LAS VEGAS - In 1983, I Pass (Buckpasser-Impish, by Majestic Prince) produced a foal by Damascus for owner-breeder Ogden Mills Phipps and he named the filly Defer. She never raced, and Phipps decided to use the name once again 19 years later for a colt he bred by Danzig out of his homebred mare Hidden Reserve. Last Saturday, Defer became a stakes winner in his third lifetime start, winning the Laurel Futurity.

Michael Gill, the nation's leading owner, is sending a full barn of horses to Oaklawn Park. The Hot Springs, Ark., track is known for its active claim box and Gill is known for his aggressive claiming practices.

Gill's stable has been allotted the maximum 40 stalls, and trainer Mark Shuman is the leading candidate to oversee the outfit. Gill said he is also interviewing a couple of others for the post. Shuman is one of Gill's chief trainers and is based on a farm in Pennsylvania.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Internationally recognized as a highly successful businessman, Charles Fipke is also a man with amazing luck. He discovered the largest diamond mine in North America and also found the gold mines associated with the Biblically famous Queen of Sheba in Yemen. Now this man of fortune wants to attempt one of the great and elusive feats in Thoroughbred racing. He wants to race a winner of the Belmont Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When the Keeneland November breeding stock sale ended its 12-day run Friday afternoon, it had done some things almost no one thought it would do: improve on the results of last year's Keeneland November sale, set a sale-record for average, and equal the November record for median.

There are over 300 Thoroughbred farms in north-central Florida, and they range from the 100-acre-plus facilities to mama-poppa homesteads of a few acres. Some are niche operations; others offer a variety of services, breeding, training, sales prep.

Jerry and Linda Paradise's Tuxedo Farm is a niche operation on a modest scale. What the 25-acre farm specializes in is pre-operation and post-operation R and R.

"It's a specialty business," said Jerry Paradise. "I get all sorts of lay-ups and surgery candidates off the racetrack."

Build it, and they will come. Randy Funkhouser has already seen that statement validated.

Funkhouser's new 12-stall stallion barn, office, and breeding shed at O'Sullivan Farms in Charles Town is still a few weeks from completion, but seven stalls are already reserved for the upcoming breeding season - including four for stallions new to West Virginia.

Keeneland's 12-day November breeding stock sale ended its next-to-last session Thursday with a $65,000 Deputy Minister mare named Hoxsey the top seller.

Hoxsey, a 5-year-old daughter of stakes winner Jetto, by Easy Goer, sold to Machmer Hall and partners. She is in foal to Gilded Time.

Longfield Farm, agent, sold the mare.

Iowa Thoroughbred owner and attorney Maggi Moss, who has been investigating how one of her retired runners got from a Massachusetts farm to a slaughter auction against her wishes, this week received a threatening letter accompanied by a vial of suspicious powder.

The powder has since been identified as an amphetamine, Moss said Thursday, and is not harmful.

A 3-year-old daughter of Grand Slam sold for $105,000 on Wednesday at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, leading the sales figures on the 10th day of the 12-day session as of 5 p.m. Eastern.

The filly, who is named Ruthless Babe and has won one race this year and earned $32,980, was consigned by Dromoland Farm and purchased by Arch Bloodstock. She is out of the Clever Trick mare Tricky Squaw, a multiple stakes winner.

On Tuesday, Keeneland sold 256 horses for total receipts of $6,839,600. The average price was $26,717, and the median was $16,500.

LAS VEGAS - Shame on me. I really liked Magoo's Magic in his career debut on Aug. 21 at Calder because - surprise, surprise - of his pedigree. But last Sunday, when Magoo's Magic showed up in the Huntington Stakes at Aqueduct, I had completely forgotten about him. And that mental lapse was costly, as Magoo's Magic won the Huntington and paid $23.40.