LEXINGTON, Ky. - Multiple Grade 1 winner and millionaire Southern Image will stand in Kentucky starting in 2006, but it's not clear yet whether he'll be at Taylor Made Farm near Nicholasville or at WinStar Farm near Versailles.
The farms, which have teamed up to purchase several stallions in recent years, have jointly bought the 5-year-old son of Halo's Image. The horse retired last month after developing sore cannon bones.
LAS VEGAS - The best 2-year-old fillies will be on display in Saratoga's Spinaway Stakes, which gets the big Travers Stakes weekend off to a bang on Friday.
First run in 1881, the Spinaway has a roster of winners that is a Who's Who of female stars.
Results from the inaugural Saratoga premier yearling sale last week were encouraging to the organization's founders.
The New York Breeders Sales Company Inc. conducted the sale on Aug. 11-12 at the Yaddo Show Grounds in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., located across Union Avenue from Saratoga Race Course.
The company reported total sales of $1,251,400, for an average price per yearling of $11,587 for the 108 that were sold, and a median price of $5,000.
The Florida yearling market gets tested this coming week. The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company has cataloged 1,498 yearlings for its annual August sale, 284 more than last year. The added volume has extended the sale from the customary four days to five, August 22-26. Starting time for all sessions is 11 a.m.
A total of 281 will sell Monday, which is the selected session. The tail end of this opening session offers 41 selected yearlings from the dispersal of Farnsworth Farms. The remainder of the Farnsworth Farms yearling crop will be sold in the following four sessions.
Finding a formula of success is the goal of every breeder. Gerald and Carolyn Sleeter are obviously searching in the right places.
The Sleeters have been breeding and racing Thoroughbreds in New Jersey since switching from Quarter Horses in the mid-1960's and have ranked among New Jersey's leading breeders for decades. Just two years ago, Carolyn Sleeter was New Jersey's Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association award winner as breeder of the year.
DEL MAR, Calif. - At times in his life, Lava Man has been a gelding that no one really wanted, the best claim of the 2004 Del Mar meeting, and lately the hottest older horse in California.
The leading California-bred of 2005, Lava Man will go for his third consecutive stakes win in Sunday's $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar. In his last start, he won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup by 8 3/4 lengths on July 9.
CHICAGO - The Illinois breeding industry took a serious hit last week with the untimely death of Cartwright, the state's leading sire.
Cartwright was put down early on Aug. 10 after badly breaking his right femur in an accident at a veterinary clinic. The horse was only 15.
As a young businessman in Switzerland, Peter Mueller dabbled in Thoroughbred racehorses, keeping a couple of broodmares that he owned with his wife, Katja Ulm, at a French stud farm.
But Mueller had a dream to emigrate to Canada and build his own breeding farm, a dream that is now starting to come to life.
Real Quiet, the 1998 Kentucky Derby winner and 3-year-old champion, will stand at Pennsylvania's Reigle Heir Farm starting in 2006. A 7-year-old Quiet American horse, Real Quiet has relocated from Taylor Made Farm in Lexington, Ky., to Reigle Heir in Grantville, Pa.
Real Quiet will stand for $6,500 for mares who foal outside of Pennsylvania and $5,000 for mares foaling in state.