If plans go as scheduled, the artificial surface Polytrack will be installed at Jeffrey Tucker's Stone Bridge Farm near Schuylerville, N.Y., later this year. Stone Bridge Farm is located about 20 miles east of Saratoga Race Course.

Tucker said he hopes to have a six- or seven-furlong training oval with the Polytrack surface completed after Keeneland Race Track and Woodbine Race Track convert to it later this summer.

Polytrack is a reflection of Tucker's insistence on the safety and protection of horses.

Former Horse of the Year Favorite Trick and Grade 1 winner Saratoga Six were among six Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse stallions killed Tuesday night in a barn fire at the JEH Stallion Station in Hondo, N.M., according to a farm employee and Paul Jones, a shareholder in Favorite Trick.

Favorite Trick was 11. Saratoga Six was 24.

High Pay won an optional claiming allowance at about 1 1/16 miles on the turf on May 28, and like many runners by High Yield, the 3-year-old gelding was right at home on turf. High Yield won three stakes in his career - all on dirt - including the Hopeful at 2 and Blue Grass and Fountain of Youth at 3, but his sire line (High Yield-Storm Cat-Storm Bird-Northern Dancer) is a strong indicator for turf, and most sons of Storm Cat have proven to be viable turf sires.

LAS VEGAS - At a Belmont Stakes Day seminar last year with Daily Racing Form's Mike Watchmaker and Dave Litfin, we all pretty much agreed it was a done deal: Afleet Alex was by far the class of the field; underachiever Andromeda's Hero was finally getting a distance he craved; and it was the "all" button for third.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The stallions Elusive Quality and Quiet American, who stood this year at Gainsborough Farm near Versailles, Ky., will relocate to Darley at Jonabell in time for the 2007 breeding season.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When colts are being assessed as stallion prospects, no racing quality is more highly regarded than being a tip-top miler. And the race of choice for conferring that distinction in the U.S. is the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - If you live in New York or New Jersey, West Point Thoroughbreds and New York's Thoroughbred industry have got your horse right here. West Point, the public syndication group, and the New York Post newspaper are holding a drawing for a 10 percent share in its 2-year-old New York-bred colt Noosa Cat.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Dan McFarlane was both proud and perturbed after Silly Little Mama won the $68,875 Manhattan Beach Stakes at Hollywood Park last Monday.

The victory was the fourth stakes win in Silly Little Mama's brief career and her most lucrative, worth $41,325 to owner Stacy Campo. It should have been worth more. Because Silly Little Mama was not a registered California-bred with the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, Campo missed out on approximately $11,700 in bonuses for owning a statebred that wins an overnight stakes against open company.

Tim Ritchey, trainer of last year's Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner, Afleet Alex, has accepted the assignment to judge the Maryland Horse Breeders Association Yearling Show, scheduled for Sunday, June 25. The event, which has attracted more than 100 entries, will be held in the horse show ring at Timonium Fairgrounds and begins at 10 a.m. Admission is free.

The average price for New York-breds at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic preferred 2-year-olds in training sale, held May 22-23 at Timonium, Md., declined slightly from the corresponding sale in 2005.

A total of 58 horses grossed $2,060,500 for an average of $35,526, a drop of 12.4 percent from 2005, when the gross for 55 sold was $2,230,000 for an average of $40,545,

The total amount spent for New York-bred 2-year-olds in 2006, however, continues to run substantially ahead of the pace set in 2005 for six major auctions.