LEXINGTON, Ky. - By winning his last two starts, the Jim Dandy and Travers stakes, Flower Alley has fulfilled much of the promise he showed in the spring. The chestnut colt began the spring well, winning the Lane's End Stakes at Turfway in only his third start, but then was thrashed by Afleet Alex in the Arkansas Derby and subsequently ran ninth in the Kentucky Derby.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - John Gunther's Glennwood Farm is having the kind of season Thoroughbred breeders dream about. But it hasn't come without the occasional twinge of regret.

Four Horsemen's Ranch in Anthony, Fla., does not have the cachet that, say, Ocala Stud has, or Bridlewood Farm. But in its own way the 170-acre working farm has been a success story for almost a quarter-century. So it came as a surprise that Four Horsemen's Ranch is shutting down. Jeff Schwietert, part-owner and manager of this family operation, seeks a change of lifestyle.

"Time to move on," said Schwietert.

Breeding horses can often be a venture of hard luck and broken promises. Kelly and Wayne Bailey can provide a list of could-have-beens and what-ifs when discussing the family of their new stable star, Saay Mi Name, a two-time stakes winner in August.

"We've believed in the family all along," said Kelly Bailey. "But they have been the most unlucky group of horses."

Local horsepeople got into the yearling sales mood a week before Canada's biggest auction was to get under way when consignor Richard Hogan paraded many of his youngsters at a barbecue last Tuesday on his farm in Nashville, Ontario.

Almost 100 people, including top trainers Reade Baker, Roger Attfield, and Mike Doyle, got an early preview of some of the offerings at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's annual sale of Canadian-bred yearlings.

Best of Luck, a multiple graded stakes winner on the New York Racing Association circuit during his racing days, will stand the 2006 breeding season at Highcliff Farm in Delanson.

A stud fee for the 9-year-old son of Broad Brush will be decided in the future.

Best of Luck, who stood previously at Dell Ridge Farm in Lexington, Ky., was acquired by Elisabeth Jerkens, who has boarded her mares at Highcliff Farm for many years.

DEL MAR, Calif. - There will not be many starters in Monday's $100,000 I'm Smokin Stakes for California-bred 2-year-olds at Del Mar. But the runners that will appear have given hints that they could have promising careers, and not just in statebred races.

With a substantial portion of its buyer base in nearby Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi hurt by Hurricane Katrina, Fasig-Tipton's Texas summer yearling sale at Lone Star Park ended its two-day run Tuesday evening with declines across the board.

A $130,000 filly by Orientate, a freshman sire and 2003's champion sprinter, remained the top lot as Fasig-Tipton's Texas summer yearling sale in Grand Prairie, Texas, neared the end of its second and final session Tuesday.

Offlee Wild, winner of the Suburban Handicap in July at Belmont Park, has been retired from racing.

retirement comes less than a month after Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Darley organization purchased the 5-year-old Wild Again horse to stand as a stallion at its Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky. Offlee Wild's racing career had been in doubt since he finished last of five in the Aug. 21 Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap and exited the race with ankle trouble.