LAS VEGAS - With the Kentucky Derby just five short weeks from Saturday, the 3-year-olds are dropping like flies.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The recent strangles outbreaks at the Trackside training center in Kentucky and Palm Meadows in Florida have raised awareness of this bacterial infection, which can spread quickly but is only occasionally fatal.

Churchill Downs, which operates Trackside, reported Friday that six horses tested positive for strangles last week, down from 19 the previous week. And Palm Meadows had reported five positives, with an additional suspected case that had not been confirmed by Monday.

OCALA, Fla. - With a pedigree as full of Florida as a basket of oranges, the sale-topping colt at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's select auction of 2-year-olds in training is a bay son of the highly rated young sire Yes It's True out of the Pentelicus mare Kit Kat Kitty.

The handsome and scopy colt had breezed twice before the sale, with the first trial being a furlong in 10.40 seconds and the second a quarter in 21.20. The colt's speed and the way he ran convinced buyers that he was an outstanding prospect, and he yielded a final sales price of $900,000 from Godolphin.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - They're selling yearlings and broodmares this spring Down Under, and Australia's Inglis auction house is hoping Americans will be on the buyers list.

Winning a blue ribbon at the Maryland Horse Breeders Association's annual yearling show is no portent for future success on the racetrack. It has been that way since 1932, when Hall of Famer James E. "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons became the first of a long line of distinguished trainers to serve as judge for the event.

More than $30 million changed hands this past week in the Ocala 2-year-old sales venues. On Monday night at Frank Stronach's Adena Springs South, 46 of the farm's homebreds sold for $3,916,000. On Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ocala Breeders' Sales complex, another 323 selected 2-year-olds in training sold for $26,399,000. The average price for the 369 horses sold at both venues was $82,154.

The OBS March average price was $81,731. It was $73,610 in 2003 and a record $92,094 last year.

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March select 2-year-old auction posted mixed results after a softer final session on Wednesday, proving that it is hard to top a record year, even when selling is good.

Following a record sale last season, the 2005 auction's gross receipts hit a sale-record $26,399,000 for 323 juveniles sold; last year, 245 horses brought a total of $22,563,000. But the 2005 average price of $81,731 slid 11 percent from last year's record $92,094. The median price also declined, from $60,000 to $55,000.

One day after a $900,000 Yes It's True colt lit up the price board and buybacks plummeted, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March select juvenile sale continued Wednesday with a more modest early session-leader.

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March select juvenile auction, which opened its two-day run in Florida on Tuesday, hit a high note late in the afternoon when a Yes It's True colt brought $900,000 from Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum's Darley organization.

Eisaman Equine, agent, consigned the colt. Sold as Hip No. 264, the bay 2-year-old is out of Kit Kat Kitty, a winning Pentelicus mare who also has produced a winner, Darian Skye, by Dance Master. Hip No. 264 was one of four juveniles having the under-tack shows' fastest quarter-mile work of 21.20 seconds.

A Golden Missile colt sold for a sale-record $500,000 at the Adena Springs South 2-year-olds in training sale Monday near Ocala, Fla. Only 46 of the 111 offered sold - a buy-back rate of nearly 60 percent - but the sale average more than doubled from last year. This year, 46 horses sold for $3,916,000, an average of $85,130. Last year, 57 sold for $2,228,000, an average of $39,088.