at its annual dinner on Monday in Pasadena, Calif.

Already recognized with the Eclipse Award for the nation’s outstanding older male of 2011, Acclamation has earned honors as the top California-bred turf horse and older male of the year. He was the only horse to win two divisional titles in the statebred category in 2011.