LEXINGTON, Ky. - Canada's 1989 Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner With Approval has died in England at age 24, Lanwades Stud near Newmarket announced June 22.
The farm, which had stood the Caro horse since 2006, issued a release saying the horse had died on June 21 but did not identify a cause of death.
Unusual Heat, the leading stallion in California by progeny earnings in 2008 and 2009 and the leader this year, has been moved to Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif., for the 2011 breeding season, stallion co-owner Madeline Auerbach announced in a statement Tuesday.
Unusual Heat, 20, stood at Old English Rancho in Sanger, Calif., for the previous 12 years.
Juddmonte Farms and Shadwell Farm, which have divisions in Lexington, Ky., picked up important awards Monday night at the British Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's annual awards dinner.
Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte operation won the Queen's Silver Cup as 2009's leading British-based breeder by earnings and the British Bloodstock Association Silver Cigar Box as the owner of Oasis Dream, last year's leading British-based sire by progeny earnings.
Shadwell, owned by Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum, received the Silver Salver Special Merit Award.
Lars La Cour, longtime manager of Kentucky's Clovelly Farm, died June 23 in East Berne, N.Y. at age 85. A native of Denmark who came to the United States in 1948, La Cour managed Clovelly in Lexington, Ky., for more than five decades. The Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club named him the organization's Farm Manager of the Year in 1982.
Louisiana stallion Bayou Hebert, 29, was euthanized June 16 due to infirmities of old age, Clear Creek Stud confirmed. The Hoist the Flag stakes winner sired 11 stakes winners, including multiple stakes winner Genuine Meaning and Bayou Plans, dam of Grade 1 winner Midas Eyes.
Fasig-Tipton has named Byron Rogers its representative in Australia and New Zealand. Rogers will continue to be managing partner of Pedigree Consultants in Lexington, Ky., after taking on the role of building Fasig-Tipton's contacts in Australia and New Zealand.
Rogers previously has worked for the Australian auction house Inglis Bloodstock, as a bloodstock manager for Australia's Arrowfield Stud, and for Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky as director of its stallion division.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - They're out.
The partnership that owns Lucky Mr. K, winner of Wednesday's third race at Hollywood Park, has already recovered the $32,000 they paid for the colt at the 2009 Northern California yearling sale and a chunk of their subsequent costs.
Lucky Mr. K earned $24,600 for his impressive win, and the partners will receive an additional $20,000 as part of a bonus paid to California-breds who win maiden special weight races in Southern California.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Thoroughbred owner Ahmed Zayat announced Thursday that his Zayat Stables has agreed to a settlement with Fifth Third Bank that would mutually resolve lawsuits the parties had filed against each other.
Zayat "has determined that a global resolution and restructuring outweighs the costs and uncertainty associated with protracted litigation with Fifth Third," according to documents Zayat's attorney filed Thursday afternoon in a New Jersey bankruptcy court.
Fifth Third attorney Craig Robertson could not be reached for comment.
A hearing scheduled for Thursday by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to consider levying as much as $165,000 in fines against owner Ernie Paragallo and a lifetime revocation of his racing license was postponed because of a scheduling conflict, according to Joe Mahoney, a spokesman for the board. No new hearing date has been scheduled for Paragallo, who was convicted on 33 counts of animal cruelty, sentenced to two years in jail, but released on bail last week pending appeal. . . .
The announcement last week by owners and breeders Marty and Pam Wygod that they plan to disperse a majority of their California-bred holdings at Barretts sales in Pomona, Calif., this fall and put their River Edge Farm in Buellton, Calif., on the market was met with disappointment and concern by the owners of three of the state's leading farms.