LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Smokey Stover sped to victory at Santa Anita in the Sunshine Millions Sprint, his success was notable for the quality of his defeated opponents, which included major stakes winners Proud Tower Too and Bordonaro.
And in running the six furlongs in 1:08.03, Smokey Stover earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 111, the highest figure of the Sunshine Millions series and the highest number by a sprinter so far in 2007. While that
Four New York-breds were weighted on the Experimental Free Handicap for 2006, topped by the filly Chestoria and the colt Admiral Bird.
Both youngsters were bred and foaled at Dr. Doug Koch's Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, N.Y.
In order to be considered for ranking, a
2-year-old must finish fourth or better in a graded or unrestricted event with an added value of at least $75,000. The handicap assigns weights for a hypothetical
2-year-old race at 1 1/16 miles on dirt.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - John A. Bell III, who died on Wednesday at age 88, is probably best known as the owner of 1987 juvenile filly champion Epitome and Jonabell Farm, which has stood such champions as Housebuster, Holy Bull, and Affirmed.
Over the past 10 years, Annapolis-based commercial real estate developer Bill Beatson has astutely gathered a handful of broodmares, the majority while collaborating with David and JoAnn Hayden of Dark Hollow Farm. Breeding for the sales
market, Beatson has experienced a number of commercial successes.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A decision on the next race for Sunshine Millions Classic winner McCann's Mojave will be made in coming days after owner-breeder Mike Willman travels to northern California to see the horse, Willman said Thursday.
McCann's Mojave pulled a major upset in the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic for California-breds and Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 27, the most lucrative victory of his career.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Lava Man, who in 2006 became the first horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup, and Pacific Classic in the same year, has been named California-bred champion older horse for 2006.
Now 6, he was honored as the year's outstanding turf horse and is an overwhelming favorite to be named California-bred horse of the year when the award is announced at the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association's annual awards ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena on Feb. 5.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - New documents filed by attorneys for Stonestreet Stable owner Jess Jackson allege that a French bloodstock agent tried to sell him another farm at an inflated price before participating in Jackson's $17.5 million purchase of Buckram Oak Farm in Lexington. Jackson already has sued the agent, Frederic Sauque, and others over the Buckram Oak deal, claiming Sauque and Jackson's own advisors conspired to defraud him by inflating Buckram Oak's price in order to collect about $500,000 in commissions.
With her election as champion older female for 2006, Fleet Indian becomes the third New York-bred to win an Eclipse Award.
She joins Saratoga Dew (1992) and Funny Cide (2003) as national champions in the voting process instituted in 1971.
Fleet Indian won her first six races during the campaign, which ended with an injury in the Breeders' Cup Distaff that resulted in her being vanned off the Churchill Downs track.
Maryland's racing industry has asked the state legislature for a $30omillion enhancement to purses and breeders funds in each of the next two years, to soften the blow from competitive forces in surrounding states.
John B. Franzone, the Maryland Racing Commission member who serves as chairman of the commission's task force, known as KIM (Keep It In Maryland), made the request last Thursday at a briefing before the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Thomas M. Middleton (D-Charles County).
Six years ago Roy Lerman moved his Thoroughbred operation from Middleburg, Va., to Ocala, Fla. The site he selected was Brookside Farm, the property of the late Allen Paulson. This property and its facilities have had frequent changes of ownership over the decades, and earlier this year it had another. Lambholm South, as Lerman named his Ocala operation, relocated a few furlongs west to the former Hobeau Farm.
The 1,700-acre Hobeau Farm was owned by Jack Dreyfus Jr. Hobeau Farm had been an Ocala fixture for nearly a half-century.