The Keeneland Association, which just concluded its record-breaking September yearling sale on Monday, announced Tuesday that it will catalog 4,477 lots to its next auction, the November breeding stock sale.
That total includes three stallion shares, 2,349 broodmares, 1,870 weanlings, and 255 horses of other ages. The auction is set for Nov. 7-18, with sessions starting daily at 10 a.m. Catalogs will be available online on Oct. 3.
Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Darley organization announced this week that it has donated a season to its stallion Elusive Quality, sire of the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, Smarty Jones, to the American Red Cross Katrina Relief fund.
LAS VEGAS - A stakes winner at 2, 3, and 4, Beldame was one of the 20th century's early champion fillies. Racing from 1903 to 1905, often against males, she won the Suburban and Carter handicaps and the Saratoga Cup and was voted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1956.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The two-week Keeneland September yearling sale was a record-breaker even before it started, setting a mark for sheer volume at such an auction, with 5,110 yearlings cataloged this season. The world's largest Thoroughbred auction ended as a record-breaker as well. It sold 3,545 yearlings for a $384,349,900 gross, both world records, and also established a sale record of $9.7 million for a Storm Cat colt, breaking a record set at last year's Keeneland September sale, when a Storm Cat-Welcome Surprise colt sold for $8 million.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Keeneland September yearling sale, which cataloged a record 5,110 yearlings in 2005, was winding down Saturday as it approached its Sept. 26 conclusion. But it continued to show strong gains at the late sessions.
On Saturday, an $85,000 Notebook filly was the top lot at a session that saw a 24-percent increase in gross, a seven-percent rise in average, and a 25-percent increase in median. The session sold 249 yearlings for $3,703,600, yielding a $14,874 average and a $10,000 median.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, apparently stung by a lack of support for his Darley organization's sires by Coolmore, will sharply reduce buying auction stock by Coolmore stallions, according to a story Friday in the English newspaper Racing Post.
A change in Maktoum's buying policy had been widely rumored since the select yearling sale last month in Deauville, France. But Maktoum's bloodstock adviser, John Ferguson, denied at the Keeneland September yearling sale that Maktoum would avoid bidding on Coolmore-sired horses, calling Coolmore "friends and competitors."
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Folklore left little doubt about who was in charge of the Grade 1 Matron Stakes at Belmont last weekend. Cruising home by 14 lengths, Folklore, a daughter of freshman sire Tiznow, proved herself one of the leading candidates for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies next month and among the prime contenders for the Eclipse Award as leading 2-year-old filly.
Several yearlings from New York families commanded six-figure prices during the first several days of the Keeneland September yearling sale, the two-week marathon from Sept. 12 through Sept. 26.
One of the top prices among those yearlings was $190,000 for a half-brother to statebred Private Emblem, winner of the Grade 2 Arkansas Derby and an earner of nearly $800,000.
Consigned by Denali Stud, the son of Distant View was purchased by James C. Robertson.
The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association, in conjunction with the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co., will host the annual Ocala homecoming week starting Oct. 7. The owners' and breeders' group events are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The sales company takes over with its annual fall mixed sale from Oct. 10 through Oct. 14.
It is somewhat fitting that a California-bred, 1970's star Crystal Water, helped to assure that Rex Dahlberg would become a racing man through most of his adult life.
One of Dahlberg's favorite memories is the finish of the 1977 Santa Anita Handicap, when Crystal Water fought through the stretch to edge pacesetter Faliraki.
"When I watched Crystal Water come down the lane, I was hooked," Rex said.
