ARCADIA, Calif. - Joe Valenti finally got his wish at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

For nearly a year, Valenti and trainer Craig Lewis had debated whether to claim Debonair Joe, an 8-year-old gelding they bred. They raced him in 2001-02.

Wednesday, Lewis and Valenti agreed to claim the California-bred Debonair Joe for $40,000 and then watched him win a six-furlong race.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - It's been six years since mare reproductive loss syndrome cost Kentucky's commercial Thoroughbred breeding industry an estimated third of its annual foal crop. But researchers still are working to identify exactly how the disease occurred and how it unfolds.

Tom and Chris Bowman's Dance Forth Farm encompasses only 53 acres near historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. But it is a powerhouse of Thoroughbred breeding activity.

Horses foaled at Dance Forth (and bred by the Bowmans or in partnership) won 10 stakes in 2006, and earned nearly $2.7 million.

Representing the Bowmans were seven stakes winners, racing on both coasts.

Two were Maryland-bred champions - Clifton Park (2-year-old male) and Good Night Shirt (steeplechaser).

Florida stallion standings for the first quarter of '07 have been compiled and there are no surprises. Trippi, who stands at Ocala Stud Farm, leads the standings. Sixty-nine runners by Trippi have gone postward, 17 have won, and they have earned just under $700,000. What adds an extra dimension to Trippi's leadership is that the son of End Sweep is also emerging as a turf sire; he is currently Florida's leading sire of turf performers

The popularity of New York sire Hook and Ladder continued at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. selected 2-year-olds in training sale on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Topped by a colt at $397,000, five of Hook and Ladder's seven progeny in the auction sold for $762,000, an average of $152,400; all are New York-breds.

Hook and Ladder's stud fee for this group, conceived in 2004, was $3,500.

The son of Dixieland Band stands at Sequel Stallions in Hudson, N.Y., for a fee of $6,000 this season, and his first foals are 2-year-olds of 2007.

Maryland's breeding industry is facing greater competition than ever from its slots-rich neighbors. But Maryland still outdoes every state in the region when it comes to the quality of its stallions. And that can be attributed, in large part, to the Maryland Million.

The Maryland Million is not just maintaining its status quo, but actually expanding.

Already the premier sire stakes program in the nation, it will distribute a record $1.7 million in purses and nominator awards on this year's Maryland Million Day, Oct. 13 at Laurel Park.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It has been a memorable start to 2007, as Canadian-breds have won Grade 1, 2, and 3 races at three racetracks since the beginning of the year.

Jambalaya, owned by Kingfield Farms, won the Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Turf Handicap on Feb. 24 to become the first Canadian-bred, -owned, and -based horse to win a Grade 1 at the prestigious Gulfstream winter meeting since Mt. Sassafras won the Gulfstream Park Handicap 10 years ago.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Reigning champion mare Fleet Indian, last seen being vanned off the track after injuring herself in the 2006 Breeders' Cup Distaff, has recovered from her injury and is now in foal to Storm Cat.

Owner Paul Saylor initially had planned to sell the 6-year-old Indian Charlie mare at Keeneland's November sale, with the Keeneland January sale as a back-up plan, but Fleet Indian's injury kept her out of both auctions. Her next appointment now is the 2007 Keeneland November sale, Taylor Made Farm executive Mark Taylor said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The newly created Eclipse Award for female sprinters has given trainer Don Chatlos a lofty goal this year for his star filly Shaggy Mane.

Along with the partnership that owns the 4-year-old California-bred - IEAH Stables, Jim Kwong, and Sanford Robbins - Chatlos is convinced that Shaggy Mane can compete for the new Eclipse Award, which will be awarded for the first time after the 2007 season.

Chatlos plans to give Shaggy Mane every chance to earn that coveted prize.

OCALA, Fla. - Barry and Shari Eisaman operate their sales business as Eisaman Equine, and they have chosen to concentrate their offerings of 2-year-olds in training at the March select auction of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company.

Although there are two other select juvenile sales in February, Eisaman Equine begins its sales season with the OBS March auction.