The influential British sire Green Desert, a Group 1-winning son of Danzig who sired a dozen Group 1 winners and several leading sires, has ended his stud career at Nunnery Stud in England.
Green Desert is 28 and did not get any of the mares in his 2011 book in foal, Racing Post has reported.
The prospect of bigger, gaming-enriched funds in New York gave an expected boost to the New York-bred preferred yearling sale’s opening night, but market polarization worsened as buyers sifting through an expanded catalog concentrated on horses they perceived to have the highest quality.
The Jockey Club is projecting a 2012 North American registered Thoroughbred foal crop of 24,700, the smallest since 1971 and a decline of 8.5 percent from the estimate of 27,000 registered foals for 2011. The organization made the announcement Saturday based on reports of mares bred received to that point for the 2011 breeding season.
Additional foal crop information is available in The Jockey Club’s website at jockeyclub.com/factbook.asp and in the state fact books at jockeyclub.com/statefactbook.asp.
Tom VanMeter, Olin Gentry, and Thomas Gaines have formed a new sales agency after selling their interests in Eaton Sales to that agency’s majority partner, Reiley McDonald.
McDonald also bought out the Eaton interests belonging to Arthur St. George, who is selling this year under the St. George Sales banner and is a close associate of VanMeter’s new venture. VanMeter said the agency has 66 yearlings cataloged for the upcoming Keeneland September sale in Lexington.
The Northern California yearling sale at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., on Tuesday has undergone a transformation this year, in an effort to increase interest and boost revenue.
In addition to 90 yearlings, there are 15 horses of racing age being offered for the first time, with most of those unraced 2- and 3-year-olds.
Operated by the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, the one-day sale begins at noon.
LEXINGTON, Ky.– Go for Gin, winner of the 1994 Kentucky Derby, has joined fellow Derby winner Funny Cide and other equine stars at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions in Lexington, Ky.
Joe Cornacchia, who campaigned the 20-year-old Go for Gin with the late Bill Condren, and William Boniface’s Bonita Farm in Maryland, where Go for Gin most recently stood at stud, donated the Derby winner, a son of Cormorant.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − Consignors at this weekend’s Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale hope Aqueduct’s planned gaming machines will boost the auction average, even with a larger catalog and concerns over the general economy.