The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring juvenile sale entered its next-to-last session Wednesday off two days of healthy returns.
The top seller by 5 p.m. was Hip No. 769, a $250,000 Sweetsouthernsaint colt that Evelyn Pollard bought from Danzel Brendemuehl's Classic Bloodstock agency. The colt is out of the Two Punch mare Blazing Punch.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Dear Birdie, the dam of Grade 1 winners Bird Town and Birdstone, has been named broodmare of the year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders.
Dear Birdie's owner, Marylou Whitney, bred both Bird Town, the 2003 champion 3-year-old filly and Kentucky Oaks winner, and Birdstone, the 2004 Belmont and Travers stakes winner.
Dear Birdie, a Storm Bird mare, has produced 10 winners from 10 starters so far, all by different sires. Her most successful matings have been with stallions from the late W.T. Young's Overbrook Farm.
Last year's leading freshman sire, Successful Appeal, underwent colic surgery in Lexington, Ky., on Monday for a rare intestinal problem but is expected to recover fully, according to officials of Walmac Farm, where Successful Appeal stands at stud.
Successful Appeal, a 9-year-old son of Valid Appeal, began showing signs of colic Monday morning, according to a farm spokesman, Steve Sharp, and was taken to the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, where he underwent surgery at about 4:30 Monday afternoon.
After a healthy opening session that saw gains in gross receipts and median price, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's spring 2-year-old auction entered its second day Tuesday with seven horses bringing six-figure bids by 5 p.m.
The most expensive among those was a $210,000 Menifee filly that Amerman Racing bought from agent Nick De Meric. The filly is out of the Eastern Echo mare Sinful Morning.
LAS VEGAS - When Pleasant Home won the Bed o' Roses Breeders' Cup Handicap last Saturday, she became the latest member of her illustrious female family to garner black type. Her full sister, Our Country Hideaway, won the 2001 Bed o' Roses, and both were bred by the Phipps family.
One of the last dynasties in American racing, the Phipps Stable has been successful for more than 75 years partly because of savvy acquisitions in nearly every decade that have rejuvenated their storied band of broodmares.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring juvenile sale in Ocala, Fla., saw five six-figure horses by Monday afternoon, giving middle-market sellers reason for optimism for the rest of the four-day sale.
By 5:30 p.m., with 225 of the opening session's 342 juveniles accounted for, the session-leader was Hip No. 139, a $175,000 More Than Ready colt that Harry J. Aleo bought from Murray Smith, agent. The dark bay colt is out of No Mud on Me, a Great Above mare.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kingmambo, ranked among the top 20 sires in North America last year, has resumed his place in the Lane's End breeding shed. Kingmambo, the 15-year-old Mr. Prospector horse who stands at Lane's End for $300,000, had a series of physical ailments that prompted the farm to pull him from duty.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - A runaway victory in the Arkansas Derby reestablished Afleet Alex as a leading contender for the Kentucky Derby. The handsome colt needed a big effort because he had lost his previous start, the Rebel Stakes, also at Oaklawn, in disastrous fashion, apparently because of a lung infection.
Winning by eight lengths and shading 1:49 for the nine furlongs was an impressive effort, but will his pedigree lend him enough support to handle the 10th furlong of the Kentucky Derby?
Runners from the first crop of New York stallion Prime Timber top a large group of statebreds cataloged in the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training.
The auction runs this Monday through Thursday in Florida and has more than 120 New York-breds scheduled for sale. At the 2004 sale, New York-breds averaged $28,770 for 72 sold, comparing well with the overall sale average of $29,952.
