Stella Mark may turn out to be the claim of the year, if he isn't already.

Last Sunday, the 4-year-old gelding won his first stakes - the $150,000 Tiznow - one of 10 races at Hollywood Park that day for statebreds. Considering that he was claimed for $50,000 at Santa Anita in January, Stella Mark has turned out to be a lucrative investment for owner Jeffrey Sengara and trainer Ted H. West.

"He exceeded my expectations and we had high expectations going in," West said of the Tiznow Stakes. "He's kind of blossomed. He's improved in every start for us."

Brian Cullen's involvement in horse racing dates back almost 40 years. Although he was forced to step away from the game for five years when his wife became ill in 1999, he is once again front and center with Shilla, an early favorite for this year's Woodbine Oaks.

Cullen, 74, played in the National Hockey League as a center for seven years, first for the Toronto Maple Leafs and then for the New York Rangers. He operated the highly successful Victura Farm for decades, racing and breeding a number of high-class runners.

Topped by four 3-year-olds on the classics trail so far this year, New York-breds overall have performed well in open stakes races through April.

Nearly 30 New York-breds have won or placed in 40 open stakes events.

At this writing, Big Truck and Z Fortune were scheduled to run in the May 3 Kentucky Derby, while Icabad Crane and Giant Moon are preparing for the Preakness Stakes on May 17.

Big Truck, by state sire Hook and Ladder, won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, while Z Fortune captured the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds on the road to Louisville.

Icabad Crane is the latest New York-bred 3-year-old open stakes winner of 2008, with his victory in the $100,000 Tesio Stakes on April 19 at Pimlico Race Course.

The group also includes Big Truck, winner of the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby; Z Fortune, winner of the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes; and Giant Moon, winner of the Count Fleet Stakes.

Bred and foaled at Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud in Ghent, N.Y., Icabad Crane is owned by Earle I. Mack.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - This year's leading Kentucky Derby candidate from California, Colonel John has done more than race impressively in the state. The bay colt has immediate ties to California breeding in his pedigree.

It's far from a rarity when a horse bred by Robert E. Meyerhoff wins a stakes at Pimlico.

But Sheeler strayed from the familiar story line when he rallied to a 1 1/2-length victory - at better than 15-1 -in the Star de Naskra Stakes for Maryland-bred 3-year-olds on April 17, opening day of the Pimlico meet.

Sheeler was born and raised at Meyerhoff's Fitzhugh Farm, the Phoenix, Md., establishment that has been the birthplace of many outstanding runners, including millionaire and leading sire Broad Brush and his top-class sons Include and Concern.

There were concerns among many of the consignors to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training, held Monday-Thursday. There were concerns over the general economy and the purse contract dispute between the Florida horsemen and Calder Race Course. The sale got off to a slow start when five of the first six horses through the ring were led away unsold. But, it did not take long for the bulls to run, and run they did.

When Serena's Rose charged from the back of the field to finish a close second at 40-1 in a maiden race at Woodbine on April 12, Darlene Hunderup let out a holler.

Despite a spring cold that made her voice very raspy, Hunderup could not help contain the excitement of her homebred filly racing so well in her second start, and first outing of 2008.

Weathered, who won the Lizzy Cool Stakes in open company on April 12 at Aqueduct, is the product of connections with deep roots in the Empire State.

Bred and owned by Edward L. Shapoff, she has won three starts in a row and 4 of 5 in her career, with earnings of $102,440.

Shapoff is the son of the late New York trainer Stanley Shapoff, who trained Weathered's dam, Thunder Stand, and other top statebreds such as Liver Stand, winner of the Evan Shipman.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The victory of Monba in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland was the first in the historic track's signature race for breeders Mill Ridge Farm (owned by Alice and John Chandler) and JAMM Ltd. (Audrey Otto).

The victory for the gray son of Maria's Mon was especially sweet for Alice Chandler because, she said, "It's daddy's foundation family."

Her father, Hal Price Headley, was one of the founders of the Keeneland Association and its president from 1935 to 1951,