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.

The gray filly that sells as Hip No. 26 at the Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in training on March 10 has a family with a solid history at the sale venue.

The California-bred filly is by prominent stallion Giant's Causeway and is out of Miss Soft Sell. That makes her a half-brother to the five-time stakes winner Brother Derek, who earned $1,611,138; the California champion Don'tsellmeshort ($402,365); and the stakes-placed Swissle Stick ($121,703).

You can add What a Pear to the growing list of stakes performers from the New York foal crop of 2006. Her romp in the open Busher Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct last Sunday stretched her unbeaten streak to four, with earnings of $134,298.

What a Pear joins Grade 2 winner Doremifasollatido and graded-stakes-placed My Magic Moment and Freedom Rings as filly members of the crop.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - As the year-long recession has put economic pressure on the country and most of the world, so too has it exerted forces on operations within racing and breeding.

But the general economy was not the foremost reason for the change in direction for the racing and breeding operation of John and Susan Moore.

John Moore said that when they started 10 years ago, they "wanted to race and breed. We had some nice mares, but every year we had problems."

Sky Mesa, who leads North America's third-crop sire rankings, returned home to Three Chimneys Farm on Wednesday after undergoing two colic-related surgeries.

A 9-year-old son of Pulpit, Sky Mesa first underwent colic surgery at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 15. Surgeons performed a second surgery there on Feb. 20 to correct an impaction, prompting Three Chimneys to postponed Sky Mesa's target date for a return to breeding from March 15 to March 20.

Although the quality of horses has remained much the same, the pricing on nearly all incoming stallion prospects for 2009 has changed to reflect the world's economic turmoil. The upper-tier stud fees are not as high as in recent years, and there appears to be more compression of fees for horses below them as stallion managers try to remain competitive.

The electronic gaming operations established in the last few years at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., and at three of the four tracks in Oklahoma are having a direct impact on the breeding programs in both states. They are not only creating more revenues for statebred incentive awards and restricted stakes races, they also are leading to increased quality in the stallion ranks. This season alone, Oklahoma is the new home to Grade 1 winners Artax and Tactical Cat, while Arkansas has drawn an impeccably bred freshman stallion in Portobello Road.

Valid Expectations might be the most dominant stallion ever based in Texas. He was the state's leading sire for the sixth time in 2008 and also was the leading 2-year-old sire. Previously, Valid Expectations was the top sire in Texas in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007.

"He's real consistent," said Danny Shifflett, manager of Lane's End Texas in Hempstead. "He keeps turning over runners.

"The horse has been phenomenal for Texas."

The effects of the declining economy have already been felt in the sales paddocks in Lexington and Ocala, and as the 2009 breeding season commences, regional breeders are facing challenges of their own.

In addition to the declining value of their breeding stock, several racing venues were shuttered last year - including The Woodlands in Kansas - or threatened with plans to close - Beulah Park and River Downs - leaving breeders to re-assess their future plans.