Declan's Moon may be finding fame and fortune out in California, but the dark bay son of Malibu Moon is totally a Maryland product - Maryland bred, sired, raised, and sold.

Declan's Moon's success reverberates across the country, and many Marylanders were along for the ride when he crossed the finish line first in the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity last week. In addition to his owners, Jay Em Ess Stable's Samantha Siegel and Mace Siegel, and trainer, Ron Ellis, Christmas came early for many of Declan's Moon's former connections.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Splendid Blended became the 13th stakes winner this year for her sire, Unbridled's Song, with a two-length win in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet.

It was a thoroughly successful year for Unbridled's Song, a gray son of Unbridled. Among his best racehorses in 2004 were a pair of leading juveniles in Splendid Blended and Remsen Stakes winner Rockport Harbor. Both 2-year-olds should become even better racehorses as 3-year-olds, considering they have shown their best form around two turns.

Few breeding farms could shrug off the loss of a marquee stallion the way Vessels Stallion Farm did earlier this year with the death of .

LAS VEGAS - A. P Jet has been having a memorable year, and it's only getting better. Galloping Grocer, a stakes winner by A. P Jet who was 3 for 3 before his game neck defeat to Rockport Harbor in the Remsen Stakes, is not only this year's best New York-bred juvenile, he is one of this year's best juveniles, period. Travelator, a multiple-stakes-winning 4-year-old filly by A. P Jet, recently won Aqueduct's Garland of Roses Handicap.

The New York Breeders Sales Co., a group of prominent breeders who held their first sale in September, recently held its first election for board of directors. Elected were: Frank Ariosta, Chester Broman, Harry L. Landry, Joseph McMahon, and Barry Ostrager.

The New York Breeders Sales Co. was organized in July by 40 shareholders and held its inaugural sale, the Saratoga fall mixed sale, on Sept. 28-29 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Two-time Grade 2 winner Read the Footnotes, retired last week due to knee problems, will enter stud in Florida at the new Sequel Stallions facility, operated by Becky Thomas. He will stand in 2005 for $8,500 as the property of Thomas, Lewis Lakin, and Dennis Narlinger.

Read the Footnotes will be the first stallion to stand in Florida under the Sequel banner. He will be joined by Bwana Charlie upon that colt's retirement from racing.

Sequel Stallions is located near Ocala at the former Silverleaf Farms.

The pensioned sire Miswaki died Thursday at Walmac Farm in Lexington, Ky., due to the infirmities old age. Miswaki was 26.

Miswaki is the sire of 97 stakes winners, including nine champions in five countries. He is the only stallion to have sired a Breeders' Cup Classic winner (Black Tie Affair), Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner (Urban Sea), and Japan Cup winner (Marvelous Crown). Daughters of Miswaki have produced 112 stakes winners.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When major Thoroughbred buyer Satish Sanan left Thursday's Sales Integrity Task Force news conference, he had reason to be satisfied. Thanks in large measure to public pressure from Sanan, the American Thoroughbred industry now has its first code of ethics.

"When I started this initiative back in June, I never expected to achieve the kind of success that we have," Sanan said. "I was very apprehensive, to be very candid."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Silent Sighs, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks last March, has been retired after failing to recover from an ankle injury, owner Marty Wygod said.

A California-bred filly, Silent Sighs will be bred to a Kentucky-based stallion in 2005, although a decision on which stallion has not been finalized, Wygod said.

Wygod said that Silent Sighs had resumed training at Santa Anita with Julio Canani when the decision was made to end her racing career. Wygod said that her value as a broodmare outweighed any future success on the racetrack.

The year 2004 was another rainy one in Georgia for the Georgia Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders' Association. Hope was this would be the year when Georgians would get a parimutuel bill. This hope was dashed when the state legislature decided not to address the matter.

"We were rained on again," said GTOBA board of governors member Bob Mier. "But this does not mean that we're going to quit. I think Georgians would support a Thoroughbred track if they had the opportunity, and getting the opportunity to vote on this issue is number one on our agenda."