LEXINGTON, Ky. - Gus Koch's birthday on Sept. 26 will mark a special milestone: it will be the longtime Claiborne farm manager's last day at work.

It's hard to think of Koch, 62, as a retiree. He's been working in the Thoroughbred business since 1970, when he left the Marine Corps and started by hauling feed at Stoner Creek Stud under legendary farm manager Charles Kenney. He joined Claiborne on Sept. 1, 1978, after a five-year stint at E.P. Taylor's Windfields. From the start, his career path has intersected with those of numerous great racehorses, stallions, and mares.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Vinery has added another Zayat Stables runner to its stallion roster.

The Kentucky-based breeding operation announced Thursday that it will add the 4-year-old Maimonides to its Florida division. On Wednesday, the Kentucky division picked up Pioneerof the Nile for stud duty from Zayat Stables.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Zayat Stables' dual Grade 1 winner Pioneerof the Nile has retired to stud to Vinery here in Lexington, owner Ahmed Zayat announced Wednesday.

A 3-year-old Empire Maker colt, Pioneerof the Nile was Zayat's first homebred to race. He won the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity and finished third in the Breeders' Futurity, also Grade 1, at 2. This year, he won the Santa Anita Derby en route to the Triple Crown races. He finished second behind Mine That Bird in the Derby but ran 11th in the Preakness, in what was his last race.

A $155,000 colt by leading sire Medaglia d'Oro brought the highest price during the selected session at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's annual yearling sale at the Woodbine Sales Pavilion on Tuesday.

Lana Sniderman purchased the sale-topper, who is a half-brother to Le Cinquieme Essai, Canada's champion 3-year-old of 2002. Woodlands (Gail Wood), as agent, consigned the April 19 foal.

Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food has reported an outbreak of equine piroplasmosis among Thoroughbreds at an unidentified County Meath horse operation.

The disease is not highly contagious but can spread via ticks or contaminated needles, and infected horses can remain carriers of the disease for several years. Mortality rates vary widely, and infected horses develop anemia, jaundice, and fever.

The Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association's summer yearling sale was the latest to fall victim to declines in the yearling market, with the one-day sale Tuesday at Emerald Downs ending with double-digit drops in gross, average, and median.

The auction sold 99 yearlings for receipts totaling $833,500, down 34 percent from last year's gross for 110 horses, with an average price of $8,419, 27 percent lower than last season's, and a median that was down 31 percent, from $6,500 last year to $4,500.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Multiple graded winner Sir Shackleton will relocate from Kentucky to Pennsylvania for 2010.

An 8-year-old Miswaki millionaire, Sir Shackleton stood this year at Castleton Lyons in Lexington for $5,000. He is moving to Gayle Gerth's Dana Point Farm in Lenhartsville, Pa., for $2,500 when a foal stands and nurses. Pennsylvania breeders and those sending multiple mares will receive special consideration.

Sir Shackleton's first yearlings hit the auction ring this year. Three have sold so far, bringing an average of $23,000 and a median of $25,000.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Our New Recruit, the winner of the $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai in 2004 and a stallion whose oldest foals are 2 this year, died on Aug. 29 after a bout with colic at Legacy Ranch in Clements, Calif, according to farm owner Pete Parrella. Our New Recruit, 10, had his first winner at Del Mar on Aug. 19 with the maiden claimer At the Front.

Parrella said that Our New Recruit had battled colic in the past.

"We'd saved him two or three times," Parrella said. "This was an unfortunate situation where we couldn't save him.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When he attended the Kentucky Derby for the first time in 1996, Dr. Jack Root would never have guessed that someday the winner would be standing at his Oregon farm.

"That was the one Grindstone won," Root, a 56-year-old veterinarian, said. "But that wasn't why we got him. We were looking for a proven stallion, because we've gone through unproven ones, most of which don't work out. We've had our share of super-bred horses that don't work out as sires, so we thought we'd better get one that was proven."

With the proposed new racetrack project in Balzac stalled and the future of racing in southern Alberta in jeopardy, it isn't surprising the numbers were down significantly at the Canadian Thoroughbred Society summer yearling sale in Red Deer, Alberta, on Tuesday.

Eighty-two yearlings were sold for a gross of $667,300, a 45 percent drop from last year's total of $1,221,750 from 130 horses sold. The median price this year was $2,700, compared with $5,000 in 2008.