ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Joanne Jubilation, a $34,000 mare in foal to Bold Executive, topped the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's winter mixed sale at the Woodbine Sales Pavilion on Saturday.

Zayat Stable purchased Joanne Jubilation, an unraced 5-year-old, from Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, as agent.

Two weanlings brought $20,000 each, a colt by Holy Bull and a filly by Hook and Ladder.

The top-priced yearling was a $20,000 colt by Perigee Moon.

The sale posted significant decreases in both gross and average compared to the 2007 sale.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Following up on a general trend to reduce stud fees that began with Claiborne Farm after the decline in yearling prices at the September sales, a number of farms have instigated a second wave of reductions for some or all of their stallions, including the most elite sires, such as A.P. Indy and Distorted Humor.

The rationale for continuing reductions includes the depressing effect of the general economy on overall sales figures and the anxiety over expenditures for long-term investments like stud fees.

Miracle Man, a multiple-stakes-placed runner on turf and dirt at several tracks, will begin his stud career at Lois Engel's Pucker Ridge Farm in Warrensburg, N.Y.

His fee for the 2009 breeding season is $2,500, and he stands as the property of Jeff Pearl, Fred Picarello, Vincent Formato, and John Seyford.

Miracle Man started his career with three consecutive victories, moving through his conditions and defeating several good performers, including the graded-stakes winner Silver Train.

The Tattersalls December breeding stock sale will take place in challenging economic circumstances, but company executives hope American bidders will help blunt any downturn.

Florida's foal population, as reported earlier this month, is expected to decrease by approximately 15 percent in 2009. The number of broodmares in production also is expected to decrease. New stallions, however, are swelling the Florida stallion ranks. This means that those standing stallions will have to think and act creatively if they want to generate bookings.

Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's December mixed sale has been trimmed by about a third from previous years, with fewer than 400 broodmares, weanlings, yearlings, and horses of racing age cataloged for the one-day sale, to be held Dec. 8 at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Thoroughbred market's continuing downturn has prompted WinStar Farm and Taylor Made Farm in Lexington to revise fees for two major sires this week. WinStar's Distorted Humor, originally slated to drop from his 2008 fee of $300,000 to $225,000, will now be on offer at $150,000. And Taylor Made stallion Unbridled's Song, initially advertised to keep his 2008 fee of $150,000, will now be available at $112,500. Breeders paying by Nov. 1 can get him at that fee, but those wishing to wait until the resulting foal stands and nurses will pay $125,000.

As the dam of three multiple stakes winners who together had earned more than $1 million, Thirty Eight Steps was deeply mourned when she died three years ago at the age of 18.

Her owner, William R. Harris, chose a special name for the filly born just 2 1/2 months before her death - Sweet Goodbye.

Now, Sweet Goodbye, a Maryland-bred daughter of Louis Quatorze, is opening new doors for Harris, a resident of Mineral, Va., who has campaigned many successful homebreds since buying his first horse in 1961.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The public appraisal of Curlin at a value of $20 million this week stirred curiosity about how an appraiser puts a value on a horse, especially a stallion. Essentially, there are two broad steps to doing this: assessing the horse in a class of comparable animals and estimating what income might be derived from the use of the horse at stud.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Silver Wagon will stand the 2009 breeding season at Kurt Butenhoff's and James LaMonica's Empire Stud in Hudson, N.Y.

His fee will be $5,000, foal stands and nurses.

"I felt like we could bring a quality animal to the breeders that was an A-plus physical specimen, an A-plus racehorse, and a very good-pedigreed horse," said LaMonica. "It gives them what, in my opinion, a horse that was brilliant at 2 and was sound throughout his career. If anybody comes and sees him they'll be blown away. He's a gorgeous animal."