Florida's three 2008 selected sales of 2-year-olds in training - the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's February and March auctions and Fasig-Tipton in February - are in the books. What remains for juvenile sales are the OBS spring sale and the OBS June sale. Both of these auctions are non-selective, and both have been growing in terms of numbers, averages, and median prices.
A shaggy old bay horse hangs his head over a fence at Bonita Farm in Darlington, Md., some 30 miles north of Baltimore, and snorts at another spring.
This is Deputed Testamony, who won the Preakness 25 years ago.
"It's rewarding to see he's still as healthy as he is," said the man who trained him, J. William Boniface, as the horse looked out over the 400-acre showplace Thoroughbred farm that his racing and stud career helped create.
Moscow Ballet, who was euthanized at Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif., on April 4 at the age of 26, had a significant impact on California racing throughout his more than two decades at stud.
The stallion was euthanized because of degeneration in his hind end, Harris said.
"He couldn't get up and couldn't get down," Harris said. "He had a good life. He looked really good until the last three or four weeks."
Bustin Stones took his game to the next level last weekend, remaining unbeaten by winning the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.
He is now 6 for 6 with earnings of $480,150, and his connections have set their sights on the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on May 26.
The Carter is a historic event in its own right, having been won by greats such as Roseben, Tom Fool, Bold Ruler, and Forego since its inauguration in 1895.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - With front-running success in the Illinois Derby, Recapturetheglory comes to the Kentucky Derby with credentials and potential similar to War Emblem, who won the 2002 Derby and Preakness. Both showed good form going two turns and seem to prefer racing on or near the lead.
Recapturetheglory's four-length victory in the Illinois Derby has breeder Charles Jacobi "jumping out of my tree."
"It's tremendous," he said, "like a dream that comes true and still seems like a dream."
Florida's three racetracks annually program a day with multiple stakes for statebreds. Calder Race Course conducts the Florida Million in November. Gulfstream co-hosts the Sunshine Millions - for Florida- and California-breds - in January, and Tampa Bay Downs offers Florida Cup Day in April.
LEXINGTON, Ky. Curlins crushing success in the Dubai World Cup left little doubt that he is the dominant racehorse in the world, especially at 10 furlongs on dirt.
John Moynihan, bloodstock adviser to principal owner Jess Jackson, said that Curlins athletic dominance does not tell the whole story.
His mind is amazing, Moynihan said. He gets off a plane in Dubai, walks into his stall, and starts eating. Nothing puts this horse off his game.
It was a good week for the home team. Florida-breds won two of the races at the Dubai Racing Festival and several stakes on the home front. And the Florida-bred Smooth Air earned a trip to Louisville next month when he finished second to the unbeaten Big Brown, the possible Kentucky Derby favorite, in the $1 million Florida Derby.
Topped by runners headed for the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, four New York sires had a productive month of March.
Shes All Eltish, a daughter of Eltish, won the Grade 2 Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 29 to put her in contention for the Kentucky Oaks on May 2.
Eltish, a son of Cox's Ridge, stands at Keane Stud Operations LLC in Amenia, N.Y.
Winner of the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes in England and second to champion Timber Country in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Eltish is out of the Danzig mare Nimble Feet.