LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro may soon have the cast on his right hind leg removed, three months after he broke the leg and underwent extensive surgery to repair it.

Barbaro's surgeon, Dr. Dean Richardson, said Monday in a statement that the colt's right leg has healed to a point where the cast might soon be unnecessary.

Veterinarians at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center equine hospital in Kennett Square, Pa., changed Barbaro's right hind cast on Sunday after what Richardson termed "a small crack" appeared in it.

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. auction ended its five-day run Friday with impressive gains.

Topped by a $300,000 Smart Strike-Cent Nouvelles colt that agent Ken McPeek purchased from Martin Stables South, the Florida sale's one select session on Aug. 21 rang up a sale-record gross of $10,427,500 for 176 yearlings. That yielded a record average of $59,247, and the select session's $45,000 median equaled its previous record.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company ended its five-day run Friday with impressive gains.

Topped by a $300,000 Smart Strike-Cent Nouvelles colt that agent Ken McPeek purchased from Martin Stables South, the one select session on Aug. 21 rang up a sale-record gross of $10,427,500 for 176 yearlings. That yielded a record average of $59,247, and the select session's $45,000 median equaled its previous record.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - To an amazing degree, a horse's success at stud depends on how much and how consistently breeders and owners believe in him. A syndicate has to have a vision and a long-term plan, even as it adjusts to immediate market conditions. And those in the syndicate must not panic. In other hands, Arch might have been written off and sold to a stud in China, Tasmania, or perhaps the Antarctic.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s August yearling sale neared its conclusion Friday afternoon after a five-day run that saw impressive financial gains.

Ferocious Won's attempt to sweep the Big Apple Triple and collect a $250,000 bonus fell short at Saratoga Race Course last week, as he failed to hit the board in the Albany Handicap.

Indian Hawke upset the $150,000 Albany, at 1 1/8 miles, leading all the way to return $41.60.

Ferocious Won came to the Albany after winning the first two legs of the series for 3-year-old New York-breds, the seven-furlong Mike Lee at Belmont and 1 1/16-mile New York Derby at Finger Lakes.

Sales companies' selection teams can only go by what they see when it comes to anticipating auction results. Tom Ventura and his Ocala Breeders' Sales selection team liked what they saw months ago in scouting the yearlings nominated to this past week's selected yearling sales session.

They liked the individuals and they liked the overall pedigrees.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Uncle Denny, a stakes winner at 2 and 3, has been retired and will enter stud at Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in Santa Ynez, Calif., next year, farm officials announced recently.

Uncle Denny, 4, won 4 of 10 starts and $288,981 in a career that began in 2004 and ended earlier this year. He won the California Breeders' Champion Stakes for statebreds at Santa Anita in 2004 and the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows in 2005. In his final start, Uncle Denny finished third in the Crystal Water Handicap for statebreds on turf at Santa Anita in March.

Nearly a year has passed since Country Life Farm owners Josh and Mike Pons announced Citidancer's retirement from active stud duty. But the 19-year-old son of Dixieland Band is far from gone or forgotten. In fact, he is having one of the biggest years of his stud career, with promise of more to come.

Citidancer, a chestnut who has been one of Maryland's most prominent sires since his first crop debuted in 1994, is represented by five stakes winners in 2006, topped by his sons Park Avenue Ball and Cherokee's Boy.

As its annual August yearling sale entered its next-to-last day on Thursday, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company was celebrating the week's strong prices, which have translated into financial gains for the Florida auction house.

Thursday's session leader as of 5:30 p.m. was a $60,000 Red Bullet filly that agent Barry Berkelhammer purchased for Stirling Stables. Nancy Bauman, agent, consigned the filly, a daughter of Storm Flag.