LAS VEGAS - The major nine-furlong stakes leading up to the Kentucky Derby have always been the best barometer of victory in the Kentucky Derby. As any observer of the sport knows, 2-year-old form, especially over the past 20 years, has little to do with negotiating 1 1/4 miles on the first Saturday in May. Nevertheless, it is always entertaining to look at the current juvenile crop and assess their chances for the classics.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Storm Bird, a champion juvenile and one of Northern Dancer's most influential sons as the sire of Storm Cat, has died at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky.
The stallion, whose death was first reported by The Blood-Horse, was euthanized Dec. 3 after colicking. He was 26.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Phipps family's Blitey, the dam of three Grade 1 winners, died Nov. 26 at Claiborne Farm, the nursery confirmed Tuesday. Blitey, a Riva Ridge mare, was 28 and was euthanized due to the infirmities of old age, according to Claiborne representative Charles Koch.
Following a day of dramatic double-digit gains on Sunday, Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's December mixed sale popped off some big prices Monday.
As of 5 p.m., a $160,000 weanling Malibu Moon colt led the auction in Timonium, Md. Josham Farms, Ltd., agent, bought the colt, a son of Grade 3-placed stakes-winner Aileen's Countess. The colt is a half-brother to the winners Buffalo Run and Dr John Martin. Bill Reightler, agent, sold the colt on behalf of Hargett Farms.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Any young colt who sweeps through his first season unbeaten and turns a glistening eye to the Triple Crown is going to be compared to Smarty Jones, the public favorite who nearly captured racing's most coveted honor this year.
This fall there are a pair of 2-year-olds, one on each coast, who fit that description. From the West comes Declan's Moon, unbeaten going into the Hollywood Futurity, and in the East is Rockport Harbor, winner of all four of his starts, including last weekend's Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Claiborne Farm manager Gus Koch, recently named farm manager of the year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club, has been in the horse business full time since 1968. That was the year he left the Marine Corps and took a job at Stoner Creek Stud in Paris, Ky.
Since then, Koch has worked at Windfields in Maryland and Canada, and at Claiborne since 1978.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Redattore, the winner of 10 stakes in Brazil and California, will stand his first season at stud in the United States at Harris Ranch in Coalinga, Calif., in 2005.
Redattore's addition to the California stallion list is a rare instance of a multiple stakes winner on dirt and turf standing in California, and not being sent to another state or country permanently.
Redattore, 9, won 15 of 32 starts and $1,799,883 in a career that began in 1998 in Brazil and concluded with a victory in the Grade 2 San Gabriel Handicap at Santa Anita last December.
The training segment of the Thoroughbred business in north central Florida is big business between November and June. More than 10,000 horses are estimated to be in training at this time, with Ocala the hub of activity. About 2,600 2-year-olds in training were cataloged earlier this year for the Ocala Breeders Sales Company's four sales and the Fasig-Tipton auction. Three out of four sales 2-year-olds in training were cataloged under the auspices of the National Association of Two-Year-Old Consignors.