LEXINGTON, Ky. - A More Than Ready filly out of stakes winner Saratoga Humor clocked a furlong in 9.80 seconds Friday as the fastest worker at the distance in the Barretts May under-tack show.
The breezes at Fairplex Park in Pomona, Calif., previewed the Barretts May 2-year-old in training auction. The sale will take place at the Hinds Pavilion starting at 2 p.m. on May 10.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - "We're still smiling," John Greely IV said Thursday when he answered the phone at Wintergreen Stallion Station in Midway, Ky.
They're smiling because of Blind Luck's hard-fought victory over Evening Jewel in the Kentucky Oaks. The win made Wintergreen stallion Pollard's Vision the sire of a classic winner from his first crop. That's a remarkable achievement for any sire, but especially one who stands for the relatively low fee of $10,000.
Frank Stronach's Adena Springs will send champion Macho Uno to Brazil this year for the stallion's first shuttle season, the Paris, Ky., farm announced Wednesday.
Macho Uno, the champion juvenile in 2000 and sire of Grade 1 winners Macho Again and Wicked Style, will stand the Southern Hemisphere breeding season at Sao Jose da Serra in partnership with the Parana Breeders and Owners Association of Brazil. As part of the deal, Adena will put part of the stallion's revenue toward bonus purses for Brazilian breeders and to sponsor a Macho Uno Cup race in 2014.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It was always a gamble worth taking, especially for three men with time on their side.
When Uncle Don, a gelding, arrived at owner Don Valpredo's farm near Bakersfield in 2008, his racing future looked bleak, and his right front tendon looked just as bad. There was talk of making him a pony.
Friends Tony Romero, Alan Rodriguez, and Ulises Olguin had a different perspective. Uncle Don deserved another chance, they thought, and they were ready to make the commitment. The previous owners offered them the horse and a chance.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - WinStar Farm bred the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, Funny Cide, and this year it's hoping to hit the winner's circle again, this time as breeder and owner.
Even after scratching Rule and Endorsement this week, WinStar still has two Derby starters in the gate. Both American Lion and Super Saver are homebreds.
Keeping control of horses it bred through the breaking process and early racing has had benefits, WinStar's president, Doug Cauthen, said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Louisville, Ky., entrepreneurs Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson have purchased about 500 acres of Churchill Downs chairman Carl Pollard's historic Hermitage Farm in Goshen, Ky.
Under an agreement they expect to close by the end of May, Brown and Wilson will lease back a portion of the farm to Pollard. He will continue to live on the farm and operate his Thoroughbred breeding business. The farm totals about 700 acres, and Brown and Wilson will place it in a conservation easement.
Zippy Chippy, the gelding who became famous for losing all 100 of his lifetime starts, has been retired to the Old Friends retirement farm's Bobby Frankel division in Greenfield Center, N.Y.
Owner and trainer Felix Monserrate bought the New York-bred Compliance gelding for $2,500 and earned $30,834 with him. Zippy Chippy, now 19, finished second eight times and third 12 times in his long career. When he retired in 2004, he briefly served as a track pony at Finger Lakes.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's spring 2-year-old sale ended Thursday night with gains across the board and a $500,000 Limehouse filly the sale-topper.
The four-day sale closed with 739 juveniles sold for a total of $20,754,400, up 4 percent from last year's gross for 801 horses. The average price increased 13 percent, from last year's figure of $24,864 to $28,084. The median did even better, improving by 33 percent from last season.
But buy-backs also ticked upward. Last year's buy-back rate was 24 percent, but this year's inched up to 26 percent.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - A big price came late at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company spring 2-year-old sale in Ocala, Fla. Thursday's session, the last at the four-day auction, got a big boost when a Limehouse filly from Hobeau Farm's dispersal brought $500,000.
That is the highest price so far for the auction, though selling was still under way at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.