The success of New York-breds on the track and at major auctions and the formation of a new sales company were among the highlights of the state Thoroughbred breeding program in 2004.

"I think it was a fantastic year," said Dennis Brida, executive director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. "We attained a goal we had long sought, having one thousand members in the organization, and that means a lot to us. There was a record amount of open stakes winners that were New York-breds, some 40 on the year, and we formed a new sales company that has a promising future.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Alexander Khait's name showed up on a buyer's receipt at Fasig-Tipton's 2003 February mixed sale in Timonium, Md., few would have recognized that he was part of a new trend. Khait's $4,000 purchase, a 2-year-old Malibu Moon filly named Moon Thistle, didn't make headlines, but it represented one of the first forays by a Ukrainian into the American Thoroughbred marketplace.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sunday Silence died in 2002, but the dark horse with the intense competitiveness is neither gone nor forgotten in Japan, where he stood his entire stud career.

This year, Sunday Silence once again crushed his opponents in siring winning racehorses, as Sunday Silence led the Japanese general sire list for the 10th consecutive year with more than $86 million in progeny earnings for 2004 (through Dec. 28). He also tops the list of leading juvenile sires with more than $7.5 million in earnings.

Officials with the Barretts sale company in Pomona and the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association are negotiating the terms of a joint venture to form an annual yearling sale that will be conducted in October at Barretts.

The proposal would mark the end of the CTBA's Del Mar yearling sale, which has struggled in recent years to sustain growth enjoyed in the late 1990's.

The new sale, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 4, would occupy the time slot in the calendar currently held by the Barretts October preferred yearling sale. The Del Mar sale has been held in August.

Some owners have a way of making the racing business look deceptively easy. In Maryland, there is no better example than Skeedattle Associates - a partnership consisting of local businessmen Willie White, Lou Rehak, and Bob Orndorff.

LAS VEGAS - There are 18 weeks until the 2005 Kentucky Derby, but from now on every young horse that wins a maiden race impressively will be talked about as a possible Derby contender - even those without the benefit of extensive racing experience at age 2.

The tried-and-true methods of preparing a horse for the rigors of the Triple Crown no longer apply to today's watered-down version of the Thoroughbred in this country.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Carson City, a Mr. Prospector horse whose progeny included Grade 1 winners City Zip and City Band, died unexpectedly at Overbrook Farm in Lexington on Dec. 24. He was 17.

"All we know is that he died from hemorrhaging, but we don't know the cause of that," Overbrook adviser Ric Waldman said Monday. "We have not received the pathologist's report yet."

Farm staff members discovered that Carson City was in distress in his stall last Friday morning, Waldman said. The horse died soon after that.

The story of Joey Franco is one of perseverance through difficulties and success at the highest level. The perseverance comes mostly from Joey Franco's owner-breeder, Jerry Frankel, whose reward came with the victory of Joey Franco in the Grade 1 Triple Bend Invitational Handicap.

That success came last year, however, and Joey Franco did not race this year after an injury late in 2003 proved more troublesome than Frankel had hoped.

There are an estimated 300 stallions who will stand the 2005 season in Florida, and 172 of them are detailed in the annual register recently published by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association. Those absent are missing for several possible reasons: They came to the state too late to make the publishing deadline, their services are limited because of advancing years, or they are commercially not viable.

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.