LEXINGTON, Ky. - This year's freshman sire race is unusually close and interesting. As of Sept. 29, the top five freshmen by progeny earnings were each separated by between $15,000 and $64,000, so that just a win or two, or a decent stakes placing, could reshuffle the rankings.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sprinter Zensational, currently riding a four-race win streak that includes three victories against older horses, will stand at Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Lexington at the end of his racing career.

Zensational won the Triple Bend Handicap, Bing Crosby Stakes, and Pat O'Brien Stakes in his most recent three starts, earning triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in each.

Two-time Grade 1 winner and millionaire Pioneerof the Nile will enter stud in 2010 with a $20,000 fee, Vinery has announced.

The winner of the CashCall Futurity and Santa Anita Derby this year, Pioneerof the Nile retired to Vinery in September. The Lexington, Ky., farm is in the process of syndicating the 3-year-old Empire Maker colt.

The Goffs Orby yearling sale, which replaces the three-day Goffs Millions auction this year, ended its second of three sessions Wednesday in Ireland with an average of about $95,128 and a median of about $70,080, figures that appeared to put the auction on fairly solid footing despite a significant drop in bloodstock values worldwide.

When the Tattersalls October sale opens with its select three-day Book 1 sale Tuesday in Newmarket, England, officials at this important European select yearling auction expect declines in keeping with the global economic downturn. But they are hoping to avoid the 35- to 45-percent drops seen at the Keeneland September market this year.

The Goffs auction house in County Kildare, Ireland, opened its Orby yearling sale Tuesday with a session-topper that brought 475,000 euros, or about $693,500.

The session-topper was a Giant's Causeway filly out of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Saoire, by Pivotal. Trainer Tom Tate signed the ticket on behalf of owner Jim Hay. The filly went through the auction as part of the Cahermorris Stables consignment.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Keeneland September yearling sale ended its 14-day run Monday with harrowing losses that had yearling sellers tightening their belts for the upcoming breeding season.

After Monday's final session, Keeneland had sold 3,159 yearlings for $191,859,200, down 41 percent from last year's total for 3,456 horses. The 14-day cumulative average of $60,734 was 36 percent lower than last year's figure, and the $22,000 median was off by 45 percent. The buyback rate for the entire auction was 28 percent this year, up from 25 percent in 2008.

Keeneland's two-week September yearling sale neared its conclusion Sunday with more hard drops in all categories at the auction's penultimate session.

Sunday's session in Lexington sold 205 yearlings for $1,209,900, down 53 percent from last year s equivalent day. Sunday's $5,902 average was down 48 percent, and the median dropped 60 percent, from $8,000 to $3,200.

Sequel Stallions New York plans to relocate its stallions from its Hudson, N.Y., farm to Keane Stud in Amenia, N.Y.

The Hudson farm, owned by Becky Thomas and Dennis Narlinger, may be leased for cattle interests the next year or so until the economy improves, Thomas said.

Sequel stands New York's leading sire Freud, top-ten sire Hook and Ladder, and top-15 sire Read the Footnotes.

With a consignment of 55 horses, bloodstock agent Andy Havens is responsible for nearly 20 percent of the 281 horses that will be offered at the California Cup yearling sale at Barretts in Pomona, Calif., on Oct. 5.

In light of a soft bloodstock market, Havens and his clients are gambling heavily on the Barretts sale through an economic climate that could politely be described as a buyer's market.