LEXINGTON, Ky. - Champions Rags to Riches and Dreaming of Anna have hit the headlines again with "firsts." Rags to Riches, winner of the 2007 Belmont Stakes, had her first foal on Monday, while Dreaming of Anna is in foal for the first time, to Darley stallion Street Cry.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Southern Equine Stable plans to scale down its 300-horse operation by about one-third over the next year and will consider selling its world-record-priced broodmare Better Than Honour if it receives a sufficient offer, according to Southern Equine partner and trainer Eric Guillot.
The 2-year-olds in training market shifts to Barretts for a one-day sale of selected horses in Pomona, Calif., on Tuesday amidst a market that has shown an expected downturn in a poor economy.
Barretts officials are bracing for declines in some categories. The catalog comprises 122 horses, but 30 have been withdrawn. As of Thursday, 92 horses were scheduled to go through the ring. Last year, 132 horses went through the ring, with 73 sold for an average of $178,027.
Maintaining the 2008 average will be difficult, according to Barretts vice president Bill Baker.
NEW YORK - The death of Urban Sea this past week should remind us of how important a role the female side of the Thoroughbred family plays. Conventional wisdom shouts "Hurrah!" as soon as a merely average stallion sires a single Grade 1 winner, but it is through the dam that class is passed on with the greatest surety.
MIAMI - Fasig-Tipton's select 2-year-old sale Tuesday at Calder Race Course confirmed that the top-end juvenile market, at least for now, is about 35 percent lower than last year. But as at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s bellwether select juvenile sale last month, some participants were relieved it wasn't worse.
MIAMI - It almost looked like old times Tuesday at Fasig-Tipton's select auction at Calder Race Course. There was Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's representative John Ferguson, shelling out million-dollar figures for glossy 2-year-olds. By day's end, Ferguson had spent $4,635,000 for four horses, including the sale-topping $1.6 million Medaglia d'Oro-Bayou Plans colt, a $1.1 million Unbridled's Song-Amazing Buy colt, and a $1 million Unbridled's Song-Rubywood colt.
Good Night Shirt, who won his second straight Eclipse Award as the nation's champion steeplechaser this year, has been named the 2008 Maryland-bred horse of the year by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.
A son of Concern, Good Night Shirt won five Grade 1 steeplechases last year at 7 and set a single-season record for earnings by a steeplechaser of $485,520. That was also the most money earned last year by a Maryland-bred horse.
Owned by Sonny and Ann Via and trained by Jack Fisher, Good Night Shirt has earned $969,083.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fasig-Tipton's Calder select 2-year-old sale enjoyed the juvenile auction season's highest average price last year at $344,118. When the auction takes place at Miami's Calder Race Course on Tuesday, few will expect the sale to repeat that performance again in 2009, given the economic slowdown that has reached from Iceland to Dubai and from the United States to Japan.
The 2-year-old sales season is in full swing, but it looks to be a quiet time for many of Maryland's headliners.
A total of three Maryland-bred juveniles are cataloged to this year's Fasig-Tipton Calder selected 2-year-olds in training sale, which will begin on the morning of Tuesday, March 3.
The sale has in recent history been a showcase for Maryland's two most dominant sales sires, Not for Love and Two Punch. But Not for Love, who had four individuals sell for $300,000 or more over the past two years, will not be represented this year.