With a possible Kentucky Derby candidate coming out of the Florida Derby and a one-two sweep in the Excelsior Handicap at Aqueduct, New York-bred runners made some noise last weekend.

Sharp Humor nearly upset favored Barbaro in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, staying on determinedly in the late stages after setting all the pace in the 1 1/8-mile race and losing by only a half-length.

Bred by Patricia S. Purdy and owned by Purdadel Stable, Sharp Humor entered the Florida Derby off a victory in the Grade 2 Swale Stakes on March 4.

Mare reproductive loss syndrome is in the north Florida neighborhood, according to John Foltz of the University of Florida's Forest Insect Program, but the incidence of the syndrome is small and thus far limited. Only a few horse-related cases have been reported in the area.

Mare reproductive loss syndrome, known as MRLS, devastated the Kentucky breeding program in 2001 and 2002.

Linda Newton experienced a horse owner's ultimate highs and lows watching her 3-year-old homebred filly Dress Grey power to an 8 1/2-length victory in Laurel Park's Smart Halo Stakes on April 1, and then leave the track in a horse ambulance.

Fortunately, the prognosis is excellent for Dress Grey, who is back home at Newton's Roundaway Farm near Marshall, Va., recuperating from a fracture to her left medial sesamoid.

Tensas Yucatan, a Louisiana-bred daughter of Ide, topped the Fasig-Tipton Texas sale of 2-year-olds in training at Lone Star Park on Tuesday when she sold for $270,000 to James C. Spence.

Twin Oaks Training Center consigned the filly, who worked the sale's fastest eighth-mile when she went in 10 seconds during an under-tack show Sunday.

Tensas Yucatan is out of the Dehere mare Xylophone.

LAS VEGAS - Three major Kentucky Derby preps - the Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby, and Illinois Derby - will be run this weekend, and the nine-furlong distance of these races should help clarify the Derby picture.

Santa Anita Derby

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Victory in the $6 million Dubai World Cup has made Electrocutionist among the highest-profile horses in the world, and he wasn't unknown before his success on Saturday. A winner in eight of his 10 starts, Electrocutionist is the latest star for former leading freshman sire Red Ransom.

With a City, a Kentucky Derby candidate who lit up the tote board with his come-from-behind victory in the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes at Turfway last week, is, according to his breeder, a "mistake in judgment" who made good.

"He was always a promising colt," said Carl Bowling, owner of Straightaway Farm in Ocala, Fla., who bred With a City and sold him at last year's Ocala Breeders' Sales March sale of 2-year-olds in training for $27,000. "The mistake I made was sending him along with my other sales horses to Texas for sales prep and training."

ARCADIA, Calif. - The moments surrounding Proud Tower Too's win in the $2 million Golden Shaheen at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai on March 25 remain a bit fuzzy for trainer Sal Gonzalez.

"I don't remember the race, but I remember him hitting the wire," he said. "I couldn't see very well where we were sitting, on the fourth floor."

The ebullient Gonzalez, who is originally from Mexico, wore an ear-to-ear grin after the race. He stood at the colt's side in the track's tiny winner's circle, shouting, "All right Dubai. Viva Mexico!"

Lawrence Goichman favors turf horses, and he has bred a very good one in J'ray, a 3-year-old New York-bred filly who is unbeaten in four starts on the surface.

A daughter of Distant View out of the mare Bubbling Heights, by Darshaan, J'Ray has won the Jessamine Stakes, Selima Stakes, and Tropical Park Oaks in succession, and is being readied for the Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland on April 23 by trainer Todd Pletcher.

Woodbine will celebrate its 50th anniversary this season, but there is another important group in Canadian racing that is also in a milestone year.

One hundred years ago, on May 29, 1906, the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society was incorporated under the Animal Pedigree Act.

The mandate read that the society was formed to "keep a record of pedigrees of Thoroughbred horses and to collect, publish, and preserve reliable and valuable data concerning the breed."