LAS VEGAS - This is part four in a series on the freshman sires of 2005, with particular emphasis on how to bet their offspring. The sires' names are followed by their pedigree and where they stand, and their designation: SP means speed, ST means stamina, T means turf, HT means hidden turf.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - In winning the San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 15, Spanish Chestnut took another step forward on the trail to the Kentucky Derby. A winner of 3 of his 5 starts, Spanish Chestnut ran the mile of the San Rafael in 1:36.69.
As the leading racer from the second crop by Horse Chestnut, a South African Horse of the Year, Spanish Chestnut also is providing his sire with the sort of beneficial public exposure offered principally to classic colts.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Life is good for Smarty Jones. Since he left the racetrack for Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., in a $39 million stud deal, the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner has been test-breeding, enjoying leisure time in his private paddock, and showing off for his many visitors.
Broodmares make up nearly half of the 670 horses offered at the Barretts January mixed sale in Pomona, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday, and nearly all of California's established leading stallions are represented as covering stallions to those mares.
Eight of the state's 10 leading stallions in 2004, ranked by progeny earnings, were bred to mares last year who will be offered in the sale.
Roar, who led all state stallions with 2004 progeny earnings of $4,394,808, is represented by two mares: Frisky's Wild Card and Tipiary.
The Ocala Breeders Sales management perceived from the heavy traffic in the barn area last Sunday that the winter mixed sale from Monday through Thursday was going to be a successful one. The crowd for the opening session Monday was among the largest in memory, with three-quarters of the auditorium's 1,100 seats occupied, confirming that there was going to be action aplenty.
The leader board for Maryland's breeding industry in 2004 included new names at the top of the state's breeders list, the emergence of two Grade 1 or Group 1 performers, and the continued strength of the state's leading sires.
Leading breeder: Charles and Cynthia McGinnes
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company closed out its four-day winter mixed sale in Ocala, Fla., Thursday with overall gains in gross and average price.
A $200,000 Yes It's True-Hollow Design yearling colt topped the sale on Tuesday during the last of two consignor-preferred sessions. Athens Woods LLC purchased the colt from Dean and Peggy Johnson's Johnson Hollow Farm, agent.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company held the first of two open sessions Wednesday with a session-topping $52,000 Songanda-prayer colt that Murray Smith bought from Wesfield Sales (Robert and Saronda Smith), agent.
The yearling colt is out of Stemming, by Pentelicus. Overall, the Wednesday session sold 143 lots for $863,800. That was down slightly from last year's equivalent session, when 187 lots brought $870,700, but the 2005 average beat last year's figure, rising 30 percent to $6,041.
Supah Blitz's dam, Boots 'n Jackie, was leading the way at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company winter mixed auction's second session Tuesday, bringing $190,000 from Gulf Coast Farms Bloodstock as the sale's top price at 5:30 p.m.
Boots 'n Jackie, a 15-year-old daughter of Major Moran and the Cherokee Fellow mare Cherokee Ace, was not in foal. A Grade 3 winner, she finished third in the 1992 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Her 2000 Mecke filly, Supah Blitz, is a Grade 2 winner.
Equitor Farm, agent, consigned Boots 'n Jackie.
LAS VEGAS - This is part 3 in a series on the freshman sires of 2005, with particular emphasis on how to bet their offspring. The sires' names are followed by their pedigree and where they stand, and their designation (SP means speed; ST, stamina; T, turf; HT, hidden turf).
