The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's fall mixed sale began its open sessions Thursday with declines after enjoying an upswing in its consignor-preferred days earlier in the week.
The first open session sold 149 lots for $696,800, down from last year's equivalent session, when 129 horses brought $801,400. The average price also fell, from $6,212 to $4,677.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mt. Livermore - sire of champions Orientate, Housebuster, and Eliza - has been pensioned due to declining fertility, Gainesway Farm in Lexington announced Wednesday. The Blushing Groom stallion is 24.
Bred by Hilary Boone Jr., Mt. Livermore blossomed into a talented sprinter for owner L.R. French Jr. Highlighting his race record were victories in the Grade 2 Fall Highweight and Carter handicaps, the Grade 3 Boojum, and the ungraded Jaipur in 1985. He earned $610,644 in a career that spanned his 3- and 4-year-old seasons and featured 11 wins from 30 races.
The $215,000 broodmare Enduring Legacy sold Tuesday to top the first two days of selling at Florida's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's fall mixed auction. Y-Lo Racing Stables purchased the 5-year-old Saint Ballado mare, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Star over the Bay and one of two lots to bring $200,000 or more in the first two of four days' selling. The other was a $200,000 weanling filly by Yes It's True that sold Monday.
LAS VEGAS - Bago will be cross-entered in the Breeders' Cup Turf and Breeders' Cup Classic, but his connections may now be leaning toward the Turf after Hurricane Run, winner of the Arc and the best 3-year-old in Europe, was declared from the Turf because of a cough.
Bago, 4, was an undefeated champion at 2 and a champion at 3 in France. He was briefly considered for the Classic last year after his victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but the plan all along was to bring Bago over to the U.S. as a stronger, mature 4-year-old.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Storm Cat's fee will remain $500,000 for the 2006 breeding season, an Overbrook Farm adviser, Ric Waldman, said Monday, and the highly successful sire's book already is essentially sold out.
Storm Cat, the world's most fashionable commercial stallion, proved his popularity most recently at the Keeneland September juvenile sale. There, his 26 progeny averaged $1,766,730 in the auction ring, headed by the sale-topping $9.7 million colt out of Tranquility Lake purchased by Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum.
POMONA, Calif. - The results of Tuesday's California October yearling sale drew a mixed reaction from some consignors but exceeded the expectations of organizers.
The event marked the merger of the defunct Del Mar yearling sale with the Barretts October yearling sale. The sale, primarily consisting of California-breds, saw 207 horses sell for $5,239,400, for an average price of $25,311 and a median of $17,000. There were 76 horses bought back and 40 withdrawn.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - By virtue of successive victories in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic and last weekend's Jockey Club Gold Cup, Borrego has thrust himself into the thick of consideration for the Breeders' Cup Classic. A victory there would mean not just an Eclipse Award as leading older horse but possibly recognition as Horse of the Year.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Brookdale Farm owner Fred Seitz has made a name for himself in the horse business through his stallion farm and breeding operation. But from the time he first discovered his love of horses as a child in Monmouth County, N.J., what he really wanted to do was train.
The New York Breeders Sales Company's second fall mixed sale will be conducted at Saratoga Race Course on Oct. 16 at 10 a.m.
At last year's inaugural sale, the first conducted by the young company, gross receipts were $1,230,000.
The sale grounds are located at the Nelson Avenue stable gate at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
The auction ring will be near the backstretch betting windows, which are adjacent to the main track gap at the Nelson Avenue entrance.
