LAS VEGAS - The Kentucky Derby is unique among American races because it is the first time 3-year-olds are asked to travel 1 1/4 miles. That is why the most telling prep races for the Kentucky Derby have always been at 1 1/8 miles - the Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, and Arkansas Derby.
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DRF Past Performances
It would be no surprise if the record $5.2 million colt by Tale of the Cat makes it to the races at Saratoga later in the year.
MIAMI - For the second year in a row, the Fasig-Tipton sale of select 2-year-olds in training blew the lid off the world-record bid for an unraced juvenile. Last year, Fusaichi Samurai brought a record price of $4.5 million from Fusao Sekiguchi, who had campaigned the colt's sire, Fusaichi Pegasus. On Tuesday, an unnamed colt by Tale of the Cat brought about 15 percent more to establish a new record price of $5.2 million.
There were no surprises when the 2004 Maryland-bred champions were announced last Monday. The list included an Eclipse Award winner, the state's leading earner, the state's stakes leader by wins, undefeated 2-year-olds, and graded stakes winners.
Declan's Moon and Hear Us Roar ended their 2-year-old campaigns undefeated and were unanimous selections for Maryland championship honors. Winning an Eclipse Award gave Declan's Moon the edge over Maryland's leading earner, Our New Recruit, for state horse of the year honors as well.
A crowd of 25,000 or more will gather this afternoon to watch the seven scheduled races at the Little Everglades Ranch, located in the neighborhood of Dade City, less than an hour northeast of Tampa, Fla. Four of the races will be over the national fences (hurdles) and the other three on the flat. The Little Everglades Stakes, contested under National Steeplechase Association rules, is the afternoon's featured event. The race is for 4-year-olds and older at 2 1/8 miles and carries a purse of $35,000.
With first-crop sire Freud leading the way, New York-breds continued their strong winter auction performance at the Fasig-Tipton selected 2-year-olds in training sale at Calder on Tuesday.
The 12 New York-breds sold grossed $1,850,000, for an average of $154,167. At the corresponding sale in 2004, eight statebreds grossed $976,000 for an average of $122,000.
Freud, who stands at Lakland North in Hudson for a fee of $5,000, accounted for $730,000 of the New York-bred's total with five of his offspring sold.
Sellers at the March 15 Barretts select juvenile auction in Pomona, Calif., have reason to hope that history does repeat itself. Last year, after Fasig-Tipton's Calder sale produced a world-record $4.5 million juvenile price for Fusaichi Samurai, the Barretts sale followed up with a world-record price of $2 million for a juvenile filly for the Awesome Again filly Dubai Escapade.
The catalog for the Barretts March select sale, in Pomona, Calif., includes 30 California-bred juveniles, a healthy number considering that California-based operations rarely point 2-year-olds specifically for this auction.
"Our breeders here aim for the yearling sales," said Jerry McMahon, president of Barretts, "and their 2-year-old market is more heavily aimed at our May sale."
Cat Dreams seemed to have all the elements for an outstanding career when he made his debut in the fall of 2003.
His bloodlines were ideal, by leading stallion Storm Cat out of the millionaire mare J J'sdream; he was in the capable hands of trainer Al Stall; and he had been bought for $475,000 by B. Wayne Hughes at the 2002 Keeneland September yearling sale.
But Cat Dreams's racing career turned out to be shorter than a commercial break. Cat Dreams made one start, winning a maiden race by eight lengths at Churchill Downs, and emerged with a bowed tendon.
