LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Jockey Club has released statistics based on the 2004 Reports of Mares Bred that show fewer stallions are being bred to more mares.
The statistics also show that a record number of stallions - 117, up from 108 in 2003 - were bred to books of 100 mares or more this year.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Multiple Grade 2 winner During will retire to Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., at the end of the season, the farm announced Wednesday.
James McIngvale will continue to campaign the 4-year-old Cherokee Run colt through 2004.
has won 6 of 20 starts in 2003 and 2004, including four graded stakes. The graded wins came in a trio of Grade 2 events - the San Fernando Breeders' Cup, Swaps, and Jerome - and in Grade 3 company in the Discovery Handicap. He has finished second or third in five other stakes, three of those Grade 2's.
LAS VEGAS - Big things were expected from Fusaichi Pegasus and Giant's Causeway, the two glamour sires among this year's freshman stallions, and they are showing the same quality as young stallions as they did on the racetrack. Fusaichi Pegasus is the sire of two colts who were pre-entered in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and Giant's Causeway has a filly pre-entered in the Juvenile Fillies.
The Tattersalls October yearling sale in Newmarket, England, changed formats in 2004, combining the catalogs for the Tattersalls Houghton and two-part October yearling sales. But the change
didn't help the bottom line. The revamped yearling auction - now known as October 1 and October 2 - posted substantial declines from the three sales' returns last year.
Distinctive Pro, a leading New York sire for more than a decade, has been pensioned at Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, N.Y.
Dan Hayden, Sugar Maple's farm manager, said Distinctive Pro, a 25-year-old son of Mr. Prospector, was suffering from arthritis in his stifles, which made covering mares difficult.
Distinctive Pro sired 43 stakes winners, including Grade 1 winner Quick Mischief, who won the 1990 Ruffian Handicap at Belmont Park. His progeny have generated $35.2 million in earnings.
TORONTO - The legacy of Barbadian hero-turned-Canadian stakes star Incitatus will live on through his handful of foals born the last two springs, but the manner in which the 11-year-old stallion died last month has left a black mark on the industry.
A multiple Grade 2 stakes winner of 19 races and $698,000, Incitatus collapsed of an apparent heart attack after running in an optional claiming race at Hastings on Sept. 25, his first race in almost two years.
Incitatus had stood two seasons at stud in British Columbia before being returned to training this summer.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association's Sales Industry Task Force will meet Oct. 19 at Keeneland, and task force chairman Cot Campbell is expecting some debate as the panel's three subcommittees make their presentations to the full body.
The task force will hear reports from subcommittees on dual agency, veterinary practices relating to sales horses, and full disclosure at auctions.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Victory in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes meant a lot for the unbeaten 2-year-old colt Proud Accolade, but it means even more for his sire, the high-class sprinter and now leading freshman sire Yes It's True. Proud Accolade handled the best Eastern 2-year-olds in the Champagne Stakes, defeating the previously unbeaten Afleet Alex by a half-length and running the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.30.
ELMONT, N.Y. - New York Showcase Day has evolved into a permanent fixture on the New York Racing Association stakes calendar.
On Saturday, Showcase Day will celebrate its 11th anniversary at Belmont Park, with seven stakes, worth a total of $1 million, for New York-breds - the $250,000 Empire Classic, $150,000 Mohawk, $150,000 Ticonderoga, $125,000 Hudson, $125,000 Iroquois, $100,000 Sleepy Hollow, and $100,000 Maid of the Mist.