Plaudit won the 1898 Kentucky Derby. The relevance to the present time is that this genuinely good racehorse has accomplished what few good racehorses have, and that is establish a sire line that has stood the test of time.

Plaudit established the family that put Florida breeding on the map via the success of the 1951 Santa Anita Derby winner, Rough 'n Tumble. Rough 'n Tumble, in turn, sired Dr. Fager, who in 1968 won four national titles: champion sprinter, turf horse, handicap horse, and Horse of the Year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Hall of Famer and five-time champion John Henry died last Monday at the age of 32, it marked the end of a great racehorse and a veterinary challenge. The gelding enjoyed an unusually long and healthy life, and when he did eventually begin to decline, veterinarian Dr. Mike Beyer and John Henry's caretakers at the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions found themselves managing age-related problems most horse owners never face.

Until this summer, John Henry remained in surprisingly good health given his age, Beyer recalled.

ARCADIA, Calif. - With a $310,000 investment last month, owner Cecil Peacock will try to continue a tradition in coming years.

Peacock paid that much for a California-bred filly by In Excess at last month's Keeneland September yearling sale. The filly is a half-sister to two stakes winners Peacock has campaigned in recent years - Brother Derek, the winner of the 2006 Santa Anita Derby, and Don'tsellmeshort, a three-time stakes winner.

Day 2 of the Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling sale in Newmarket, England, ended Wednesday with a $2.1 million Gone West colt and mixed results overall.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum’s representative, John Ferguson, purchased the session-topping colt, a three-quarter-brother to French champion Divine Proportions and multiple Group 1 winner Whipper.

The colt, sold by Highclere Stud as Hip No. 217, is out of the Sadler’s Wells mare Myth to Reality, a stakes-winner in France.

The Gone West colt sold for 1 million guineas, or about $2,142,000.

Andy Havens perhaps had a better sale than anyone at Tuesday's California October yearling sale at Barretts in Pomona, Calif.

Havens led all consignors, selling 31 horses for $706,700, including a Friends Lake colt that topped the sale at $150,000.

But even Havens left the sale confused about the California yearling market. Significant declines in average price, median, and gross and an increased buy-back rate left consignors disappointed in the sale results.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Jim Squires is having a dream season as a breeder. He has only eight broodmares at the 132-acre farm he and his wife, Mary Anne, own, but two of them are the dams of the Grade 1 winners by Broken Vow: Cotton Blossom and Unbridled Belle. And he's the breeder of another Grade 1 performer, A to the Croft, who finished second in Friday's Alcibiades at Keeneland.

"We're just having a ridiculously good time with the racehorses," he said.

Frank Wright faced a difficult decision with his handsome Malibu Moon yearling. Should he sell the colt or keep him to race as a homebred?

"I entered him in the sale on a Friday and took him out the following Monday," said Wright, who with his wife, Virginia, owns and operates Huntingfields farm in Hampstead, Md.

Wright eventually decided to go ahead and sell the colt, named Blue Malibu. And the result was another auction blockbuster.

The top-priced New York-bred at last week's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale was a son of Forest Camp purchased for $180,000 by Buzz Chace, agent for L & F Stable.

Consigned by Candyland, agent, as Hip No. 60 on the first day of the sale, he is the first foal of the winning Louis Quatorze mare Hope's Diamond.

Hope's Diamond is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Moonlight Affair, an earner of $460,802.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Lane's End Farm stallion Smart Strike had three Grade 1 winners at Belmont on Sunday. They were Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Curlin, Turf Classic winner English Channel, and Vosburgh winner Fabulous Strike. Not only is the stallion's number of Grade 1 winners on a single day an amazing feat, but his winners were successful in races at six furlongs (Vosburgh), 10 furlongs (Jockey Club Gold Cup), and 12 furlongs (Turf Classic).

Bucksplasher died this past week at Noel and Bobby Hickey's Irish Acres Farm in Ocala, Fla. The chestnut stallion with the white blaze and two white socks died at the ripe age of 30. And with his death ends an era in Florida breeding.