Pennsylvania breeders hit the jackpot in 2007. And for the biggest winners, slots-enriched purses were not a factor.
For the first time in history, three Pennsylvania-breds - all from the crop of 2004 - surpassed $1 million in earnings in a single year. When year-end championships were announced this past week by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, the trio - Hard Spun, Mrs. Lindsay, and Lucarno - were prominently featured on the list.
Victory Gallop, the Eclipse winner as champion older male of 1999, appears headed for Turkey. WinStar Farm and the syndicate that owns the horse have a sale pending with the Turkish Jockey Club, the farm announced Friday.
In his championship year, Victory Gallop won the Whitney Handicap and set the Churchill Downs track record of 1:47.28 for 1 1/8 miles winning the Stephen Foster.
Victory Gallop, runner-up to Real Quiet in the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, defeated him by a nose in that year's Belmont Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Well that was ugly.
No matter the scoring mechanism used, the Sunshine Millions at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita on Jan. 26 was a lopsided affair, with Florida-breds clearly dominating California-breds in the eight races.
Of the $3.6 million in purses available, Florida-breds earned $2,785,000, while California-breds earned $815,000. Florida-breds won seven races, including all four at Gulfstream Park. Bob Black Jack was the lone California-bred winner, in the $250,000 Dash at Santa Anita.
With the unbeaten filly By the Light topping the list at 112 pounds, a dozen New York-breds were weighted on the Experimental Free Handicap for 2007.
Bred by Paul Rothfuss, the daughter of Malibu Moon concluded her 4-for-4 season with a daylight victory in the $300,000 Delta Princess Stakes.
By the Light is out of Dixie Tempo, by Major Impact. Dixie Tempo is a full sister to Queen of Wilshire, winner of the Grade 3 Hawthorne Handicap. This family includes La Basque, the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner and former New York sire Bounding Basque.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - More than 150 horses cared for by the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation will help advance scientific understanding of breakdowns. The retirees will be the subject of a research project at Texas A&M University that will attempt to determine whether genes might predispose horses to fractures, and, if so, to identify those genes.
The sixth round of the Sunshine Millions, the interstate rivalry between Florida-breds and California-breds, was, most would agree, a rout. Florida-breds won 7 of the 8 events in the series, held last Saturday at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita. This gives the Sunshine State-breds a record of 32 wins versus 16 for California reps in the six years of Sunshine Millions competition.
Don't bother feeling sorry for Betsy Houghton.
Sure, the 8-year-old Pennsylvania-bred gelding Banjo Picker has won six stakes and earned $497,822 since Houghton, his breeder, lost him in a $15,000 claiming race back in 2004.
But Banjo Picker's ultra-consistent efforts have generated a steady flow of breeder's awards from the Pennsylvania Breeding Fund, including $9,000 for his front-running victory in the Le Grande Pos Handicap for statebreds last Saturday at Philadelphia Park.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Only a handful of mares have managed to compile producing records on a par with Hasili, the dam of Champs Elysees and five other group or graded stakes winners. Champs Elysees, her 5-year-old son by Danehill, furthered Hasili's reputaion by winning the Grade 2 San Marcos at Santa Anita last weekend. Las year, Champs Elysees was a Group 3 winner at Longchamp.
State boundaries can get blurred for horse people in the Mid-Atlantic region. The 4-year-old filly Doyouwanttodance was bred by a Virginia horse woman who usually sends her mares for foaling to Maryland. Conceived in Maryland, Doyouwantto-dance happens to be a West Virginia-bred.
However, the filly has done all her running outside the region, in Arkansas and Louisiana.
With a 2008 fee of $15,000, the versatile Grade 1 winner Sunriver is the highest-priced stallion standing in New York State this year.
Sunriver, who completed his career with a victory in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup on Dec. 8, retired with earnings of $816,414, based on a slate of 6-3-3 from 17 starts.
In residence at Empire Stud in Hudson, N.Y., he is owned by a partnership headed by Jeffrey Tucker and Empire Stud co-owner Jamie Lamonica, which purchased him from his breeders Aaron and Marie Jones.