LEXINGTON, Ky. - Jamie LaMonica, co-owner of Empire Stud in New York, and John Stuart of Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services used to bump into each other all the time on stallion deals, either seeking each other out as partners or bidding against each other for the same horse. Now they've joined forces in a new stallion-only brokerage called The Stallion Company, which opened its headquarters this month in downtown Lexington.
With many 2-year-olds just getting their racing careers started, it's hard to imagine that divisional titles may already be nailed down. But in the Maryland-bred ranks, two 2-year-olds have stepped up with impressive records, and it will take challengers a lot of running to surpass them.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - One of 58 foals from the next-to-last crop by Deputy Minister, Miss Shop may be the last Grade 1 winner by her top-class sire. The 4-year-old filly twice placed in Grade 1 stakes last year and graduated to become a Grade 1 winner in the Personal Ensign Stakes on Aug. 24 at Saratoga.
Bred by the Hobeau Farm of Jack Dreyfus, Miss Shop is one of three stakes winners out of the Private Account mare Shopping.
The third-crop sire Disco Rico is moving from Maryland to Keane Stud in Amenia, N.Y., where he will stand the 2008 breeding season for $4,000, live foal.
A multiple graded stakes-winning son of Citidancer, he earned $532,244 with a record of 9-5-1 from 17 starts and was Maryland-bred champion 3-year-old male in 2000.
Disco Rico won seven stakes races during his three seasons of campaigning at ages 2, 3, and 4. His victories included the Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup Stakes and Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap.
For two consecutive years the average price has risen at the selected session of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's annual yearling sale at Woodbine.
Last year, the average jumped 11 percent to $43,390 (Canadian), the highest figure since 2000, when the average was $43,514.
The presence of some fancy youngsters by an exciting slate of first-crop sires might be reason enough to think this year's auction should at least hold steady.
The select session, with 233 entrants, is on Tuesday at 3 p.m. The preferred session is next Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
The coming weeks could have a serious impact on Florida racing and breeding. The state, according to federal statutes, must soon address the matter of the Native Americans and their desire to implement table games at their half-dozen casino operations. There is concern that Gulfstreams parent company, Magna Entertainment, is saddled with significant loan obligations. And there is also the effort of a local group, Citizens to Save Hialeah Park, which is trying to bring back Hialeah.
Amid Australian breeders' concerns that their breeding season would be compromised because of an equine influenza outbreak, the Australian Stud Book moved Monday to open the breeding season early by allowing stallions to be bred to mares resident on the same farm.
A shipping ban on horses in New South Wales and Queensland remains in effect. Meanwhile, 79 stallions, including such prominent horses as Encosta de Lago, standing for Coolmore, and Bernardini, at Darley, remained sequestered Tuesday under a 30-day quarantine extension that began last week.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Capote, the champion juvenile and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner of 1986 who sired 1996 champion juvenile Boston Harbor, died Friday at age 23.
Capote, who was found to have neurological problems in 2003, was euthanized at Three Chimneys farm in Midway, Ky., after his condition deteriorated. The Seattle Slew horse was buried at the farm, where he stood for 16 years.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - With a game victory in the historic Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, Lady Joanne became the first Grade 1 winner for champion sprinter Orientate, whose first crop of foals is 3.
Lady Joanne is the brightest star from her sire's first crop, which also includes stakes winners Successful Outlook and Tanika. Orientate ranks third among all second-crop sires.
The stallion's performance with his initial racers was noticed, and Michael Hernon of Gainesway said that the stallion's first-crop performers were enough to "fill the stallion's book to overflowing."