Two colts and a filly had the fastest eighth-mile times, breezing in 10 seconds, at Saturday's under-tack show for Hip Nos. 269-535 in the upcoming Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's juvenile sale in Florida.
The Saturday preview followed a Friday preview for Hip Nos. 1-268. Both were held at the sales company's facility in Ocala, Fla.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - A pair of fillies by Cherokee Run and Songandaprayer proved fastest at the first under-tack preview for the March 21-22 select juvenile sale at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. in Ocala, Fla.
Hip No. 28, a daughter of Songandaprayer and the Grade 3-placed Froze, and Hip No. 37, a Cherokee Run filly out of Glory Way, each worked an eighth-mile in 10 seconds to top the workout tab.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Last weekend's racing produced the kind of major-league results that have made Pulpit one of the most sought-after young stallions in America. Claiborne's bay son of A.P. Indy sired the winners of two important stakes, as well as the colt who came home first in the Fountain of Youth.
Wend won the Grade 3 Honey Fox Handicap at Gulfstream, Laity won the Battaglia Memorial at Turfway, and Corinthian finished first in the Fountain of Youth but was disqualified to third for interference in the stretch.
A month after a juvenile sale in Florida sold a horse for an astonishing $16 million, the officials behind the Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in training do not expect to duplicate that feat on Tuesday, when the sale is held on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona.
Demi O'Byrne, who represents the Coolmore partnership of Ireland which bought the $16 million 2-year-old, and John Ferguson, who represents Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, the underbidder on the record-setting colt, are expected to be present at the Barretts sale.
Six stakes, highlighted by a pair of $100,000 races, one for 3-year-old males and one for 3-year-old fillies, will be run on March 20 during the first day of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's sales and racing festival in Ocala, Fla.
The $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes for 3-year-old males and the $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes for 3-year-old fillies will be contested at 1 1/16 miles. Both are restricted to horses that went through an OBS sale.
Legendary Maryland trainer King Leatherbury has also been quite successful in the breeding business - reaching a high mark in the 1980's and 90's with the Maryland-bred champions Thirty Eight Go Go and Notches Trace, daughters of his foundation mare Dronette.
Proving that his homebreds, as well as his training skills, are still a force to be reckoned with, the 72-year-old Leatherbury sent out the gelding Ah Day to a longshot victory in Laurel Park's Horatius Stakes on March 4.
Topped by Grade 1 winners Commentator and Acey Deucey, 61 horses have been nominated for New York-bred titles in eight divisions for 2005.
Voting for the champions is being conducted by New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., and the winners will be honored at the annual banquet on April 24 at the Desmond Hotel in Albany, N.Y.
Commentator, bred by Michael Martinez, stands atop the older male division by virtue of his win in the Whitney Handicap over the eventual Horse of the Year, Saint Liam.
Coronado's Quest, who was sold in 2003 to the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders Association's Shizunai Stallion Station, has died there, apparently of a heart attack.
A spokesman at the Shizunai Stallion Station confirmed that Coronado's Quest, an 11-year-old Forty Niner horse, died Wednesday.
Coronado's Quest had stood at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky since leaving the racetrack in 1998. Claiborne later sold him to the Japanese concern.
LAS VEGAS - The good news is that Corinthian is the real deal. The bad news is that it may not be enough to win the Kentucky Derby because of his mental problems. Of course, such problems did not prevent Fusaichi Pegasus from winning the Derby, but it surely is a concern.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - After Fasig-Tipton Calder's world-record-breaking performance, buyers and sellers of juveniles now turn their attention to the March 14 Barretts sale in Pomona, Calif.
The Barretts juveniles took to the track for their first public under-tack preview on Sunday, and they made it clear that the Barretts catalog has some fast horses in it.
