In the nine years since Free Vacation beat males in the Breeders' Stakes at Woodbine, the filly's breeders, Bill and Susan Stewart, have changed many things about their Black Canyon Thoroughbreds Ltd. operation.
One thing that has not changed, however, are the good racehorses the British Columbia couple breed.
The Stewarts are once again in the Canadian classic scene as the breeders of Giquere, a leading contender for the June 22 Queen's Plate.
Naughty New Yorker was named horse of the year and champion older male for 2007 at the annual New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. awards dinner on May 12.
When Naughty New Yorker's dam, Naughty Natisha, was honored as broodmare of the year, the husband-wife veterinarian team of William Wilmot and Joan Taylor had collected three trophies on the evening.
Wilmot and Taylor, who own Stepwise Farm in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., bred Naughty New Yorker and are the owners of Naughty Natisha.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Storm Cat's departure from the breeding shed at age 25 also marks the end of his extraordinary dominance of the auction ring.
By the time he retired last week at Overbrook Farm in Lexington, Storm Cat's auction summary showed that 413 of his yearlings had brought an average price of $702,378. The average price for one of his yearling colts was even better at $856,218, easily outpacing his average yearling filly price of $528,712.
Repent continues to make his mark as a prime-time stallion. The 9-year-old Repent was a good racehorse at 2 - good enough to win the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Juvenile, and finish second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Repent stretched out as a 3-year-old, winning the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and Grade 3 Risen Star Stakes, and finishing second in the Grade 1 Travers to Medaglia d'Oro. In all, he won $1.25 million, 5 of 10 starts, and placed four times. His was a middle-distance game.
A full brother to Grade 2 winner Crown of Thorns had the fastest eighth-mile work Thursday at the second under-tack preview for Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's May preferred 2-year-old auction in Timonium, Md., going in 9.80 seconds.
The Repent colt, cataloged as Hip No. 455, is out of the Thunder Gulch mare Crowning Touch. The consignor is King's Equine (Raul Reyes), agent.
The fastest breeze at a quarter-mile took 21 seconds. That was the time posted by Hip No. 402, a Lion Heart colt out of the Balzac mare Bye the Bye. The colt was consigned by Crupi's New Castle Farm, agent.
Compared with 2007, Tuesday's Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training failed to keep pace. The sale had a 15 percent decline in average price, a 4 percent drop in median, and a 31 percent reduction in gross receipts.
The figures seem discouraging but sale officials insist they were not surprised by the results.
"A lot more horses stayed east this year," Barretts president Gerald McMahon said. "I think it was a factor of expenses and risk-reward. We didn't have as deep of a top end."
LEXINGTON, Ky. - This week marks a watershed in Thoroughbred breeding.
In the space of two days, Sadler's Wells, the last great son of the legendary Northern Dancer, and Storm Cat, the most dominant grandson of Northern Dancer, were pensioned from breeding.
These two stallions were the most dominant forces in the breed on their own sides of the Atlantic, but aside from their importance as sires of top-class racehorses, they also illustrate the differing paths that the Northern Dancer line is taking as it transforms into succeeding generations.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's biggest sale of the year based on gross and average, the two-day May 2-year-olds in training sale, will kick off on Monday at 10 a.m. at the Timonium sales pavilion in Timonium, Md.
Among the 650 juveniles cataloged are more than 40 Maryland-breds, of which more than half were sired in Maryland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - One of the striking elements of the pedigree of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown is the influence of Claiborne Farm, one of Thoroughbred racing's most important breeding operations.
The famous farm outside Paris, Ky., either bred, raced, or stood many of the stallions and mares in Big Brown's pedigree, including his sire, Boundary.
Now a pensioner at Claiborne Farm, where he was born and stood his entire stud career, Boundary has one of the distinctively Claiborne pedigrees.
In the wake of her impressive victory in last Sunday's Bouwerie Stakes at Belmont Park, Northern Netti appears headed for open stakes competition.
She won the restricted Bouwerie Stakes, at seven furlongs, by 9 1/4 lengths in the terrific time of 1:21.24 to remain unbeaten in three starts. Her earnings are $139,303.
A 3-year-old daughter of City Zip owned by Jim and Susan Hill, Northern Netti is based at Woodbine in Canada with trainer Reade Baker.