Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners executive director Dick Hancock will retire early from that position, though he will stay on to aid in the transition to a new executive director, according to FTBOA president Fred Brei.

Hancock had come under fire early this year from a group of FTBOA members who questioned the organization’s direction and the transparency of its operations, including disclosure of its financial records. A meeting with those critics led the FTBOA to announce a thorough review of its finances and policies.

Two Punch, sire of champion Smoke Glacken and the elder statesman of Maryland’s Northview Stallion Station, was euthanized at the farm on Saturday due to the infirmities of old age. The Mr. Prospector horse was 28 and was advertised as standing this year at a private fee.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – There will never be an extensive schedule of races for the California-bred Lucky Primo, who won the second stakes of his career in Thursday’s $71,800 Golden State Cup Stakes at Hollywood Park.

“He’s got a bunch of problems,” said Joshua Litt, who bred, co-owns, and trains the 5-year-old gelding.

“He’s got a funny knee that needs time off. It’s always been a struggle.”

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June sale closed out the juvenile auction season Wednesday with results the auction house’s general manager says indicate stability in the 2-year-old market.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A pair of $300,000 colts topped the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s reformatted June 2-year-olds and horses of racing age sale, which ended Wednesday evening with a gain in gross but losses in average and median.

Aided by a Stormello-Puff the Magic colt that Bob Baffert bought and a Bernstein-Within colt purchased by the EQB agency, the expanded two-day auction sold 339 juveniles for $7,121,700, up dramatically from last year’s $4,912,100 for 230 juveniles. The 2011 edition of the auction was extended from one day to two and featured a larger catalog.

A colt by ill-fated first-crop sire Stormello led selling Wednesday afternoon on day two of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June 2-year-old and racing-age auction.

Trainer Bob Baffert paid $300,000, equal to the highest price at Tuesday’s opening session, for the dark bay or brown colt at the Ocala, Fla., sale. That was the final session’s highest price as of 3:30 p.m. Offered as Hip No. 453, the colt is out of the Red Ransom mare Puff the Magic and had recorded the under-tack show’s fastest quarter-mile time, 20.8 seconds. Blue River Bloodstock consigned the Stormello colt.

A $300,000 Bernstein colt was the highest-priced horse sold Tuesday at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s reformatted June 2-year-old and racing-age auction.

Five juveniles brought six figures Tuesday in the early hours of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June 2-year-old and racing-age auction.

Patrice Miller of the EQB agency paid $300,000 – the session-leading price at 3:30 p.m. – for a Bernstein son of Within, a Rahy mare. The dark bay or brown colt is a half-brother to winner Wiest, and his family includes Grade 1 winners Chief’s Crown and Classic Crown. The colt’s eighth-mile time of 10 seconds at Saturday’s under-tack show was the co-fastest for the day and second-fastest overall.

Robert Brewer was the consignor.

A Proud Accolade filly cracked the 10-second barrier Sunday at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June 2-year-old auction’s under-tack show, becoming the preview’s fastest worker over a furlong.

The bay daughter of Lake Victoria covered an eighth-mile in 9.8 seconds, the fastest time at that distance during the two-day under-tack preview. Agent Lynne Boutte consigns the filly, cataloged as Hip No. 317.

Three juveniles clocked eighth-mile works in 10 seconds Saturday, topping the work tab for that distance at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s first under-tack show for its upcoming June 2-year-old sale.

The fastest eighth-mile workers were Hip No. 16, Robert Brewer’s Bernstein-Within colt; Hip No. 80, the Hoppel’s Horse and Cattle agency’s Leroidesanimaux-Booly colt; and Hip No. 154, the Paul Sharp agency’s Elusive Quality-Di’s Delight filly.