Lambholm South Farm's Lido Palace and Adena Springs South's Macho Uno head a strong contingent of stallions whose first crops are selling at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's fall mixed sale. The OBS auction begins on Monday, Oct. 10, and continues through Friday, Oct. 14. The OBS has cataloged 1,519 lots for this sale and 624 of them are weanlings.
Tuesday's California October yearling sale at Barretts in Pomona will offer a keen perspective on the health of the California bloodstock market.
The first-time sale is something of an all-star event, a merger of the state's two leading sales - the defunct Del Mar yearling sale, which had been conducted annually in August by the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, and the Barretts October yearling sale, which attracted a second tier of yearlings behind Del Mar.
A Kentucky-bred colt by Kingmambo was the $2.16 million sale-topper of the three-day Goffs Orby yearling sale in Kill, County Kildare, Ireland.
According to the sales company, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum purchased the colt, the first foal out of the Sadler's Wells mare Karsavina, who finished third in the Group 1 Irish Oaks in 2001. Karsavina is also a half-sister to Urbane, a Grade 1-winning mare who raced in the U.S.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Afleet Alex, winner of this year's Preakness and Belmont, may soon have a destination for his stud career.
A 3-year-old Northern Afleet colt, Afleet Alex is attempting to come back from a hairline fracture in time for the Oct. 29 Breeders' Cup Classic. As he does so, his owners are negotiating potential deals for Afleet Alex's breeding rights that could put the colt's value as high as $20 million, according to one bloodstock agent who has been involved in discussions with the owners.
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.
