After two consecutive successful years, the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training, held last Tuesday in Pomona, appears to be gaining momentum on the roster of juvenile sales.

In 2006, the sale-topper was a surprising $2.5 million Red Bullet colt. The average that year reached a record $52,573.

This year's sale had a different complexion in that one horse did not dominate the event. The sale-topper brought $650,000, but the sale set records for gross and average ($62,604). There were 13 horses that sold for $250,000 or more, compared to four in 2006.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Thoroughbred owner Jess Jackson and his former bloodstock adviser Emmanuel de Seroux appear headed to court in San Diego on Sept. 28. Three other defendants in Jackson's 2005 lawsuit, which alleges that former advisers defrauded him in bloodstock purchases, recently settled with the Stonestreet Stables owner. But there are no settlement talks with de Seroux and his Narvick International agency, a Jackson attorney said.

Meanwhile, members of de Seroux's camp say they are pressing ahead with their own suit against Jackson.

National champion Fleet Indian has added state honors to her resume as New York-bred horse of the year for 2006.

The Eclipse Award champion older female, she was also named state champion older female at the annual awards dinner of New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. last Monday evening at the Desmond Hotel in Albany, N.Y.

Bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and owned by Paul Saylor, Fleet Indian won two Grade 1 races, the Personal Ensign at Saratoga and Beldame Handicap at Belmont Park, and earned $1,473,720 on the season.

The yellow and green Irish Acres Farm horse vans no longer roam the highways that link North America's racetracks, but that does not mean Noel Hickey has packed it in. Not by a longshot, he says.

"I'm spending most of my time on the new training center these days," he said. "There's much to be done, and if you want it done right, you have to be hands-on."

The developing training center is located a few miles due west of the first Irish Acres Farm, which was sold a few years back and is now being formed into a hobby horse community.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In the span of eight days, the deceased sire Danzig reminded racing people and breeders why he was such a great stallion. On May 5, Danzig's son Hard Spun set the pace and ran on through the stretch to finish second to Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby. Last Sunday, another of his offspring, Astronomer Royal, won the French 2000 Guineas (Poule d'Essai des Poulains) at Longchamp by a half-length.

POMONA, Calif. - Tuesday's May sale of 2-year-olds in training produced a record gross ($11,331,300) and a record average ($62,604), but the one-day sale had significantly different results at the top of the market than last year.

In 2006, four horses sold for $250,000 or more, led by a record $2.5 million Red Bullet colt. On Tuesday, 13 horses sold for $250,000 or more, and the most expensive was a Sky Mesa colt purchased for $650,000.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Deborah Kopatz, a former steakhouse manager, operates a bail-bonding business in Ohio. Brent Harris was going to be a baseball coach before taking over his grandfather's farm with his wife, Beth, a teacher. Callan Strouss is a manager at Lane's End Farm, and his wife, Darcia, is a hunter-jumper rider.

These individuals lead very different lives, but they do have something in common: small Thoroughbred breeding programs of a dozen or fewer mares. And on Saturday, they will all have starters in the Preakness Stakes.

Legendary Maryland trainer King T. Leatherbury doesn't have a starter in this year's Preakness, but he could still come away with a big victory Saturday at Pimlico.

Heart Throbbin', the latest of many astute claims Leatherbury has made during nearly a half-century in the business, is expected to contest the Grade 3, $100,000 Hirsch Jacobs Stakes, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds on the Preakness Day undercard at Pimlico. Heart Throbbin' has won two stakes this year.

"He's been training well," said Leatherbury. "But of course he'll be facing much tougher horses."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Storm Boot, sire of such graded winners as millionaire Bourbon Belle and Grade 1-placed Hurricane Bertie, was euthanized Thursday at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute here at age 18. A Crestwood Farm stallion, Storm Boot had developed laminitis as a complication of chronic degenerative tendonitis.

A son of Storm Cat, Storm Boot had covered about 40 mares from a 60-mare book, according to Robert Keck, Crestwood's bloodstock and pedigree consultant.

Flying First Class will be a longshot in Saturday's $1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Considering the injuries that his sire and dam have overcome in recent years, it is a wonder that Flying First Class even exists to run in a classic race.

A California-bred, Flying First Class represents the first Preakness starter for California owner and breeder Bud Johnston, who owns Old English Rancho in Sanger.

Even Johnston admits that getting to the Preakness with a colt by the stallion Perfect Mandate out of the broodmare Flying in Style is just short of an equine miracle.