As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. While many stallions have a few foals from their first crop sell as weanlings, the first chance to make a big impression comes when members of that initial crop are offered as fully developed yearlings.

By then, the stallion has stood for three years. At a time when many buyers have a “What have you done for me lately” mentality, he must show some action in the sale ring and, subsequently, on the racetrack. If he does not, he is not long for the stallion barn − at least not the same stallion barn.

Frankie Brothers was resigned to a quiet retirement when he decided to leave the racetrack after nearly 40 years of hard work. But a couple of things came up, and here he is, still involved in racing. And happily so.

“You’re talking about a guy who’s semi-retired, I guess,” Brothers said. “The things I’m doing, I’m staying involved in the game just enough. It’s a game that I love although I did have enough of the training.”

For commercial Thoroughbred breeders, 2010 marks a turning point as the last of the yearlings bred on pre-crash 2008 stud fees head through the auction ring.

Darley has retired former juvenile champion Midshipman, winner of 5 of 8 lifetime starts.

The 4-year-old last ran at the Meydan racecourse in Dubai, winning by more than three lengths on Feb 25. Midshipman arrived back in the United States in April, but a recurring soft-tissue injury kept him away from the races. Darley announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Celtic Swing, the European champion who sired Takeover Target and Six Perfections, has died in Italy at age 18, according to Racing Post. The Damister horse was euthanized after developing colitis.

Celtic Swing stood his first season at the Societa Allevamento Besnate in Varese, Italy, after stints at England’s National Stud and the Irish National Stud, as well as serving shuttle duty to Swettenham Stud in Australia.

Dual Grade 3 winner American Lion has been retired from racing, the colt’s owner, WInStar Farm, announced Friday. WinStar said it hasn’t determined his stud plans.

The 3-year-old Tiznow colt won the Illinois Derby this year and the Hollywood Prevue Stakes last season. He also finished third this season in the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes. American Lion last ran in the Kentucky Derby, finishing 11th behind winner Super Saver, also owned by WinStar.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Enriched appeared in the entries for an $80,000 claimer for maidens at Hollywood Park in May 2009 when trainer Doug O’Neill approached longtime friend Mark Verge about a potential claim.

“I told him, ‘I don’t have Doug O’Neill money,’ ” Verge recalls. Enriched won that race by 7 3/4 lengths, and won two of his next four starts before appearing in an optional claimer for a $32,000 claiming price at Santa Anita last November.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A total of 466 yearlings have been cataloged for the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s annual yearling sale this year. The selected session, with 225 head up for bids, will be held Tuesday, and the open session on Thursday has 241 yearlings on the block. Both sessions will begin at 2 p.m. at the Woodbine Sales Pavilion.

Harbinger, who capped a four-race win streak with an 11-length victory in this year’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, has been sold for stud duty in Japan.

The Yoshida family’s Shadai Farm has purchased Harbinger, a 4-year-old son of Dansili and Penang Pearl.

Highclere Racing, which campaigned Harbinger, said in a statement about the private transaction that “the multimillion-dollar deal values the horse as one of the highest-priced transactions in recent times.”

The Tattersalls auction house based in Newmarket, England, will restructure its juvenile sales in 2011.

The company will replace its late-spring Tattersalls Guineas breeze-up sale with a new auction at Tattersalls Ireland, across the road from Fairyhouse Racecourse outside Dublin. The new sale’s catalog will number about 100, and the auction is set for April 28.

Horses will breeze that morning at Fairyhouse, and the auction will take place that afternoon.