LAS VEGAS - If Ashado was the same filly who won last year's Breeders' Cup Distaff, then the other fillies and mares would be running for second this year. Ashado has looked like her old brilliant self on occasion this season, but there have been some real clunkers as well, giving hope to some other horses in what appears to be a wide-open Distaff.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Frank Stronach's Adena Springs Farms, which earlier this year announced it would stand 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper for $200,000, has announced its other stallions' 2006 fees.

First-year stallion Ghostzapper has the Adena organization's highest stud fee, followed by Awesome Again, Ghostzapper's sire, and El Prado,

Robert Scanlon, one of the most prominent and successful juvenile consignors, died of cancer on Thursday at age 57.

The Scanlon Training Center in Williston, Fla., prepared such standouts as Afleet Alex, winner of the 2005 Preakness and Belmont; Unbridled's Song, winner of the 1995 Breeders' Cup Juvenile; Artax, winner of the Breeders' Cup Sprint and champion sprinter in 1999; and Grade 1 winners Songandaprayer and Lion Heart.

The Brunetti family has been a presence in the Ocala, Fla., Thoroughbred market since 1969, when Joe Brunetti, father of John, bought and developed 200 acres abutting Ocala Stud. Few farms around there remain from that era. Nowadays, only a down-sized Ocala Stud and John Brunetti's Red Oak Farm remain.

John J. Brunetti, known to many as Brunetti, is, as most are aware, the owner of Hialeah Park. Brunetti is also a major league commercial and residential developer and one might have expected him to develop Ocala's Red Oak Farm, sitting as it does in an evolving urban zone.

Northview Stallion Station, Maryland's largest Thoroughbred breeding operation and home to the outstanding sire Not for Love, has never been the kind of place to rest on its laurels.

Evidence of that fact came during this past week, with the announcement that two new stallions - Dance With Ravens and Deputy Storm, both proven runners from outstanding families - have been added to the Northview roster for 2006.

Devil's Orchid first made local headlines 14 years ago when the Canadian-owned daughter of Devil's Bag won two graded stakes races in two months in California and New York and landed on the pages of trade magazines such as Canadian Thoroughbred.

The 18-year-old Devil's Orchid is in the news again as the dam of Unification, Darley Stud's $750,000 purchase who won the Grade 3 Grey Breeders' Cup Stakes at Woodbine on Oct. 10.

Through the completion of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale on Oct. 5, the average price for New York-bred yearlings continues to increase at a healthy pace.

Thus far in 2005, 376 yearlings have brought $14,821,300 at auction, for an average price of $39,418 that is 12 percent higher than the comparable figures for 2004, when 405 yearlings grossed $14,259,300 for an average of $35,208.

At the three-day Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale, 74 New York-bred yearlings grossed $1,086,000 for an average of $14,675.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's fall mixed sale enjoyed strong returns early in its five-day run, but by Friday the sales figures had returned to earth. Despite lower numbers at the two open sessions, the auction did not disappoint Tom Ventura, general manager and sales director of OBS.

The Ocala, Fla., auction's consignor-preferred sessions, expanded this year from two to three, performed especially well, Ventura said.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - With a spirited victory in the Champagne Stakes this weekend, First Samurai confirmed his ranking as the leading juvenile colt in the country.

That is some consolation to his breeder, John Gunther, who identifies First Samurai, a powerful son of Giant's Causeway, as "one of the ones that got away."

"But I have to be happy being the breeder," he said.

With an operation based in Kentucky at his Glennwood Farm, Gunther breeds and races his own horses, but also sells a portion of his annual foal crop.

ARCADIA, Calif. - By default, Direct Connect has emerged as a top candidate for the $125,000 California Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 6.

With Norfolk Stakes winner Brother Derek bound for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park on Oct. 29 and stakes winner Bro Lo sidelined, Direct Connect has risen to the top of the list of probables for the Cal Cup Juvenile.

Direct Connect has won 2 of 3 starts and $121,860 for owner Omar Aldabbagh. The wins came in two stakes - the Barretts Juvenile at Fairplex Park on Sept. 18 and the Cavonnier Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 9.