Fri, 11/25/2005 - 00:00

Millennium Wind to Highcliff

Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
New York-bred filly J'ray wins the Selima at Laurel, making her 3 for 3 on the turf.

Grade 1 winner Millennium Wind will stand the 2006 breeding season at Dr. Lynwood and Suzie O'Cain's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, N.Y. He moves to Highcliff Farm from Ro Parra's Millennium Farms in Kentucky.

The fee for the son of Cryptoclearance, whose first foals are 2-year-olds of 2006, is $5,000, live foal.

Millennium Wind originally was purchased for $1.2 million by Dave and Jill Heerensperger from Parrish Hill Farm, Lane's End agent, at the 1999 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Fri, 11/25/2005 - 00:00

Ministers Wild Cat heads to Tommy Town

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Ministers Wild Cat, a two-time stakes winner, was scheduled to arrive this weekend at Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in Santa Ynez, where he will stand at stud in 2006.

Ministers Wild Cat finished last of 14 in the Grade 1 De Francis Dash at Laurel last weekend, the final start of his career.

Ministers Wild Cat, 5, won 6 of 22 starts and $368,729, winning the 2003 Golden State Mile at Golden Gate Fields and the 2005 Jacques Cartier Stakes at Woodbine. He was trained in his career by Neil Drysdale and Mark Casse.

Fri, 11/25/2005 - 00:00

Tis the season for stallion shows

The annual Florida Farm Managers Inc.'s Parade of Stallions and Equine Trade Show takes place this Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m., at the Ocala Equestrian Complex, which is located adjacent to the north end of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company. Thirty-one stallions are on the program, although that number is subject to change, according to the farm managers' executive director, Debbe Wojack

"We try to accommodate everyone who wants to show their stallions at this exhibition," she said. "We'll take entries right up to the last second."

Fri, 11/25/2005 - 00:00

Adorned traces to matriarch

The legendary Windfields Farm has a much different role in racing and breeding in the 21st century than it did decades ago, but E.P. Taylor's prized Thoroughbred bloodlines still run strong.

Adorned, who represents seven generations of Windfields breeding, tracing back to Taylor's 1932 mare Nandi, is the morning-line favorite to be named the outstanding broodmare at the 31st Sovereign Awards on Dec. 16.

The broodmare award is presented to a mare who has had a Canadian-bred stakes winner in the current year as well as a previous year.

Thu, 11/24/2005 - 00:00

High Fly retired from races

High Fly, winner of this year's Florida Derby, has been retired because of a condylar fracture, said Charlotte Weber of Live Oak Plantation, High Fly's owner.

A 3-year-old Atticus colt, is at Live Oak, Weber said, awaiting plans to be confirmed for his stud career.

"He had surgery in New Jersey, and he's doing fine," Weber said Thursday. "While I'm sure he'd come back sound, I'm not sure he'd come back to run at the Grade 1 level again."

Wed, 11/23/2005 - 00:00

Pleasant Home, BC Distaff winner, retired

Pleasant Home, winner of this year's Breeders' Cup Distaff, has been retired from racing and will be bred in 2006 to Awesome Again, Claiborne Farm staff said Wednesday.

A 4-year-old Seeking the Gold filly, Pleasant Home raced for her breeder, Ogden Mills Phipps, who bred her from the Pleasant Colony mare Our Country Place. Pleasant Home won 5 of her 12 starts in 2004 and 2005.

Wed, 11/23/2005 - 00:00

Remsen an indicator of quality at 3

Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Bluegrass Cat, here winning the Nashua, has the toniest pedigree of the Remsen field.

LAS VEGAS - The Remsen Stakes has long been a barometer of class for late-maturing 2-year-olds who blossomed at age 3, and this year's renewal, which will be run on Saturday, features juveniles who should be heard from next year at 3. Those who have shown the ability to win at the nine-furlong distance of the Remsen at 2 often have success at 3.

Tue, 11/22/2005 - 00:00

Record Keeneland catalog

The Keeneland Association's January mixed sale catalog will comprise a record 2,508 horses in 2006. The auction will run from Jan. 9-15 in Lexington, Ky., at Keeneland's sale pavilion.

The 2006 catalog will offer 435 more horses than the previous record of 2,073 horses at the 2005 sale. As a result, the 2006 auction will be one day longer than this year's edition.

The 2006 catalog consists of 1,290 broodmares and broodmare prospects, 924 yearlings, 268 racing-age horses, and 22 stallions or stallion prospects. Four stallion shares also will be up for bid at the sale.

Tue, 11/22/2005 - 00:00

Forest Camp fee now $25K

Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky., has raised the stud fee for Forest Camp from $15,000 to $25,000.

An 8-year-old Deputy Minister horse, Forest Camp is the sire of recent Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue Stakes winner Your Tent or Mine, who has won both his starts this year at 2. Forest Camp has sired 13 winners this season from his first crop of racing age.

Sat, 11/19/2005 - 00:00

2-year-old filly Diamond Omi dies

The 2-year-old filly Diamond Omi, winner of the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita in October, died of complications of pneumonia on Thursday night, trainer Bob Baffert said on Friday.

Owned by Don Dizney, finished 10th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park on Oct. 29, her final start. She won 2 of 5 starts and $160,740.

Diamond Omi was at the Chino Valley Equine Clinic in Southern California at the time of her death.