Walter Downey's Christmas went on for two days this year.

In fact, Downey, a longtime Pennsylvania owner-breeder and retired investment manager who lives in Boston, is still celebrating the victory by his homebred Fabulous Strike in the $75,000 Christmas Stakes on Dec. 26 at Mountaineer Park.

Fabulous Strike did not simply win that six-furlong event. The Pennsylvania-bred obliterated his competition, winning by 11 lengths over a muddy, sticky track, and recording a spectacular Beyer Speed Figure of 119, the best by a 3-year-old in 2006.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Cindago, a promising but lightly raced colt who battled soundness problems, has been retired and will stand at stud at Legacy Ranch in Clements, Calif., in 2007, trainer John Sadler said Friday.

Speaking on behalf of owner Lee and Susan Searing's CRK Stables, Sadler said Cindago will stand for a private fee in 2007.

Cindago, 3, won 2 of 3 starts and $98,180. In his lone start this year, he won the one-mile El Cajon Stakes at Del Mar in September, beating the stakes winners Brother Derek, Bob and John, and Da Stoops.

Highlighted by Grade 1 victories on the racetrack, the New York breeding program enjoyed considerable success in 2006. The outlook for the coming years looks even brighter, according to Martin Kinsella, executive director of the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Alex Brown launched a website for Fair Hill trainer Tim Woolley two years ago, he saw the project as a way to distribute stable information to clients and advertise Woolley's business. But the site, www.timwoolleyracing.com, became something altogether different on May 21.

The people of Georgia are in the main politically and socially conservative. There is no overwhelming consensus, though, when it comes to the pros and cons of Thoroughbred racing, which along with parimutuel wagering is not allowed in the state. There are many scattered throughout the urban cities and farm lands of Georgia who would welcome Thoroughbred racing if given the opportunity.

Greeley's Galaxy, winner of the Grade 2 Illinois Derby in 2005, has been retired to stud at Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, N.Y. A 4-year-old son of Mr. Greeley, he will stand the 2007 season for a fee of $7,500, live foal, as the property of a partnership.

Greeley's Galaxy was one of the hottest

3-year-olds on the classics trail in 2005 following his 9 1/2-length score in the Illinois Derby, which was his third consecutive victory. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 106 for the win, which came against the likes of multiple graded stakes winner Magna Graduate.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - With the victory of Romance Is Diane in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet, the filly's sire, In Excess, has now gotten a trio of winners at racing's highest level. His others in this category are Musical Chimes, winner of the Grade 1 Mabee Handicap and the Group 1 French 1000 Guineas, and the important young sire Indian Charlie, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

The relocation of Deputy Commander from Kentucky to Ballena Vista Farm for the 2007 breeding season came about as the result of an offhand conversation between Donald Cohn, the owner of Ballena Vista, and Brereton Jones, the former governor of Kentucky who stood Deputy Commander at his Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky.

"They weren't actually trying to sell the stallion," Cohn recalled earlier this month, but Deputy Commander "wasn't being marketed by Jones."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The death of Dr. R. Smiser West on Wednesday ended one of Thoroughbred breeding's longest partnerships and friendships. West, who was 97, was a close friend of Hall of Fame trainer Mack Miller for six decades.

West and Miller, together with their wives Kathryn and Martha, bred champions De La Rose and Chilukki, as well as Grade 1 winners Lite Light and Tweedside, among other outstanding runners.

The numbers are staggering.

In 2007, owner Benjamin Warren will have 115 2-year-olds on the track in Southern California. He will have 115 yearlings, 63 3-year-olds, 130 broodmares.

Warren breeds his mares to the 25 stallions who stand at his farm in Hemet, Calif. He owns 19 of those stallions. The rest are held by outside clients.

Warren does not have a racing stable - he has an empire.

What started out as a few claiming horses earlier this decade has grown astonishingly fast.