LAS VEGAS - Colonial Downs will be the site of the $500,000 Virginia Derby for 3-year-olds at 10 furlongs on the turf Saturday, and Artie Schiller and Kitten's Joy, who should vie for favoritism along with Prince Arch, are both sons of the very popular El Prado. Timo, another son of El Prado, won the Kent Stakes at Delaware Park (nine furlongs on the grass) on June 26. They are just a few of the growing number of runners by El Prado who are winning stakes races on dirt or turf.

The Tattersalls July sale featuring racing-aged stock and broodmares started its three-day run Tuesday with a record session. The Newmarket, England, auction house sold the 3-year-old Rainbow Quest mare Echoes for 130,000 guineas, or about $252,525, setting a new sale mark. The opening session also set a new mark for gross receipts and both average and median prices.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Satish Sanan, the owner of Padua Stables and one of the decade's most powerful bidders at public auction, is calling on the Thoroughbred sales community to develop and enforce a code of ethics.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - At Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's summer yearling sale on July 19-20, there will be some new kids on the block selling horses. Buyers who stop at Barn 3F to examine JLT Bloodstock's four yearlings might be surprised to find that the consignors are exactly that: kids.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Nearly three years after his death, Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled still shines a bright light on racing and breeding. Already the sire of winners of the Kentucky Derby (Grindstone), Preakness (Red Bullet), Belmont (Empire Maker), Coaching Club American Oaks (Banshee Breeze), and Travers (Unshaded), Unbridled extended his dominion over the most important middle-distance events for classic colts and fillies when his son Niigon won the Queen's Plate at Woodbine on June 27.

ELMONT, N.Y. - A group of prominent New York breeders on Friday announced the formation of a sales company that will conduct a mixed sale in Saratoga Springs, replacing one that was recently canceled by Jeff Minton.

Eight summers ago, Frank Stronach made a fact-finding trip to the Ocala, Fla., area. The purpose of the tour was to determine if the Stronach horses, numbering in the hundreds, would be better off training and wintering in Florida than at Stronach's home base in Kentucky.

Mark Roberts, now the general manager at Stronach's Adena Springs Farm South near Ocala, served as a guide for Stronach during his tour.

Well-known sales agent Marshall Silverman has had his hands on many good horses. After spotting a Two Punch colt this past winter at a farm in Chesapeake City, Md., Silverman knew he had to make an offer to buy him. Less than six months later, Silverman's bay colt was selected grand champion of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association's 70th annual yearling show on June 27 at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.

Barretts will make the June horses of racing age and 2-year-olds in training sale an annual event after a successful inaugural sale last Tuesday, general manager Gerald McMahon said.

The one-day sale at Fairplex Park in Pomona sold 93 horses for $1,254,800, an average of $13,492 and a median of $8,000. The 2-year-olds led the sale, with 53 juveniles selling for an average of $16,006. The 40 horses of racing age grossed $406,500, an average of $10,163.

The sale topper was a 2-year-old Helmsman filly purchased for $110,000 by Howard Roberts Farm.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Jockey Club in England will launch an investigation into Juddmonte Farms' registration of Group 2 winner Endless Summer, the Racing Post reported Thursday.

The investigation centers around Endless Summer's correct age. Juddmonte registered the Zafonic colt as having been foaled on Jan. 2, 1998, but Juddmonte's English manager, Philip Mitchell, has since acknowledged that Endless Summer was in fact born prematurely on Dec. 26 or 27, 1997.