There could be more state awards in the offing for Chester and Mary Broman.

When their 3-year-old filly Seeking the Ante won the Grade 2 Nassau County Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park last Saturday, it marked the second straight year a New York-bred offspring of their mare Antespend won a graded stakes.

Seeking the Ante's older half-brother Friends Lake won the Grade 1 Florida Derby in 2004, earning him co-championship honors as top New York-bred3-year-old, along with Commentator, at the recent awards dinner of New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.

The Ocala sales sent five Florida-bred representatives to the 131st Kentucky Derby and three of them - Closing Argument (second), Afleet Alex (third), and Buzzards Bay (fifth) - earned pieces of the purse. The Ocala connection, however, was not limited to Florida-breds.

The first three finishers in the Run for the Roses were given their basic training in the Ocala area. In fact four of the past five Kentucky Derby winners were broken and schooled in the Ocala area.

There are people who persevere in the roller-coaster world of Thoroughbred racing, and then there is George Bigliardi.

A popular Toronto restaurateur, Bigliardi has slugged it out in the racing business for almost a quarter of a century and has seen more heartbreak than riches.

That is, until May 7 when his first stakes entrant, his homebred gelding Verne's Baby, won the $166,000 Queenston Stakes at Woodbine.

"It was unbelievable," said Bigliardi. "Twenty-five years in the business and I've never won a stakes race. I was so proud."

When the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale commences at 11 a.m. on May 23 and 24, the Monday and Tuesday after the Preakness, it will offer its strongest catalog in history - proving the old adage success builds on success.

The most recent May sales graduate to make national news is Afleet Alex, the game third-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby and one of the favorites for the Preakness. Afleet Alex was picked out by trainer Tim Ritchey at last year's sale for a bargain $75,000, and has earned more than $1.5 million.

LAS VEGAS - The connections of the top three finishers in the Kentucky Derby may be celebrating their good fortune, but the founding fathers of racing would not be thrilled with the result.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - It has been 25 years since Genuine Risk became the second of only three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby, but the thrill is fresh for the mare's many admirers and for owners Bert and Diana Firestone.

New York-bred horse of the year Funny Cide is scheduled to make his 2005 debut in the Grade 1 Pimlico Special on May 20.

The 5-year-old gelded son of Distorted Humor was scratched from the restricted Kings Point Handicap at Aqueduct on May 1, with trainer Barclay Tagg citing the wet track and weight spread as reasons.

Funny Cide was assigned 127 pounds for the Kings Point, which was won by Chowder's First under 116 pounds.

Farnsworth Farms, winner in 1996 of an Eclipse Award as the nation's leading breeder, is going out of business.

The liquidation of Farnsworth Farms and its breeding and racing stock will come in three stages. The yearlings, 109 of them, will sell at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's August yearling sale. The broodmares, 175 total, will sell at the OBS fall sale in October, and the foals of 2005 will be entered for next January's OBS winter mixed sale.

Mike Sherman has been the CEO of Farnsworth Farms, owned by the Sherman Trust, for the past four decades.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Unusual Heat's rise to the top rank of California stallions is nearly complete.

Unusual Heat recently went past $1 million in progeny earnings for 2005, the fifth California-based stallion to reach that milestone this year. Through Thursday, In Excess led the list with $1,275,444, followed by Swiss Yodeler ($1,129,655), Atticus ($1,126,496), Bertrando ($1,124,663), and Unusual Heat ($1,050,293).

NEW YORK - Kingmambo, who sired the winners of three group races at Newmarket last Sunday, was bred in Kentucky and stands in Kentucky, but he never raced in the United States, a circumstance that may still cause his late trainer, Francois Boutin, to take the occasional spin in his grave.