INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Barbara Walter, who along with her late husband, Robert, bred and owned 1996 Kentucky Derby runner-up Cavonnier, died on Sunday, her family said.
Walter was 78. She was hospitalized in Santa Rosa, Calif., at the time of her death.
The Walters were best known for campaigning Cavonnier, the California-bred who won the 1996 Santa Anita Derby and was beaten a nose by a late-closing Grindstone in the Kentucky Derby. Cavonnier earned more than $1.2 million in his career.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The unoccupied 19th century mansion at Lexington’s historic Dixiana Farms was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning, but no horses were injured in the blaze.
One firefighter sustained minor injuries while trying to stop the blaze, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. A night watchman noticed the fire at about 5 a.m. Saturday. The cause was under investigation Monday.
William Shively of Gainesville, Fla., owns the farm but has not lived in the main house.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Eskendereya, winner of the Wood Memorial and onetime 2010 Kentucky Derby favorite before his retirement with a soft-tissue injury, will stand for $30,000 in his first year at stud.
The 3-year-old Giant’s Causeway colt will stand at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky. Owners Ahmed Zayat and Jess Jackson announced in August that they had struck a partnership with the farm, where the roster also includes Unbridled’s Song.
Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga select yearling sale will return to a Monday and Tuesday time slot slightly later in the Saratoga meet in 2011, and the Florida select juvenile sale - as announced earlier this year - will relocate from Calder to Palm Meadows under the sale calendar released Friday.
The November mixed sale also will be expanded to two days on Nov. 6-7.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. − Olmodavor is coming back to California for the 2011 breeding season, and it’s not a moment too soon for the team at Magali Farms in Santa Ynez, Calif.
Earlier this week, Magali and Adena Springs, the breeding operation of Frank Stronach, announced Olmodavor will be sent to California. Last year, he stood at Adena Springs/Gardiner Farms in Ontario.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, the WinStar Farm homebred that gave trainer Todd Pletcher his first Kentucky Derby victory, has been retired to WinStar in Versailles, Ky, the farm announced Thursday.
The 3-year-old Maria’s Mon colt does not have a stud fee yet.
Tests last month at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital showed that Super Saver had bruised cannon bones which would have sidelined him.
LEXINGTON, Ky. − WinStar Farm will host its own breeze show Tuesday to showcase its Keeneland November racing-age consignment, and it hopes the event will put a positive spotlight on its new training facility.
WinStar, located in Versailles, Ky., recently finished a seven-furlong Polytrack training strip designed to be similar to Keeneland’s five-furlong training track.
It has been a long decade for New York’s Thoroughbred breeders and stallion farms. But when shovels finally break earth for Genting New York’s casino at Aqueduct racetrack, Empire State horsemen say, the Thoroughbred breeding environment will change dramatically for the better.
Thanks to revenue from each of the casino’s video lottery terminals, purses and breeder awards will be boosted.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fasig-Tipton’s October yearling sale ended Wednesday with a $130,000 colt by leading freshman sire Congrats at the top of the session’s prices.
The three-day Lexington auction ended with 690 yearlings sold for an aggregate $9,395,300, up 19 percent from last year’s total for 566 horses. Average price showed only a negligible decrease, falling from last year’s $13,949 to $13,616. But median price fell more noticeably, by 17 percent, from $6,000 last season to $5,000. Buybacks were at 29 percent, up from last year’s figure of 25 percent.