Tue, 10/19/2010 - 15:22

Woodford looking to fill hole left by mare deaths

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Woodford Thoroughbreds has had a roller-coaster year. The Versailles, Ky., farm has a stellar broodmare band but lost two of its top mares earlier this year when Icon Project’s dam La Gueriere and Canadian champion and Grade 1 producer Wavering Girl both died after hemorrhaging.

Mon, 10/18/2010 - 17:27

Mimi's Bling, Franklin County winner, entered in November sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mimi's Bling, winner of last Friday's Grade 3 Franklin County Stakes, is a late entry to Fasig-Tipton's November sale catalog.

The auction house announced Monday that Mimi's Bling, a 3-year-old Bernstein filly, will sell Nov. 7 as Hip No. 187 and will be the last horse through the ring. The one-day sale takes place at Fasig-Tipton's Newtown Paddocks headquarters in Lexington, Ky. , starting at 4 p.m.

Sat, 10/16/2010 - 20:52

Uncle Mo's dam up for sale at Fasig-Tipton November

Playa Maya, dam of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile contender Uncle Mo, will go through the auction ring at Fasig-Tipton’s Nov. 7 mixed sale in Lexington, Ky., consignor Denali Stud announced Saturday.

Her sale will come a day after her son is to run in the Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

The 10-year-old Playa Maya, a daughter of Arch, is in foal to Broken Vow and is in the catalog as Hip No. 122.

Fri, 10/15/2010 - 15:52

Before breeding shed, Quality Road has one piece of unfinished business

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Edward P. Evans’s Spring Hill Farm has three homebreds pointing for Breeders’ Cup championship races with Quality Road in the Classic, Malibu Prayer in the Ladies’ Classic, and A Little Warm in the Mile.

All three have live chances, but the one everyone will be watching is Quality Road.

Fri, 10/15/2010 - 15:16

Free Spirit's Joy headed to Old Friends retirement home

Free Sprit’s Joy, winner of the 1991 Super Derby, is the newest addition to the Old Friends equine retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky.

A 22-year-old Joey Bob stallion, Free Sprit’s Joy had been retired in Colorado but will relocate to Old Friends largely through the efforts of former jockey Suzie Picou-Oldham, daughter of Free Spirit’s Joy’s trainer, Clarence Picou. Picou-Oldham is a bloodstock associate at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington.

Fri, 10/15/2010 - 14:57

Munnings retired to stud

Munnings, a multiple Grade 2 winner, has retired to Coolmore’s North American division, Ashford Stud, in Versailles, Ky., where he will take up stud duties in 2011.

The fee for Munnings, a 4-year-old Speightstown, colt has not been set.

Munnings is available for inspection at Ashford.

Fri, 10/15/2010 - 13:36

Rise in average at Barretts sale fuels optimism

The California Cup yearling sale at Barretts in Pomona, Calif., showed a year-to-year increase in average price earlier this week, the first such increase since 2006 and one that left organizers optimistic that California’s yearling market can rebound from low returns in recent years.

The two-day sale, held Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon, saw 160 yearlings sell for a gross of $2,260,400, an average of $14,128. The average price increased 13.8 percent over the 2009 figure of $12,413. In 2006, the average was $25,362, $51 higher than the 2005 sale.

Thu, 10/14/2010 - 16:57

Neko Bay headed to Wintergreen

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Ann and Jerry Moss’s homebred Grade 2 winner Neko Bay has been retired from racing to enter stud in 2011 at Wintergreen Stallion Station in Midway, Ky. The farm plans to syndicate him and will announce his fee at a later date.

Thu, 10/14/2010 - 14:39

Average, median prices up at Barretts sale

The California Cup yearling sale at Barretts in Pomona, Calif., ended two days of sales on Wednesday with increases in average and median prices compared with 2009.

Overall, 160 yearlings sold for $2,260,400, an average of $14,128, an increase of 13.8 percent from a one-day sale in 2009. This year’s median price was $9,000, a gain of 80 percent over 2009. At this year’s sale, there were 38 horses listed as not sold, and 47 withdrawn.

Thu, 10/14/2010 - 14:26

Gross up but average slips at Tattersalls Book 2

The Tattersalls October sale wrapped up its Book 2 portion Thursday with a higher gross than last year and with median and average prices essentially level.

The four-day auction in Newmarket, England, sold 685 yearlings for a combined total of about $37,132,852, resulting in an average price and median of about $54,209 and $41,738, respectively. Compared year-to-year in the local auction currency of guineas, the gross was up by 8 percent from last year’s total for 606 yearlings. The average dipped 4 percent, but the median remained the same.