LEXINGTON, Ky. - Deputy Minister, a champion racehorse and leading sire, died Friday at Ohio State University's veterinary hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer. The 25-year-old stallion was buried Friday night at Brookdale Farm near Lexington Ky., where he stood this season for a $100,000 fee.

Deputy Minister had shown signs of a sinus infection in recent weeks, but an endoscopic exam revealed that a tumor was obstructing his airway. A biopsy determined that the tumor was malignant.

Hero's Tribute, a Grade 2 winner, has retired from racing and will stand the 2005 breeding season at Doug Arnold's Buck Pond Farm in Versailles, Ky. His fee will be $5,000.

Buck Pond has bought an undisclosed interest in Hero's Tribute, a

6-year-old son of Sea Hero.

Trained by John Ward, Hero's Tribute won stakes at ages 3, 4, and 5, winning the Grade 2 Peter Pan in 2001, the Black Tie Affair Handicap in 2002, and the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap in 2003.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's epic September yearling market opens Monday, and the sale company and consignors alike are hoping that the 14-day auction will maintain the summer's trend of healthy prices for yearlings.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In a recent discussion of bloodstock and bloodlines with a prominent owner-breeder, I was floored by his assertion that the great and recently pensioned sire Danzig was a failure as a sire of sires.

I expressed my disagreement and was challenged to prove it with research.

As it turns out, the research indicates that even I was underestimating Danzig's importance as a sire of stallions around the world.

George M. Steinbrenner III, generally referred to as "The Boss," made a change of Kinsman Farm personnel earlier this year when he hired Ed Sexton, formerly with Ocala Stud Farm, as farm manager.

Steinbrenner bred and raced the millionaire graded stakes winner Concerto and had Triple Crown hopes for the son of Chief's Crown. Concerto's forte was middle distances, however. He won graded stakes at distances up to 1 1/8 miles and was second in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup to Awesome Again at 1 1/4 miles.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Keeneland's September yearling sale will offer 13 New York-breds during the first four sessions of its 14-day sale, which begins Monday.

Here's a look at the early New York-bred offerings:

Hip No. 198: A filly by Irish champion El Prado, the sire of Grade 1 winner Medaglia d'Oro. The filly is the second foal out of Adorahy, whose dam, Adorable Micol, was a stakes winner and stakes producer. Adorable Micol's top progeny included graded stakes winner Adcat and Adorydar, who was Grade 1-placed.

Slots or no slots, Maryland continues to produce runners of exceptional quality.

That point was underscored last week when two Maryland-bred colts rose up and won Grade 2 stakes within a three-day span. Each of the new stars was sired in Maryland, locally raised, and sold at Maryland's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale.

Love of Money (by leading Maryland sire Not for Love) led the charge with an unexpectedly forceful 8 1/2-length score over an accomplished field of 3-year-olds in the $750,000 Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 6 at Philadelphia Park.

Of the 4,891 yearlings offered during the Keeneland September yearling sale, which begins in Lexington, Ky., on Monday, 28 are California-breds, with half by Kentucky-based stallions and half by California-based stallions.

No California-breds will be offered during the prestigious first two days of the sale, but there is at least one in every session that follows. The sale ends Sept. 27. Thirteen California-breds will be offered on the final four days.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Smarty Jones will stand his first season at Three Chimneys for a $100,000 fee, the farm announced Thursday.

That figure was in line with expectations following the popular 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner's syndication in June for $39 million. Smarty Jones is the latest in a line of recent high-caliber colts to start their careers with a six-figure fee, including Fusaichi Pegasus at $150,000 and Lemon Drop Kid at $100,000 in 2001; Giant's Causeway at $135,000 and Point Given at $125,000 in 2002; and Mineshaft and Empire Maker at $100,000 in 2004.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Grade 1 winner Wild Spirit, victorious in last year's Ruffian Handicap, has been retired and will be bred next year to A.P. Indy.

Trainer Bobby Frankel confirmed Wild Spirit's retirement and mating plans on Wednesda, and said the 5-year-old Hussonet mare had shipped to Kentucky on Tuesday.

"She had a bad ankle," he said. "She was a very, very, very good filly."