ARCADIA, Calif. - Barely a week had gone by after All Saint's win in the California Breeders' Champion Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 when the race photos were hanging on the walls of owner Eddie Gamez's home in Pomona, Calif.

Gamez could not wait to commemorate the victory. He had paid a grand total of $2,700 for All Saint at the 2007 Barretts October mixed sale and had watched the colt produce his biggest moment as an owner.

"We've never had anything that good," he said. "We've had some regular horses. When we started to break him, we knew he was an awesome horse."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In the late 1800s, one of the most exciting elements of American racing was the origination of a race for unborn foals that became known as the Futurity Stakes and offered enormous prizes for 2-year-olds who had been kept nominated. Although the conditions of a true futurity largely have been eliminated in such well-known races as the Futurity Stakes at Belmont and Hollywood's version in California, futurities for which breeders nominate their unborn foals and then get to run for the accumulated pools are strikingly popular in regional markets.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way - the Maryland Stallion Station leaving its majestic site on the hillside overlooking Sagamore Farm in Maryland's Worthington Valley after only four years of operation and relocating its eight stallions to other facilities for 2009.

But the Maryland Stallion Station's founder and president, Don Litz, is surprisingly upbeat about the move, which was announced Dec. 24 and completed four days later.

"Economic considerations forced the decision," said Litz, "and many of those factors were beyond our control.

Three outstanding runners - Commentator, Bustin Stones, and Tin Cup Chalice - typified the performance levels of New York-breds in 2008.

The trio, by the way, should make for an interesting contest for New York-bred horse of the year honors when the balloting conducted by New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. gets underway in a couple months.

In all, 14 New York-breds won graded stakes races in 2008, up from six in 2007.

Trainer Mark Shuman's "Plan A" for Queen of Song since her debut in September was to start her in the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship, with the hope that the beautifully bred daughter of Unbridled's Song would add black type to her record.

Those plans succeeded, and then some.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The victory by Pioneerof the Nile in the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park last Saturday was the first Grade 1 win for a horse bred by Ahmed Zayat. A major buyer of elite racing prospects at the yearling and 2-year-old sales over the past three years, Zayat has become more involved with breeding, and Pioneerof the Nile is his first major success in this new division.

When Council Member retired from racing during the summer, his departure from the racetrack marked the end of an era. He was the last progeny of the mighty Seattle Slew to race.

Seattle Slew - the winner of the 1977 Triple Crown, a four-time champion and an enormously influential sire - died in 2002. Council Member was part of Seattle Slew's final crop, and he has a chance to carry on his sire's influence.

For years, savvy horse buyers in Middleburg, Va., and surrounding areas have known where to look for yearling bargains.

Now a 4-year-old gelding named Researcher is spreading the word throughout the racing world.

Researcher, who earned his fourth straight victory, and third stakes win in a row, when he won the Grade 3 $100,000 Queens County Handicap at Aqueduct last Saturday, is a product of the breeding program at Virginia Tech's Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension Center, better known as the MARE Center.

Topped by the victory of Borrowing Base in the Ladies Handicap, New York-breds continue to post excellent results in open competition as the year draws to a close.

Borrowing Base became the 35th New York-bred to win an open stakes race in the Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct.

Four other New York-breds finished on the board in stakes at Aqueduct and Calder Race Course last weekend.

Bred by Gallagher's Stud and owned by Daddie's Little Girls Stable, the 5-year-old Borrowing Base is a daughter of the late top New York stallion Personal Flag.

Star Nicholas's victory in the On Trust Handicap at Hollywood Park on Dec. 14 left trainer Peter Eurton at a loss.

The victory was certainly welcome, but Eurton is unsure what to do with the 5-year-old gelding.

"I don't know where I'll go next," Eurton said. "I think he's strictly a [synthetic-track horse] up to a mile and a sixteenth. I'm kind of being vague, because I don't have plans set in stone."

Star Nicholas has been well regarded since he was 3 but needed time to recover from a variety of injuries.