Wando, Canada's Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old in 2003, will enter stud next year at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky.
Wando, a 5-year-old horse owned and bred by Gustav Schickedanz, won the Canadian Triple Crown of the Queen's Plate, Prince of Wales, and Breeders' Stakes in his award-winning campaign.
Mr. Light, a world-record-setter, has retired from racing and will enter stud in 2006 at Mill Ridge Farm. Mill Ridge has purchased Mr. Light, a 6-year-old Numerous horse, from owner Earle I. Mack.
Mr. Light will stand for a 2006 fee of $6,500, payable Nov. 1.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Breeding rights to Roman Ruler, winner of Sunday's Haskell at Monmouth, have been secured by John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Farm, which will stand the Fusaichi Pegasus colt when his racing days are over.
Roman Ruler's retirement does not appear imminent. In announcing the stud deal, Hill 'n' Dale said that he might retire this year or next, a decision that will be made by owners David Shimmon and Bill Bianco, who campaign the 3-year-old colt under the nom de course of Fog City Stable. Bob Baffert trains him.
Fasig-Tipton's New York-bred preferred yearling auction will be on the airwaves this year. The New York Breeding and Racing Program and Myriad Productions will broadcast the Aug. 14-15 sale live on Time Warner cable channel 3 in the capital region in upstate New York. Viewers outside the region can watch the broadcast at www.nybreds.com.
Joe and Sean Clancy, publishers of Steeplechase Times, will be hosts of the telecast from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Eastern each night.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga sale kicks off the so-called boutique yearling sale season on Tuesday with a two-day sale that's likely to draw some of the sport's wealthiest buyers. The Saratoga select auction has a long history as a source of talented, well-bred runners, but this year the catalog is one of the sale's smallest, reflecting a recent trend that has seen more horses head for the less rarefied air of Fasig-Tipton's July market and the larger Keeneland September sale.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Hennessy colt Henny Hughes punched his ticket for admission to all the major 2-year-old stakes with a powerful victory in the Saratoga Special. Not only was the handsome chestnut visually impressive, like a few standout youngsters each summer, but henny Hughes also quantified himself as a major talent with an impressive final time (1:10.38) and Beyer Speed Figure (105).
Noel Hickey of Irish Acres Farm has been keeping a low profile lately.
"Did not want to say anything definitive until I had something to say," he said.
Now that he is settled in at his relocated Irish Acres, Hickey is ready to talk.
The original Irish Acres Farm, a 300-plus-acre farm and training complex, is gone - sold for subdivision. The creep of urban development was steadily advancing, and Hickey thought the time had come, after some 35 years, to sell and move on.
Over 400 New York-bred yearlings are cataloged in three sales this coming week, beginning with the two-day Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale Tuesday.
The New York Breeders Sales Company's first yearling sale follows on Aug. 11-12, and the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale is on Aug. 14-15.
Twelve statebreds are entered in the annual Saratoga select yearling sale, which is being conducted for the 85th time in Saratoga Springs at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion.
The opening of the Pimlico summer meeting on Aug. 12 will be the beginning of a new era for the Maryland-bred Fund. Distribution of bonus checks has been speeded up. From now on, breeders, owners, and stallion owners will receive their checks within weeks of a race. And the owner bonus program has been expanded to include all maiden races.
The changes were based on suggestions from a Maryland Horse Breeders Association general membership meeting held last fall.
The way that California-breds are performing in major stakes this summer, Tucked Away and Valentine Dancer deserve extra attention in Sunday's $300,000 Clement Hirsch Handicap at Del Mar.
Tucked Away and Valentine Dancer are trying to win their first graded stakes and produce the latest in a string of impressive performances from statebreds.