LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fillies and mares from the late Ned Evans’s Spring Hill dispersal set the Keeneland November breeding stock market alight Monday and produced the highest broodmare price that auction has seen since 2007.

The session-topper was Christmas Kid, a Grade 1-winning mare who cost Coolmore Stud $4.2 million, one of 14 horses to bring seven figures Monday.

Twitter updates by DRF's Glenye Cain Oakford from the first day of the Keeneland November sale. Follow @DRFInsidePost on Twitter or on the home page of DRF.com for the latest updates, and watch for Oakford's full reports on each sale session.

Waiting or finals, but results otherworldly at #KeeNov. 14 horses sold for $1M or more at 1st sess, compared to 8 for entire sale last year.
Today at 4:23pm

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fasig-Tipton’s one-night November sale on Sunday proved that international players at the summit of Thoroughbred breeding are still ready to spend for quality, though even prominent spenders warned that average horses remain hard to sell.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Stacelita, who finished 10th as the 9-5 favorite in Friday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, has been sold to Terry Yoshida and will be retired to become a broodmare in Japan, trainer Chad Brown said Saturday morning.

Brown said Stacelita came out of the race, in which she was beaten 5 1/2 lengths, with a two-inch gash on the outside of her left foreleg, but Brown didn't think that affected her performance in the race.

Hat Trick, currently ranked third among freshman sires, will move from Walmac Farm to Gainesway Farm in 2012. Both are in Lexington, Ky.

Gainesway has purchased what it termed "a significant interest" in Hat Trick, a 10-year-old Sunday Silence horse, but did not disclose the percentage it now owns. Gainesway intends to re-syndicate the stallion with support from some of its clients already involved in such sires as Tapti, 2008's leading freshman, and Bird stone, sire of classic winner Mine That Bird and champion Summer Bird.

LEXINGTON, Ky. − United States unemployment hovers at 9 percent, and Europe roils with economic uncertainty, but the Thoroughbred economy is looking up. Between the 2008 recession and 2011, the North American foal crop has dropped by an estimated 23 percent, putting supply more in line with demand. Last month, after a decadelong wait, Genting finally opened its gaming facility at Aqueduct. The nation’s summer and fall yearling sales generally performed better than expected.

Godolphin's Grade 1-winning A. P. Indy horse Girolamo has retired from racing and will make his stud debut in New York, Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Darley organization announced late Wednesday afternoon.

Girolamo will stand at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson, N.Y. Darley, which continues to own Girolamo, will announce his fee later.

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's board of directors unanimously has voted Monmouth Park executive Mike Lakow to the foundation's board.

Lakow formerly was the New York Racing Association's racing secretary and was general manager at Hill 'n' Dale Farm. He has worked in the Thoroughbred racing and breeding business since 1977 and has held a variety of positions on the East Coast and in Dubai.

LEXINGTON, Ky. − Whether he wins or loses in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Creative Cause already has made owner Heinz Steinmann’s gamble pay off.

Steinmann, 80, bought Creative Cause privately in March, sight unseen, after consignor Becky Thomas withdrew him from the Fasig-Tipton March select juvenile sale. Steinmann gave $200,000 for the colt. Since then, Creative Cause has become a Grade 1 winner, won three of his four starts, earned $323,000, and given Steinmann reason to think he’ll become a good stallion prospect.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Leading New York breeders Becky Thomas and Dennis Narlinger will reopen their Sequel Stallions New York stallion farm in Hudson, N.Y., for the 2012 breeding season.

In 2012, Sequel’s roster will include Freud and Noonmark. Freud, sire of 2011 Grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Sprint hopeful Giant Ryan, currently ranks second on the state’s sire list by earnings and leads by number of stakes winners, with eight. Noonmark, by Unbridled’s Song, has his first weanlings this year.

Thomas said that Sequel shortly will add a new first-year stallion.